International Women's Air & Space Museum

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We're less than a week from this year's Corks on the Concourse event! Now, while ticket sales are closed, you can still show your support for IWASM by bidding on items from our online Silent Auction! All proceeds from the auction support the museum's continuing mission to bring women's experiences in air and space history to life. Click the link to learn more! Click here for more information ?? https://conta.cc/3AtGney

Only three days left to secure your tickets to this year's Corks on the Concourse event happening NEXT Friday, August 30! ??Click the link to learn more about what to expect, preview the silent auction (going "Live" this Sunday online), and more. Don't miss out on this amazing chance to support the museum's mission to preserve, educate and bring history to life for learners of all ages. ??Oh! And make sure to share with your friends! Click?? here to learn more: https://conta.cc/3yzx0cZ

Summer Intern Spotlight... Hi! My name is Isabella and I’ll be taking over the IWASM social media this week! I am a rising junior Bryn Mawr College where I am studying Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology and History of Art. I have always loved museums and after taking some courses in museum studies at school I wanted to gain some experience working at one. That is what led me here! My project this summer is inventorying the museum’s framed collections and helping to design storage for these artifacts in our collections room. Inventorying lets us better understand what exactly is a part of the collections, and I am able to ensure that all of the pieces are properly wrapped and cared for. One of my favorite things about doing this inventory is that you truly do not know what you are going to find! Items in the framed collection range from paintings and photographs to vintage mapigators (a navigational tool) and pieces of fabric from famous planes. Photos: ?? 1: Hi all! It's me, Isabella standing in front of one of my favorite exhibits "The Impact of Katharine Wright." ?? 2: Vintage mapigator: A navigation instrument used for plotting by early pilots. IWASM Collection1992.07. ?? 3: WASP art print: An art print of an oil painting by Gil Cohen titled: WASP Special Delivery. This painting shows five Women's Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) planning a mission to ferry five p-38 Lightning fighters to a port for embarkation. Their background is the tarmac of the Lockheed Aircraft Plant in Burbank, CA during the late autumn of 1944. IWASM Collection 2015.15.1. #internship #Didyouknow #womeninsteam #iwasm #collectionscorner #collectionspotlight #ohiomuseums #womenshistory #museums

The 2024 Olympics are officially underway in Paris, France! Did you happen to catch the nod to aviation history with the lighting of the Olympic cauldron?! If you saw the balloon, remember the feats of remarkable women like Frenchwoman Sophie Blanchard who was among the first women to pilot a balloon in the early 19th century. Swipe to check out our post from women’s history month 2023 to learn more!! ?? 1 credit: @@nbcolympics ?? 2 credit: IWASM Photo Archive, 449 Happy #WomensHistoryMonth! Throughout history, women have broken barriers, stretched boundaries, and paved the way for future generations to continue their work. The history of aviation and space is no different. Women have been integral to aerospace since humans first began dreaming of flight. Sophie Blanchard was born in France in 1778. She witnessed the success of brothers Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Etienne Montgolfier with their attempts at flight through the use of balloons and hot air. She took to it immediately, and made her first solo flight in 1805. After Jean-Pierre’s death, she continued to fly, performing at shows and festivals across Europe. She became so well-known as the first female aeronaut that Napoleon Bonaparte named her France’s Chief Air Minister of Ballooning. Blanchard even performed at a celebration of Bonaparte’s marriage to Marie-Louise of Austria in 1810. However, tragedy struck on July 6, 1819. Blanchard’s basket hit the roof of a building during her descent, pitching her out of the balloon to plummet to the street below. She was buried in Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris, where her epitaph reads “Victime de son Art et de son Intrepidite,” or “Victim of Her Art and Intrepidity.” Image: Sketch of Sophie Blanchard in her tethered balloon, circa 1810. IWASM Photo Collection 449 #aviationhistory #WomensHistory #womeninaviation #seeherbeher #becauseofher #internationalhistory #olympics

Hello! My name is Maia and I'll be taking over the socials for this week! I'm going into my junior year at Ohio University where I'm majoring in journalism. I became interested in this museum due to my love of history and previous experience working in museums like the Kennedy Museum of Art in Athens, OH. Before this summer, like many others, my knowledge of women in air and space was minimal at best. However, since starting at IWASM, I've learned more about aviation and the women who have contributed to its advancement. My projects this summer include diving into the wide and varied secondary and primary sources IWASM houses and collaborating with the other interns in order to create usable lesson plans centered around women in air and space as part of the America 250-Ohio Commission funded project. Ohio, and Cleveland in particular, is deeply connected to aviation history. For example, the first transcontinental women's air derby (1929) ended right here! ?? 1: I'm pictured here standing by the museum's 1967 Link Trainer, flight simulator. Did you know that Marilyn Link, an early participant in the Woman in Space Program though did not complete the testing, was part of the Link Corporation that developed this simulator? ?? 2: Going through the archives during my research into the 1929 derby, I explored the career and experiences of Clevelander and derby participant, Blanche Noyes. After earning her pilot's license and racing cross-country in 1929, she worked in air marking. Pictured here are some of her correspondences about the hazards of false air marking. ?? 3: I'm learning how Ohio was not only the home-state of many notable pilots. Pilots and influencers in aviation were drawn here for many of the early air races including Mary Von Mach. In her manuscript collection are images, correspondence, and so much more to explore. Von Mach was one of the competitors alongside Noyes in the 1929 derby.

Intern Social Media Takeover.... Hi again it’s Kenzie Rae! A fascinating thing about interning her at the International Women’s Air and Space Museum is that I’m learning a lot about collections management, and how a museum determines what is relevant to own within a museum’s collections. We have been so fortunate to have passionate women donors throughout the years who’ve donated so many interesting records. My job thus far has been inventorying all of the books within the museum’s library. One of my favorites has been this biography about Igor Sikorsky. Igor was a key aviation pioneer and is known for his helicopter design. In this book there is an inscription that tells us that this book was given to Elinor Smith, one of our donors, by one of Igor’s relatives, Sergei Sikorsky. Why is this book part of IWASM’s research library? Well, one of the awesome things about this particular collection at the museum is that it helps provide historical context to the activities of women like the Whirly Girls. The Whirly Girls was established in 1955 with the aim to encourage more women to become helicopter pilots. They are now an internationally recognized organization with over 2,000 members! Don’t forget to make plans to checkout the exhibit at the museum on your next trip to Cleveland! ?? 1 & 2: Biography of Igor Sikorsky with inscription to Elinor Smith, an IWASM donor and dubbed "They Flying Flapper of Freeport." ?? 3 & 4: Artifacts, images, books, and records are currently on display at IWASM in our "Whirly Girl" exhibit. I'm excited to learn about this group's history! According to museum staff, many of these artifacts and more were highlighted in the 2023 "Coffee and Collections" program, and were re-discovered in the museum's collections thanks to their 2022 National Endowment for the Humanities grant. Make plans to stop in to take a look!

First up in our intern social media take over... Hey! I’m Kenzie Rae Hall, current intern at the International Women's Air & Space Museum! I’ll be taking over the socials this week to show you all about what I’m working on here at IWASM. I graduated from Baldwin Wallace University with a B.F.A. in Acting and a Minor in Studio Art. I’m switching gears in my career and I’ve done an art conservation internship and now a collections/library based internship here! So far I’ve been working on inventorying accessioned library books, archives, and documents, and starting research on Aerial Nurses! I’m very excited and grateful to begin delving into the research and share it with you all. ?? 1: Hi all! It's Kenzie Rae with one of my favorite exhibits "Women in World War II Aviation." ?? 2 & 3: IWASM not only has books written by women about their experiences. During my inventory, I've been fascinated with the contextual stories and books includes like "Frontiers of Flight" pictured here. ?? 4 & 5: Exploring the history of aerial nurses has been so cool! I'm really enjoying learning about the origins of the Aerial Nurse Corps of America and its founder, Lauretta Schimmoler who was also an Ohioan. Pictured here is just ONE of her scrapbooks in the museum's permanent collection and includes newspaper articles and clippings (1983.31). #inspiration #aviationhistory #WomensHistory #womeninstem #womeninaviation #Aviation #womeninspace #seeherbeher #ThisisCLE #museumsmatter #collectionscorner #collectionspotlight #ohiomuseums #museums #museumcollections #didyouknow #nurses #womeninthemilitary #flightnurses

You may be wondering – what’s going on behind the scenes at IWASM this summer? Well, get ready for our Summer 2024 Intern Social Media Takeover! We’re thrilled to have four amazing students interning with us this summer working on a variety of different projects. Over the course of the next four weeks, they will be taking over our social media highlighting just some of what they’ve been working on since the first of June. But first, let’s do some introductions: Maia is a student at Ohio University majoring in journalism and minoring in history. During the school year, she writes for The Post, the student newspaper. This summer she’s working on our America 250-Ohio grant project! Kenzie is a graduate of Baldwin Wallace University with a degree in fine arts. Prior to joining the IWASM team, she completed an art conservation internship in San Francisco. This summer she’s working on some collections projects…stay tuned! Chinmayee studies at Ohio State University studying History and English and plans to attend law school. If asked, she loves how history provides a platform to bring multiple perspectives to light. This summer she’s working on our America 250-Ohio grant project! Isabella studies at Bryn Mawr College majoring in Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology and History of Art. One of her projects at school was curating a faux art exhibit focused on artwork by women and about women. Her love of art history is paying off this summer as she inventories our framed artwork! Stay tuned as all four give you a glimpse into their day to day at IWASM! #internship #inspiration #aviationhistory #WomensHistory #womeninstem #womeninaviation #mentorship #Aviation #womeninspace #seeherbeher #ThisisCLE #museumsmatter America 250-Ohio Commission Ohio University Baldwin Wallace University Bryn Mawr College