Aviation Museum Libraries and Archives

Material is taken from a Warbird Information Exchange thread.

Introduction

This list has been divided into three sections: libraries, archives, and a third category of "honorable mentions" which don't quite fit the criteria for inclusion below, but are worth noting.

For an institution to meet the criteria for inclusion of this list, it must have a dedicated library or archives page on its website and it must be a museum. The former requirement was selected to demonstrate a museum's dedication to it's library collection. (Some combine them with their collections or donations page.)

The most common bit of information on museum library pages is an approximate count of their holdings. Since size is often the only quantifiable and available form of comparison, it has been included here as a potential comparison of significance. A few caveats regarding these numbers: 1) they may be rounded, 2) they may only reflect cataloged items and not the entire collection, and 3) different organizations use different terms for their materials, so comparison may be somewhat apples to oranges.

Finally, the line between libraries and archives or archives and collections can be blurry and some museums do not make a distinction between the two.

Libraries (Institution – Name of Collection – Size)

• Air Force Museum of New Zealand – Reading Room – 3,500 volumes
• Alberta Aviation Museum – Archives & Research Library – 5,000 volumes; 200,000 digital images
• American Helicopter Museum & Education Center – Library and Archives – 18,000 items
• Atterbury-Bakalar Air Museum – W.J. "Ernie" Schorr Memorial Library – 1,000 books; 220 videos
• British Columbia Aviation Museum – Library – 7,700 books; 670 videos; 30,000 digital images
• Canada Aviation and Space Museum – Library and Archives – Unknown
• EAA Aviation Museum – Library – 11,000 books; 100,000 images
• Empire State Aerosciences Museum – Janz Vander Veer Research Center/Library – 2,100 photographs
• Finnish Aviation Museum – Library and Archives – 16,000 monographs
• Flight Path Museum LAX – William A. Schoneberger Research Library – Unknown
• Frontiers of Flight Museum – Research Library – 35,000 records
• Greenwood Military Aviation Museum – Library – 1,700 books
• Hill Aerospace Museum – Major General Rex A. Hadley Research Library and Archives – Unknown (Closed to Public)
• Hiller Aviation Museum – Michael King Smith Research Library – Unknown
• Historic Aviation Memorial Museum – Library – Unknown
• MAPS Air Museum – Louise Timken Library & Research Center – 7,900 items
• March Field Air Museum – Yeager Family Library – 7,000 volumes
• Military Aviation Museum – Library – 3,100 books
• Millville Army Air Field Museum – Henry E. Wyble Historic Research Library & Education Center – Unknown
• Museum of Flight – Harl V. Brackin Library – 36,000 books; 60,000 journal issues; 18,000 manuals; 6,850 technical reports
• National Air and Space Museum – Library – 40,000 volumes
• National Naval Aviation Museum – Emil Buehler Naval Aviation Library – Unknown (Reference)
• Newark Air Museum – Museum Archive – 5,100 books; 40,000 photographs
• Norwegian Aviation Museum – Library – Unknown
• Planes of Fame Air Museum – Research Library – 10,000 volumes
• Polish Aviation Museum – Library – Unknown
• Royal Air Force Museum – Archive & Library – Unknown
• San Diego Air & Space Museum – Library & Archives – 38,000 items
• Shearwater Aviation Museum – Library & Archives – 13,000 items
• Tangmere Military Aviation Museum – Peter Wright Memorial Library – 4,000 books/periodicals
• Travis Air Force Base Aviation Museum – Library Archives – 3,000 books (Reference)
• United States Army Aviation Museum – Research Library – 3,000 books
• USS Midway Museum – Library – 6,400 volumes; 1,400 cruise books; 1,500 technical manuals; 750 videos; 5,500 magazine issues (Reference)
• Western Museum of Flight – Dr. Ira E. Chart Research Library – Unknown
• Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum – Research Library – 15,000 books; 800 periodicals; 1,000 digitized images

Archives (Institution - Name of Collection - Size)

• Delta Flight Museum - Archives - Unknown
• Fleet Air Arm Museum - Centre for Naval Aviation Records & Research - Unknown
• Glenn L. Martin Maryland Aviation Museum - Archival Collection - 200,000 photographs
• Kansas Aviation Museum - Research Archives - 10,000 books; 75,000 journals; 25,000 photographs (Reference)
• Museum of Flight - Archives - 5,000 cubic feet of items
• Piper Aviation Museum - Archives - Unknown
• Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada - Collections & Archives - 60,000 images

Honorable Mentions (Institution - Name of Collection - Size)

• Cradle of Aviation Museum - New York Heritage Digital Collections - Unknown
• Oregon Aviation Historical Society - Hedberg Aviation Resource Library - 230 books, 160 VHS tapes, 23 DVDs
• SFO Museum - Aviation Museum and Library - 8,600 volumes