Al Osterud Northwest Airlines Collection

Collection — Multiple Containers

Identifier: 2024-02-08-2

Contents of the Collection

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The Al Osterud Northwest Airlines Collection holds textual and audiovisual materials that pertain to Osterud's career of more than two decades with Northwest Airlines (NWA). The collection sheds light on the administrative operations of the airline from the 1960s-1980s. The materials have not been fully processed, but have been roughly grouped by type.

The bulk of the materials are textual in nature. They include Osterud's office files (Boxes 1-3), materials from various NWA trainings and seminars (Boxes 4-6), and Northwest Airline employee documents, including staff resumes, review guidelines, benefit documentation, employee policies and procedures, and pay information (Boxes 7-10). The bulk and strength of the collection is financial documents (Boxes 11-17 and oversize folder 1) for the airline, including internal audit information and finance-related correspondence.

Dates

Creation: circa 1960s-1980s

Creator

Osterud, Al, 1942-2023 (Person)

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.

Biographical Note: Al Osterud

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Al Osterud (1942-2023) worked for Northwest Airlines for over 20 years in a number of administrative positions.

Allan "Al" Lee Osterud was born on September 1, 1942 to Kenneth and Dorothy (Wellington) Osterud in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He had two sisters, Grey and JoAnn who was a well-known stunt pilot. By 1950, the family had relocated to Seattle, Washington, which is where Osterud spent his formative years. He graduated from Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington and then earned his master's degree from the University of Washington in Seattle.

After college, Osterud began working for Northwest Airlines (NWA) and relocated back to Minnesota, until he was drafted to serve in the Vietnam War in 1967. He served in the army for two years at posts in Germany and the United States. After his service, he returned to NWA. Over the next two decades, Osterud held a variety of positions with NWA, including managing in-flight services, helping to computerize flight schedules, and working in the accounting department as both a Certified Management Accountant and a Certified Internal Auditor. After his time at Northwest, he worked for Gage marketing in the accounting department.

Osterud married Drucilla Ann Gnagey (1943-2025) on December 30, 1967. The couple had two sons. Osterud was very passionate about Marx toy trains and was a long-time member of the Lakes and Pines division of the Train Collectors Association, including serving as treasurer and president. He also loved repairing and restoring Studebaker cars, and owned several over his lifetime. Al Osterud died on October 15, 2023, in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Biography derived from collection materials and records on Ancestry.com.

Full Extent

7.5 Cubic Feet (16 5-inch letter-size document boxes, 1 2-inch legal size document box, 1 16x20-inch folder, 1 audiocassette, 4 VHS tapes)

Language

English

Additional Description

Accruals

No further accruals are expected.

Related Materials at The Museum of Flight

The Museum of Flight also holds collections related to stunt pilot Joann Osterud, sister of Al Osterud:

Joann Osterud Record-Breaking Flight Photograph, finding aid online at https://archives.museumofflight.org/repositories/2/resources/522

Joann Osterud Logbooks and Scrapbooks, finding aid online at https://archives.museumofflight.org/repositories/2/resources/692

Joann Osterud Airshow Collection, finding aid online at https://archives.museumofflight.org/repositories/2/resources/562

Separated Materials

As part of the archival processing some items were separated and are kept in Objects storage, including lapel pins, garment bags, and a Levolor Racing 88 jacket. Serials and newsletters were sent to the library, Northwest Airlines annual reports and press packets were sent to Trade Literature; and Northwest Airlines timetables were sent to the Commercial Airlines collection. Please contact us for more details.

Processing Information

The collection arrived in no discernible order. Minor processing work was completed on this collection. Although most materials arrived in folders, a number of documents were loose. These were placed in acid-free folders. Some of the original folders were replaced based on their condition, although original folder titles were retained where present. Excessive duplicates were removed from the collection.