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Archives at The Museum of Flight


Northwest Airlines, Inc.

 Organization

Dates

  • Existence: 1926 - 2010

Historical Note

Northwest Airlines was a major United States airline from 1926 to 2010. Initially established as Northwest Airways, Inc. it became Northwest Airlines in 1933. From 1947 through 1986, the airline was referred to as Northwest Orient Airlines between 1947 and 1986. The word 'Orient' was used after the airlines expanded their route map to include flights to Asia. It was removed from the airline name after the 1986 merger with Republic Airlines. The airline ceased operations when it was acquired and merged into Delta Air Lines.

Found in 8 Collections and/or Records:

Mary Christensen Commercial Airlines Collection

 Collection — Folder 1
Identifier: 2000-09-13
Contents of the Collection

The collection includes route maps, schedules, and brochures by Northwest Airlines and Western Air Lines, circa 1940s. Materials from both airlines feature the Douglas DC-4 and DC-3 aircraft in their promotional art. Also included is a Souvenir Air Log by Northwest Airlines, which unfolds to a reversible map that features domestic and international routes along with trivia about the science of air travel.

Dates: Circa 1945-1950
Found in: The Museum of Flight Archives

Commercial Airlines Collection (Part 4, N-S)

 Collection
Identifier: 2018-00-00-23-4
Abstract

The Commercial Airlines Collection is an artificial collection comprised of textual, visual, and audiovisual materials of commercial airlines from around the world, 1910s-2020s.

Dates: circa 1910s-2010s
Found in: The Museum of Flight Archives

Don Gray Northwest Airlines Collection

 Collection — Folder 1
Identifier: 1995-04-27
Contents of the Collections

The collection is comprised of a Northwest Airlines Souvenir Flight Packet containing tickets, timetables, brochures, route maps, decal, postcards, and assorted travel receipts. Packet was received during a Northwest Airlines flight between New York and Seattle in July, 1954. Most of the brochures and postcards feature a Boeing 377 Stratocruiser.

Dates: 1954
Found in: The Museum of Flight Archives

David R. Hellyer Pan Am Clipper Club Collection

 Collection — Multiple Containers
Identifier: 2024-00-00-32
Content Description The David R. Hellyer Pan Am Clipper Club Collection is a small collection consisting of materials collected by Hellyer as a child traveling between Tacoma, Washington and Asia in the early 1950s. The materials demonstrate how air travel, especially aboard Pan Am Clippers, captured his imagination as a child. Included are drawings by Hellyer of airplanes, a photograph of his Kindergarten class in Tacoma which had a child's drawing of an airplane on view, and an air-travel themed...
Dates: 1951-1953, 1969
Found in: The Museum of Flight Archives

Northwest Airlines Collection

 Collection
Identifier: 2009-07-14-A
Contents of the Collection The Northwest Airlines Collection consists primarily of company personnel, promotional, and flight service materials produced by Northwest Airlines from 1975 to 2007. The collection contains textual, audiovisual and visual materials. Formats include videocassettes, an audiocassette, slides, and photographs. In addition, there are an assortment of promotional materials, some of which are posters that picture company aircraft and early company logos. There are documents related to personnel...
Dates: 1975-2007
Found in: The Museum of Flight Archives

Alex R. Polson Northwest Orient Airlines Collection

 Collection — Folder 1
Identifier: 1989-07-06-A
Contents of the Collection The Alex R. Polson Northwest Orient Airlines Collection is a small collection comprised of textual marketing materials from Northwest Airlines and Northwest Orient Airlines, collected between 1948-1956. Included are a souvenir Flight Kit, maps, postcards, and brochures. There are also timetables with fares for various routes, predominantly for service to Alaska, Hawaii, Japan, and China. Materials feature several aircraft that began commercial service in the late 1940s, including the Boeing...
Dates: 1948-1956
Found in: The Museum of Flight Archives

Barbara Spraker Sea-Tac Airport Slides

 Collection — Folder 1
Identifier: 2018-07-10
Contents of the Collection The Barbara Spraker Sea-Tac Airport Slides collection is a small collection consisting of 44 photographic slides depicting scenes at at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (Sea-Tac) in the mid-1970s. The 35mm color slides were taken by Spraker during her work as a tour guide for the Port of Seattle at Sea-Tac airport. A little under half the images depict various U.S.-based airliners at gates and on the tarmac. Airlines represented in the collection includes Alaska Airlines,...
Dates: 1972-1976
Found in: The Museum of Flight Archives

James Sterling Commercial Airlines Collection

 Collection — Multiple Containers
Identifier: 1992-01-21
Contents of the Collection The James Sterling Commercial Airlines Collection is comprised of commercial airline ephemera printed between 1930 and 1990, such as route maps, flight schedules, postcards, flight kits, decals, catalogs, brochures, air sickness bags and calendars. The materials were items provided to customers by various airlines, predominantly ones with international routes, including: Pan American World Airways, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, TWA, Northwest Orient Airlines, Mexicana De Aviacion,...
Dates: circa 1940s to 1980s
Found in: The Museum of Flight Archives

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