With collections as vast as those here at Hagley Museum and Library, it can be difficult to grasp the variety of materials and histories being preserved in our stacks. To delve into smaller and perhaps lesser-known collections, we are introducing a new Staff Favorites series. Every quarter, hear from the experts, the people who first lay hands on our archives and objects, about the items that made a mark. Maybe you'll find something new to investigate.
Our first Staff Favorites interviewee is Laurie Sather, the Head of Technical Services at the Hagley Library, speaking about the Ransom Airlines collection.
Q: What is your role here at Hagley?
A: As Head of Technical Services, I supervise the Technical Services Department. We are responsible for accessioning all incoming materials; processing all archival collections and making them available in Hagley’s Finding Aids Database; cataloging all published works and making them available in Hagley’s Library Catalog; and managing all of the library and archives collection spaces.
Q: How do you engage with the materials Hagley collects?
A: Through my entire job! I particularly enjoy working with corporate records. I love how the materials document the functions, tasks, and decision-making of both the company and the daily work of the individual employees. Viewing the various types of materials created throughout employees' work within the context of the company, industry, and external impactful events can provide great historical significance for researchers.
Q: What is one of your favorite collections?
A: One of my favorite collections is Accession 2136, Ransome Airlines/Pan Am Express/Trans World Express records.
Q: Why does this material stand out to you?
A: The Ransome/PAE/TWE collection demonstrates this so very well. It consists of the files of seven individual employees in various positions who worked at the company through its many changes (from Ransome Airlines to PanAm Express to Trans World Express). It is an amazing representation of the challenges all commercial airlines experienced: frequent oil crises, rising costs on airline jet fuel throughout the 1970s, the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) walkout of 1981, the single worst month in Aviation history for passenger fatalities in August 1985, bankruptcies, and corporate raiders takeovers in the 1990s.
I am of course grossly oversimplifying over forty years of aviation history and the history of this particular company. This collection is a gem and contains a wealth of information about the effects of deregulation, aircraft acquisitions, labor unions, collective bargaining, company mergers and transitions, and bankruptcy.
To learn more about the Ransome Airlines/PAE/TWE records, visit the Hagley Finding Aids Database. For more information on using Hagley collections, please reach out to our Reference Services staff at askhagley@hagley.org.
Hannah Spring Pfeifer is the Library Coordinator and interviewer for Staff Favorites at Hagley Museum and Library