International Women's Air & Space Museum

As the only museum of our kind in the world, we are in a unique position to not only preserve the history made by women in these fields, but to also use it to teach, inspire, and engage the next generation. We still have guests coming in who have never heard of the WASP, the Mercury 13, nor the 60-plus women who have gone into space. From the early days with Katharine Wright through current NASA astronaut Christina Koch, women have been at every step of aviation history. They have broken altitude records, sound barriers, and gender stereotypes. They have designed aircraft, safety equipment, and space exploration programs. However, they have not always been acknowledged nor even recognized along the way. The percentage of books and films about women and their contributions to aviation is far lower than that of men. They deserve to have their stories preserved so that all can know them. Bessie Coleman once said, “the air is the only place free of prejudices.” We want others to know that freedom.

By honoring these women, sharing their stories, and giving them credit for their accomplishments, we want to recognize their place in history. It is crucial to educate the current generation so that today's prejudices do not carry on into the next generation. Surprisingly, we still see young girls coming into the museum who didn’t think they could be a pilot nor astronaut because of their gender. Encouraging them to follow their dreams, and providing inspiration and ways to achieve them, is crucial to keeping the messages of Amelia Earhart, Bessie Coleman, Harriet Quimby, Eileen Collins, the WASP, and so many other women who broke barriers, alive.

By using this history as a teaching tool, we can educate the current generation and inspire future generations. We hold information or memorabilia on over 6,000 women from the aviation and aerospace fields. This includes an astronaut’s flight jacket, a homebuilt aircraft, a flight attendant’s uniform, a hot air balloonist’s portrait, trophies, and a variety of other items. We want to be able to share this information with the community through exhibits and outreach programs, as well as make it accessible to the world.

The museum hosts many different types of events, for all ages, throughout the year. We use the exhibits within the museum as part of our tours and programs for children of all ages. The exhibits are also incorporated into scavenger hunts and other interactive activities for the children. We have also created traveling exhibits, which are rented by libraries, schools, and other organizations, allowing communities around the country to benefit from our archives. Our research facility is utilized by authors, filmmakers, and many others from all over the world.

Because we have the artifacts, photos, and documents in-house, we are able to readily access them for any project, event, or research request we have. We are able to create exhibits that showcase the history of these women, develop outreach programs to share with all ages in the community, and put on events that inspire and encourage young people to follow their dreams. We have a dedicated staff, team of interns (from various colleges and universities), and volunteers that help us achieve these goals. We have also developed a volunteer coordinator position to strengthen our volunteer program.

In the last several years, we have rebranded, reorganized, and redeveloped much of the museum. We put a heavy emphasis on updating our mission and our vision, including updating our policies and programming. We have invested a lot of time in giving ourselves a bigger presence on various social platforms to keep up with growing technological trends. We are also cross-networking with local community resources to bring better awareness to what we have to offer. We have seen a drastic increase in interest in who we are and what we are doing. Currently, we are working on projects that will further develop programming for teenagers, online research tools for access to our collection, and creating more community outreach events.