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Archives at The Museum of Flight


Women in aeronautics

 Subject
Subject Source: Library Of Congress Subject Headings
Scope Note: Narrower terms: Women air pilots; Women aircraft industry employees

Found in 46 Collections and/or Records:

Joyce Parker World War II Personal History

 Collection — Folder 1
Identifier: 2024-01-19
Content Description The Joyce Parker World War II Personal History is a small collection consisting of an autobiographical narrative by Joyce Parker who worked as a "Rosie the Riveter" at the Boeing Company during World War II, as well as two photographic portraits. The story, which is four handwritten pages in a spiral-bound notebook, explains how teenage girls and women were recruited to work toward the war effort. Parker initially worked as a messenger for the Office of Civilian Defense. Then,...
Dates: circa 1940s, 2005

Ruth K. (Pellinen) Petrich Photograph Collection

 Collection — Folder 1
Identifier: 2025-06-26
Content Description The Ruth K. (Pellinen) Petrich Photograph Collection is a small collection consisting of 21 photographs and two clippings related to Petrich's time working at the Boeing Company as an assistant to test pilots during World War II. Petrich's wartime work for Boeing primarily consisted of packing parachutes and preparing gear for the company test pilots, and this work is documented through the photographs and clippings. The photographs include black-and-white official Boeing photos,...
Dates: circa 1941-1945

Karen (Jones) Sandaas United Airlines Flight Attendant Collection

 Collection — Multiple Containers
Identifier: 2021-11-01
Content Description The Karen (Jones) Sandaas United Airlines Flight Attendant Collection is a small collection consisting of brochures collected by Karen Sandaas during her time as a flight attendant for United Airlines from 1965-2003. The brochures are predominantly advertisements related to a career as a stewardess for United Airlines and the qualifications needed. One booklet titled "United Flight Blazer Look" illustrates the uniform pieces designed by Stan Herman. There is one clipping from 1938...
Dates: 1938, 1955, circa 1960s-1970s

Signed Group Portrait of African American "Rosie the Riveters"

 Collection — Folder 1
Identifier: 2018-00-00-24
Contents of the Collection The collection consists of a single black-and-white group portrait of eight (8) female African American Boeing assembly workers. It is likely the women worked at the Boeing Renton facility, circa 1940s. The women are posed in front of a Boeing B-29 Superfortress and each has signed the photograph with their name: Back row, left to right: Louise Williams, [illegible], Velma Glass Johnson, Florence Thomas; Front row, left to right: Katie Jeffries, Althea Skelton, Ella Mae, Mary...
Dates: circa 1940s

Howard E. Smith World War II Photograph Collection

 Collection
Identifier: 2020-02-25
Contents of the Collection The Howard E. Smith World War II Photograph Collection is comprised largely of photographic and audiovisual material, including 2,116 prints, 83 negatives, and 5 film reels. The images were taken or collected by Howard E. Smith, a United States Army Air Corps Public Relations Officer and base photographer, primarily while he was stationed at Smoky Hill Army Air Field (SHAAF) in Salina, Kansas. There is also a very small amount of textual documents. Most materials date from 1942-1943, with...
Dates: 1941-1949, 1969, undated

Dorothy (Hester) Stenzel Pilot Collection

 Collection
Identifier: 1992-09-26
Abstract

Dorothy (Hester) Stenzel (1910-1991) was born in Ardenwald, Oregon and learned to fly in the late 1920s. Stenzel then gained fame for stunt flying and broke several records through the mid-1930s. The collection contains seven scrapbooks and assorted textual materials and photographs that document Stenzel's career as one of the first female stunt pilots.

Dates: circa 1928-1991

Steve A. Stimpson Photograph Album

 Collection
Identifier: 1986-03-25
Abstract

Steve A. Stimpson was a manager for Boeing Air Transport in the 1920s-1930s. The collection contains one hundred and fifty-two (152) black-and-white photographs in an unbound photograph album documenting early United Airlines history.

Dates: circa 1920s-1930s

Dora Jean (Dougherty) Strother WASP Photographs Collection

 Collection — Folder 1
Identifier: 1986-12-09-A
Content Description The Dora Jean (Dougherty) Strother WASP Photographs Collection is a small collection consisting of two photographs of Women Air Service Pilots at Elgin Air Force Base with the B-29 "Ladybird" before a B-29 demonstration tour in 1944.The first photograph depicts Women Airforce Service Pilots Dora J. Dougherty and Dorothea J. Moorman accepting aircraft papers from a representative of the Boeing Company for the B-29 "Ladybird" at Eglin Field, Florida, June 1944. Nose art of...
Dates: June 1944

Margery Watson World War II Photographs

 Collection — Folder 1
Identifier: 2017-01-05
Contents of the Collection The Margery Watson World War II Photographs is a small collection comprised of 31 photographs either taken or gathered by Margery Watson while she was employed at North American Aviation in Inglewood, California as a draftsperson between 1943-1945. The photographs are primarily small black-and-white snapshots that document NAA personnel adding a Merlin engine and performing engine tests on the prototype P-51 nicknamed "Baby" for United States Army Air Force ground crews. Some of the...
Dates: circa 1940s

Rita M. (Davoly) Webster WASP Collection

 Collection — Box 1
Identifier: 2024-05-01
Contents of the Collection The Rita M. (Davoly) Webster WASP Collection is a small collection of mainly textual materials that pertains to Rita Davoly's World War II WASP career. The bulk of the materials is contemporaneous with her 1943-1944 service, although a small amount of items is retrospective in nature.World War II-era materials include Davoly's WASP military service records, identification cards, United States Army Air Forces diploma, a photocopy of the WASP songbook and General Hap Arnold's...
Dates: 1941-2010

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