AirCorps Library Collections Storage Area Tour
Thu Oct 26, 2023 6:11 pm
About a month ago, I created a thread using the pictures I took during a tour of the collections storage area of the Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum. After thinking about it, I had an idea.
If you look at the average aviation museum website, there is maybe one picture of the museum's collections - if a page for it even exists at all. As a result, the general public often isn't aware that such collections exist. Even in cases where detailed finding aids have been created, it is still somewhat difficult to get a grasp of the collection as a whole. Just being able to actually see the archives can be helpful in knowing what is actually present. (see "visible storage")
Therefore, I was inspired to try to start a new series of collections storage area tours. I asked a number of museums and other institutions if they could provide a few pictures of their storage area. So far I have received one response, from Ester Aube of AirCorps Library. (Additional pictures were taken from ACL weekly update emails and a Warbirds News article.) As discussed in a previous thread, their major collection is of course the Ken Jungeberg Collection. The company purchased a building just to hold the collection. These pictures were taken throughout 2020, so you can see some of the progress she has made in cataloging and storing the collection:
13 December 2019: The collection is stacked up against the wall after arriving in Bemidji, Minnesota:
(Source: Imgur via Warbirds News via AirCorps Library)
13 December 2019: Another view of the room:
(Source: Imgur via email)
10 February 2020: The document on the back wall is a list of the part number prefixes, also known as "charge numbers", used by North American to identify their aircraft designs. Given that the Jungeberg Collection features a smattering of aircraft, it is used to identify the series to which a drawing belongs. A sticky note accompanies each stack of drawings, noting which aircraft the drawings are for:
(Source: Imgur via email)
7 May 2020: A table has been brought in to aid in the sorting:
(Source: Imgur via email)
7 May 2020: Close up of the above:
(Source: Imgur via Warbirds News via AirCorps Library)
10 June 2020: The pile of cardboard boxes in the background has decreased and the number of drawings on the floor increased. The plastic totes have been unpacked and are also gone:
(Source: Imgur via AirCorps Library)
10 June 2020: The easel in the background holds a copy of a drawing reproduced from microfilm, showcasing the higher quality of the original drawings by contrast:
(Source: Imgur via Warbirds News via AirCorps Library)
Week of 26 June 2020: An over 35-foot drawing of the B-25 heat and vent system is unrolled across the room:
(Source: Imgur via email)
22 September 2020: Flat files that arrived during the summer have been brought into the room:
(Source: Imgur via Warbirds News via AirCorps Library)
28 October 2020: They store the smaller P-51 drawings:
(Source: Imgur via email)
18 November 2020: Some of the drawings have been placed in archival storage tubes:
(Source: Imgur via email)
Lastly, part of the museum's remaining collection of manuals is visible in the background of a video about Ester Aube.
EDIT (23-10-28): Corrected "Bemidji, North Dakota" to "Bemidji, Minnesota".
If you look at the average aviation museum website, there is maybe one picture of the museum's collections - if a page for it even exists at all. As a result, the general public often isn't aware that such collections exist. Even in cases where detailed finding aids have been created, it is still somewhat difficult to get a grasp of the collection as a whole. Just being able to actually see the archives can be helpful in knowing what is actually present. (see "visible storage")
Therefore, I was inspired to try to start a new series of collections storage area tours. I asked a number of museums and other institutions if they could provide a few pictures of their storage area. So far I have received one response, from Ester Aube of AirCorps Library. (Additional pictures were taken from ACL weekly update emails and a Warbirds News article.) As discussed in a previous thread, their major collection is of course the Ken Jungeberg Collection. The company purchased a building just to hold the collection. These pictures were taken throughout 2020, so you can see some of the progress she has made in cataloging and storing the collection:
13 December 2019: The collection is stacked up against the wall after arriving in Bemidji, Minnesota:
(Source: Imgur via Warbirds News via AirCorps Library)
13 December 2019: Another view of the room:
(Source: Imgur via email)
10 February 2020: The document on the back wall is a list of the part number prefixes, also known as "charge numbers", used by North American to identify their aircraft designs. Given that the Jungeberg Collection features a smattering of aircraft, it is used to identify the series to which a drawing belongs. A sticky note accompanies each stack of drawings, noting which aircraft the drawings are for:
(Source: Imgur via email)
7 May 2020: A table has been brought in to aid in the sorting:
(Source: Imgur via email)
7 May 2020: Close up of the above:
(Source: Imgur via Warbirds News via AirCorps Library)
10 June 2020: The pile of cardboard boxes in the background has decreased and the number of drawings on the floor increased. The plastic totes have been unpacked and are also gone:
(Source: Imgur via AirCorps Library)
10 June 2020: The easel in the background holds a copy of a drawing reproduced from microfilm, showcasing the higher quality of the original drawings by contrast:
(Source: Imgur via Warbirds News via AirCorps Library)
Week of 26 June 2020: An over 35-foot drawing of the B-25 heat and vent system is unrolled across the room:
(Source: Imgur via email)
22 September 2020: Flat files that arrived during the summer have been brought into the room:
(Source: Imgur via Warbirds News via AirCorps Library)
28 October 2020: They store the smaller P-51 drawings:
(Source: Imgur via email)
18 November 2020: Some of the drawings have been placed in archival storage tubes:
(Source: Imgur via email)
Lastly, part of the museum's remaining collection of manuals is visible in the background of a video about Ester Aube.
EDIT (23-10-28): Corrected "Bemidji, North Dakota" to "Bemidji, Minnesota".
Last edited by Noha307 on Sat Oct 28, 2023 3:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: AirCorps Library Collections Storage Area Tour
Fri Oct 27, 2023 1:04 am
Impressive collection and a lot of work to preserve the documents.
But don't you mean Bemidji, Minnesota, not North Dakota?
But don't you mean Bemidji, Minnesota, not North Dakota?
Re: AirCorps Library Collections Storage Area Tour
Sat Oct 28, 2023 3:15 pm
JohnB wrote:But don't you mean Bemidji, Minnesota, not North Dakota?
Darn it, not again! Yes, my mistake. For some reason my brain refuses to get that detail correct. I must have incorrectly stated that AirCorps Library is in "Bemidji, North Dakota" about a hundred times. It's gotten to the point that I've become cognizant of it and been telling people it's either in "North Dakota or Minnesota, I can't remember which". (I do have to laugh that it's so pervasive that its finally made its way into print, though.) Sorry, Ester, I don't know why I can't keep that straight. It probably has something to do with the fact that a one of their major clients is from that state. Or maybe its just because they're all just a whole lotta nothing up there...
