On April 30, the UAHF Executive Team met with UAL management.  While United representatives have made it clear the company does not wish to relinquish the UAL archive collection to the UAHF, they are committed to maintain, preserve and protect their collection and collaborate with the Foundation to that end. United will engage its legal department to draft a document relative to this arrangement for review by the UAHF before the end of May. In addition, United plans to hire a part-time archivist to help achieve their goals. Updates will follow. 

Please read the following background article on the UAHF's ongoing efforts to bring the historical archives of generations of workers at United under the watch and ownership of the United Airlines Historical Foundation.

We would like to provide the background of how this collection came to be. In the mid-1960s, plans were approved by the UAL board of directors to build a United museum on the grounds of the Executive Office (EXO) in suburban Chicago. The museum was to be named after William A. (Pat) Patterson who served as President of United from 1934-1966 leading the company out of its pioneering past to become the world’s biggest airline.

Adrian Delfino, a United employee, was selected to head the project and he began collecting memorabilia from early airmail pilots, mechanics, and former employees of United’s four predecessor airlines (Boeing Air Transport, National Air Transport, Pacific Air Transport and Varney Airlines) in addition to United active and retired employees. The collection was extensive.

UAL President William A. Patterson stepped down in 1966 and George Keck assumed the role of President. The company experienced losses and the museum project was cancelled. Some of the memorabilia was displayed in the lobby for a period of time at EXO but most of it was stored in a locked room in the basement of EXO where it remained until 1995 in a state of disarray.

The museum concept was resurrected by strong employee interest in 1995 and United paid for the construction of a mini-museum that was located in the large entry lobby of the Executive Suite and also extended to adjacent hallways.

An archive program was also created and staffed with one United employee who recruited over 15 volunteers from the Retired United Airlines Employees Association (RUAEA) and from the Chicago chapter of Clipped Wings. Retired UAL historian Adrian Delfino served as a consultant on many projects. All the memorabilia that was inherited as well as new acquisitions were numbered and logged in a database. Special care was given to protect all of the objects in temperature controlled conditions. A traveling history exhibit was also funded which made the rounds to around five U.S. airports per year during a five year period. A history website, the most extensive in the industry, was developed at www.united.com as well as an oral history program. Utilizing the resources of the archives, the Age of Flight book was published in celebration of United’s 75th anniversary.

In 2005, one year before United Airlines exited bankruptcy, the archive program was eliminated and in 2006, the World Headquarters (WHQ) corporate museum was dismantled. The artifacts were again placed in “cold” storage in the basement of WHQ as they were prior to 1995.

Since the 1970s, UAHF has mounted displays of its own memorabilia at DENTK (Denver Flight Center) and it is there that the Foundation shares an office with RUAEA. The UAHF is continuing to mount displays and works in harmony with the United management team at DENTK. The DENTK leadership has offered the Foundation sufficient space to store the archive collection according to prescribed standards that is now housed at the Chicago area Operations Center (formerly EXO/WHQ). It is this collection that the Foundation is now seeking to acquire.

The UAHF’s position is to bring the remainder of the archival collection into the hands of the Foundation as it has a vested long term interest in the United history, memorabilia and archives. The collection is comprised of the good faith donations from employees and retirees. The Foundation is a 501c3 tax exempt not for profit organization and has the capability to assume ownership of the archive collection. This transfer would preclude officials at United Airlines from breaking up the collection and possibly selling it for profit.

RUAEA entered an informal alliance with UAHF in 2005.  Since then, the RUPA Retired Pilots, AFA-CWA Retired Members Chapters of Flight Attendants and an IAM group in SFO have also joined the alliance - now, over 17,000 retirees share a desire to preserve United’s rich history.   The late William A. Patterson’s daughter Pat Patterson Dudley and his son William A. Patterson, Jr., recently wrote to the president of United Airlines to support the transfer of the archives at United to the UAHF.   In addition, the Foundation has reached out to unions representing workers at United Airlines and their response resulted in a joint letter of support to the UAL Corp. Board of Directors from the Union presidents.

If you would like to contribute to this UAHF initiative or other Foundation programs please click on the “Get Involved” link above.