Janet McMullen Pan Am Flight Attendant Collection

Collection — Multiple Containers

Identifier: 2008-08-03

The Janet McMullen Pan Am Flight Attendant Collection is comprised of primarily textual materials collected by McMullen during and after her Pan American Airways (PAA) flight attendant career, 1960-1992.

Materials include two (2) oversize Pan Am wall calendars (1960 and 1992); Pan Am ephemera, such as luggage tags, advertising brochures, and a 1966 timetable; employee documents, such as retirement information (1979), an orientation booklet, scheduling documents, and a vacation request form. There is also a oversize watercolor lithograph of St. Peter's Square with the PAA logo and several menus, mostly for PAA, although two are from United Airlines. McMullen's January 1969 PAA stewardess diploma is also included, along with an 8x10" black-and-white group portrait of the Janaury 1969 graduating stewardesses. There is only one other photograph, a 3x5" color snapshot of three flight attendants standing on a street, in uniform, in Rome, Italy (March 1977).

Dates

1960-1992

Creator

McMullen, Janet Sigurdson (Former owner, Person)

Language of Materials

All materials are in English.

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research but has not been fully processed. Access to the collection may be limited or may require additional processing time. For more information contact us.

Conditions Governing Use

The Museum of Flight (TMOF) Archives is the owner of the physical materials in the archives and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. Written permission must be obtained from TMOF archives before any publication use. TMOF does not necessarily hold copyright to all of the materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from copyright owners. Consult repository for more details.

Extent

0.30 Cubic Feet (1 half-width legal size document box and 2 oversize folders)

Additional Description

Biographical Note: Janet McMullen

Jan (Sigurdson) McMullen was from Indiana and went to Ball Sate University where she graduated with a teaching degree. McMullen didn’t want to teach school and, after reading a Cosmopolitan magazine article about foreign jobs, she signed up with the Red Cross working with the 101st Airborne Division for a year. After teaching for a year, she applied to be a Pan Am flight attendant in Denver, Colorado. McMullen flew from January 1969 through 1981 for Pan American Airways (PAA). While flying, she volunteered with the Dooley Foundation in Laos giving medical aid to refugees. She also went to law school, and Pan Am paid for half of her tuition. McMullen was stationed in Miami, Florida; Washington, D.C.; Chicago, Illinois; Los Angeles, California; and Seattle, Washington. Pan Am flight attendants could be married and have children, unlike other airlines, but did have weight and height restrictions. All flights on Pan Am were international flights and flight attendants were required to speak another language besides English; McMullen spoke German.

No further information is known.
Source:

Biography provided by donor.

Separated Materials

This collection has materials which have been separated from the archival component and are kept in Objects storage, including Pan Am playing cards, Pan Am toys, and Pan Am uniform accessories. For more information contact us.

The collection originally contained the book, Pan Am World Guide, 26th Edition (ISBN 0-07-048433-3), which has been de-accessioned.