museum central
When I was working regularly for a part-time employer I began saving every piece of used (printed on only one side; other side clean), not folded, white, 8.5″ x 11″ paper I could find so I could use it in an ongoing project at AeroKnow Museum. Now, with hours reduced at the employer, I need even more paper like that to continue the project.
The paper is needed so I can tape clippings smaller than 5″ x 7″ from magazines and other publications to a full-size sheet of clean white paper. Why? I’ve learned over the years that the small clipping is best “saved” in AeroKnow files riding a larger sheet of paper. Otherwise it is “scrunched” into a small wad or lump at the bottom of files and does not copy well. With small strips of magic tape from an office dispenser, I tape every corner of small clippings to the larger sheets, sometimes two or three clippings — about, say Spitfires — to a single sheet. In addition to preserving the clippings, it reduces the number of small clippings in the files. A visitor going through the files saves time since information is consolidated.
It doesn’t matter what’s on the other side of the sheet. It can be the your discontinued company letterhead, memoranda, office communications, commercial printing output rejected and usually sent to a recycler or pitched into a trash bin. I’m never going to look at what’s printed because the clean side is what matters.
You say you don’t have paper, but you want to donate some tape? Terrific. We can make good use of it!
Why bother with small clips anyway? Often a page — say correspondence pages from an extra, broken up American Aviation Historical Society Journal — has information about more than one topic: the fate of Boeing 314s, serials of B-17s flown by the 82nd Bomb Group, the fate of a Bellanca Cruisemaster — and those letters to the editor are separated and distributed to appropriate files. Another magazine might have terrific pictures of a 747, a Canadair Challenger and a restored T-28. Each picture and caption is placed in the file created for the type.
Some may say this project is really “tinker toy” for a museum. Who cares about a small picture of a Piper Cub in a forgotten magazine? If the picture is unusual, and print quality is good, showing the registration, perhaps the location of the Cub, something I’ve not seen before — and I’ve seen lots of pictures of Piper Cubs — that picture is worth saving on its own large sheet of 8.5″ x 11″ white paper. Multiply that clipped picture by thousands, and you understand the need for paper you can send our way. If you have paper as described to donate via post or delivered to the AeroKnow Museum, please consider donating the postage (to AeroKnow Museum, 900 Capital Airport Drive, Springfield, IL 62707) and transportation cost to this museum, located at the FBO across the parking lot from the Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport Terminal building, Springfield, Illinois. If you are located in Springfield, call or e me, and I will be happy to come to you to pick it up. Better yet, bring the paper to the museum and let me show you around.
The small clipping project is just one of many tasks engaged daily at AeroKnow Museum. Be a part of it. Join Abe Lincoln’s Air Force and volunteer your time. What a terrific Christmas present your membership will be to yourself and to those who will benefit from your support.
Clear skies and happy landings!
Abe Lincoln's Air Force 