Commercial Airlines Collection (Part 1, A-F)
Contents of the Collection
The Commercial Airlines Collection is an artificial collection comprised of textual, visual, and audiovisual materials related to commercial airlines from around the world, 1910s-2020s. Although international airlines are represented, American-based airlines are far more heavily represented, including a significant number of small regional, and often defunct, airlines. Materials come from various sources.
The bulk of the collection is textual materials, including advertisements, such as magazine ads; promotional brochures, booklets, and fliers; menus and in-flight entertainment guides, including duty-free shopping information; route maps; safety cards and brochures; stationery, air mail labels, and postcards; tickets, boarding passes, and luggage tags; frequent flyer program materials, including special offers and membership documents; and timetables and flight schedules, including fare information. There are also folders of assorted printed ephemera, including but not limited to, business cards, calendars, children's activity materials, souvenir flight reports, and matchbook covers.
The collection also contains visual materials, including photographs, slides, negatives, and photographic postcards as well as posters, lithographs, and artwork. Major topics depicted include aircraft in airline livery; flight attendants, pilots, and to a far lesser extent, ground crew and airline executives; and advertisements, such as billboards; buildings, office space, and events. A number of advertisements, including photographs and brochures, depict locations and activities a visitor could experience on their travels. Most of the photographs are publicity shots and are black-and-white, although some are in color. Some photographs includes stamps and or captions to provide context. Sizes vary, although most are 8x10-inches.
Of particular note are illustrations by Fred Takasumi for Delta Airlines and a lithographic reproduction of the painting "Frontier Rose" by artist R.C. Gorman, for Frontier Airlines. There is one audio item: a 33 RPM sound recording of a speech by Bob Crandall, Senior Vice President of Marketing for American Airlines.
While most of the collection is dedicated to airlines, some materials relate to professional agencies that may have provided support or services, such as fuel, to the commercial airline industry and worked with multiple airlines. Companies include, but are not limited to, the Air Transportation Association of America, the Australia National Airlines Commission, the Railway Express Agency, Texaco, and the United States Postal Service. Types of material include, but are not limited to, brochures, frequent flyer materials, posters, and route maps.
Dates
- Creation: 1910s-2020s
Language of Materials
Most of the materials are in English; some of the material is in other languages including Chinese, French, German, Japanese, and Spanish. When non-English language materials are present, it is noted on the individual folder.
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research but has not been fully processed. Some materials may need additional processing before researcher use. Please contact us for details.
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
5 Cubic Feet (4 lateral file cabinet drawers, 12 vertical file cabinet drawers)
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.
Note on Arrangement
The materials are sorted alphabetically by airline, then arranged alphabetically by subject. Not all airlines have all subjects. In general, the subjects are:
- Advertisements
- Aircraft -- photographs and postcards
- Brochures
- Decals and stickers
- Employees, Events and Facilities -- photographs
- Flight attendants -- photographs
- Flight attendants -- recruitment brochures
- Frequent Flyer program materials
- Menus
- Pilots -- photographs
- Pilots -- recruitment brochures
- Posters, lithographs, and artwork
- Printed ephemera
- Route maps
- Safety cards
- Stationery and postcards
- Tickets, boarding passes, and luggage tags
- Timetables and flight schedules
Note that postcards appear in two locations: Aircraft and Stationery. Photographic postcards that feature an aircraft in airline livery remain in the Aircraft section, while postcards that may feature any other topic have been grouped within Stationery. Advertisements, brochures, and Frequent Flyer program materials may have some overlap or similar materials.
Other Finding Aids
Due to the size of the Commercial Airlines Collection, the finding aid is published in four parts.
Part 2 is available online at https://archives.museumofflight.org/repositories/2/resources/718
Part 3 is available online at https://archives.museumofflight.org/repositories/2/resources/719
Part 4 is available online at https://archives.museumofflight.org/repositories/2/resources/720
Custodial History
As an artificial collection, these materials were collected and acquired through a variety of sources. Provenance information has not been maintained for all items.
Accruals
This collection is expected to grow.
Processing Information
Processing work done prior to 2024 by archives staff included some sleeving of photographs and fragile materials. In 2024, the Reference Archivist began a review to bring the collection up to current best practices and to bring various artificial collections together. As needed, materials were separated from the archival component and sent to the library, objects storage, or the trade literature collections. Excessive duplicates were removed. Sleeving or interleaving of photographs and fragile materials was fully completed. Materials were placed in acid-free folders and arranged in alphabetical order by airline.
Subject
- AccessAir (Organization)
- Aer Lingus (Organization)
- Aėroflot (Airline) (Organization)
- Aerolíneas Argentinas (Organization)
- Aeromech Airlines (1951-1983) (Organization)
- Aeroméxico (Organization)
- Aeroperú (1973-1999) (Organization)
- Aerotransport, Aktiebolaget (Organization)
- Aerovias Centrale S.A. (Organization)
- Aerovías Nacionales de Colombia (Organization)
- Air 1 (Organization)
- Air Afrique (Organization)
- Air Algérie (Organization)
- Air Atlanta (Organization)
- Air Canada (Organization)
- Air Congo (Organization)
- Air Florida (Organization)
- Air France (Organization)
- Air Illinois (Organization)
- Air-India (Organization)
- Air Jamaica (Organization)
- Air Mauritius (Organization)
- Air Midwest (Organization)
- Air New England (Organization)
- Air New Orleans (Organization)
- Air New Zealand (Organization)
- Air North (Organization)
- Air Orient (Organization)
- Air South (Organization)
- Air Tanzania (Organization)
- Air Transport Association of America (Organization)
- Air Virginia (Organization)
- Air West (Organization)
- Air Wisconsin (Organization)
- AirCal (Firm) (1981-1987) (Organization)
- Alaska Airlines (Organization)
- Alaska-Washington Airways (Organization)
- 'Ālyah (Organization)
- Alitalia (Airline) (Organization)
- Allegheny Airlines (Organization)
- Aloha Airlines, Inc. (Organization)
- Altair Airlines (Organization)
- Zen Nihon Kūyu Kabushiki Kaisha (Organization)
- America West Airlines (Organization)
- American Airlines (Organization)
- American Airways (1930-1934) (Organization)
- American Eagle (Organization)
- American Export Airlines (1937-1945) (Organization)
- American Flyers Airline (Organization)
- American Overseas Airlines (1945-1950) (Organization)
- American International Airways (1984-1997) (Organization)
- Ansett Australia (Organization)
- Antillean Airlines (Organization)
- Apache Airlines (Organization)
- Australia Airlines (Organization)
- Australian National Airways (Organization)
- Österreichische Luftverkehrs-Aktiengesellschaft (Organization)
- Aviogenex (Organization)
- Bahamasair Holdings (Firm) (Organization)
- Best Airlines (Organization)
- Boeing Air Transport (Organization)
- Bonanza Air Lines (Organization)
- Boston-Maine Airways (Organization)
- Bowen Air Lines (Organization)
- Braniff Airways (Organization)
- British Airways (Organization)
- British Caledonian Airways (Organization)
- British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines (Organization)
- British European Airways Corporation (Organization)
- bmi British Midland (Airline) (Organization)
- British Overseas Airways Corporation (Organization)
- British United Airways (Organization)
- British West Indian Airways (Organization)
- Britt Airways (Organization)
- Brockway Air (Organization)
- Burlington Air (Organization)
- California Aerial Transport Ltd (Organization)
- Cal-State Air Lines (Organization)
- Canadian Airlines International (Organization)
- Canadian Airways Limited (Organization)
- Canadian Colonial Airways, Limited (Organization)
- Capital Airlines (Organization)
- Capitol International Airways (Organization)
- Caribair (Dominican Republic) (Organization)
- Caribair (Puerto Rico) (Organization)
- Catalina Channel Airlines (Organization)
- Cathay Pacific Airways (Organization)
- Central African Airways Corporation (Organization)
- Central Aircraft Company (Organization)
- Central Airlines (Organization)
- Century Pacific Lines Limited (Organization)
- Chicago and Southern Air Lines (Organization)
- Chicago Helicopter Airways (Organization)
- China Airlines (Organization)
- China National Aviation Corporation (Organization)
- China. Min yong hang kong zong ju (Organization)
- City Airlink Corporation (Organization)
- City Express (Organization)
- Coastal Airways (Organization)
- Colonial Air Transport (Organization)
- Colonial Airlines (Organization)
- Columbia Pacific Airlines (Organization)
- Comair (United States) (Organization)
- Commuter Airlines (Organization)
- Condor Flugdienst GmbH (Organization)
- CP Air (Organization)
- Continental Airlines (Organization)
- Continental Micronesia (Organization)
- Curtiss-Wright Flying Service, Inc. (Organization)
- Delta Air Lines (Organization)
- Deruluft (Firm) (Organization)
- Deutsche Lufthansa (1926-1945) (Organization)
- Deutsche Lufthansa (1953- ) (Organization)
- Dolphin Airlines (Organization)
- East African Airways (Organization)
- East Coast Airways (Organization)
- East-West Airlines (Australia) (Organization)
- Eastern Air Lines (Organization)
- Empresa Ecuatoriana de Aviación (Organization)
- El Al Israel Airlines (Organization)
- Ellis Air Lines (Organization)
- Embry-Riddle Co. Inc (Organization)
- Emirates (Airline) (Organization)
- Empire Airlines (Organization)
- Empire Airlines, Inc. (New York) (Organization)
- ERA Classic Airlines (Organization)
- Ethiopian Airlines (Organization)
- Far Eastern Air Transport (Organization)
- Fiji Airways (Organization)
- Finnair (Organization)
- Florida Express (Organization)
- Freedom Airlines (Organization)
- Frontier Airlines (1950-1986) (Organization)
- Frontier Airlines (1994-) (Organization)
Genre / Form
- admission tickets
- advertisements
- airline maps
- baggage claim checks
- boarding passes
- booklets
- brochures
- decals
- lithographs
- luggage tags
- matchbooks
- menus
- negatives (photographs)
- photographic postcards
- photographic prints
- postcards
- posters
- printed ephemera
- safety cards
- slides (photographs)
- stationery
- transportation timetables
Topical
- Title
- Guide to the Commercial Airlines Collection (Part 1, A-F)
- Status
- Completed Level 2
- Author
- Jenn Parent
- Date
- 2024, 2025
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- English
- Edition statement
- 1st edition
Revision Statements
- 2025: This finding aid will be updated monthly with additional materials and agents.
Repository Details
Part of the The Museum of Flight Archives Repository
9404 East Marginal Way South
Seattle Washington 98108-4097
206-764-7874
curator@museumofflight.org