From the Hangars

Archives Thanksgiving: Bountiful Bags Edition!

Nov 13, 2018

'Tis the season for giving thanks, and we are thankful for our volunteers and all of their hard work! Their contributions make many large tasks manageable, such as preserving our vintage flight bags.

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The Archives has an abundant collection of flight bags in all shapes and sizes. From amenity kits, to satchels and beach totes...bags are our, well, bag! So what do you do when you have a bountiful harvest of flight bags?

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The team is hard at work stuffing bags and making sure Judy doesn't slip up! From left: Volunteer Manager Judy Bean; Preservation Manager Tina Seetoo; and Super Volunteer Rowena Bailey.

You throw a stuffing party! No, not turkey stuffing. To keep their shape for preservation, many of our flight bags from yesteryear need to be stuffed with polyester batting and archival ethafoam. This ensures the bags don't crack, warp, or sag in any way so that future generations enjoy them as we do today. 

Please enjoy this gallery of some of the crew's handiwork! 

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The "All Hail the Queen" bag on the left commemorates the final farewell tour of Delta's 747 fleet in December, 2017. The red widget logo bag celebrates 75 Years of Delta Flight Attendants and was designed by Zac Posen in 2015!

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Here are two vintage Northwest Orient bags! On the left is a Florida beach tote and on the right is a stylish gold flight bag promoting "The Fan-Jet Airline."

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Hughes Airwest always knew how to make things pop with color, these bags included! The Hughes Airwest logo linking three diamond-like units makes a stylized "HH," the initials of the airline's famous owner Howard Hughes. 

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Have to love that National Airlines Sun King logo and the classic Pan Am Globe!

See our cornucopia of flight bags and more in our online collections!

Austin Coleman

Registrar

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