National Air and Space Museum Archives

Mohawk Airlines Negatives [Smith]

Summary

Collection ID:
NASM.2017.0047
Creators:
Smith, C. Hadley, 1910-2004.
Dates:
1948-1965
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
0.21 Cubic feet
1 box
Repository:
Mohawk Airlines was founded in 1945 as Robinson Aviation and was based out of Ithaca Municipal Airport in New York. C. Hadley Smith (1910-2004) began taking photographs at age five and received formal training in photography at the Patuxent River Naval Air Base where he served as a Photographer's Mate First Class during World War II. After the war, he began his career as a commercial photographer in Ithaca, New York. One of his clients was Robinson Aviation, later Mohawk Airlines. This collection consists of approximately 250 images taken by C. Hadley Smith pertaining to Mohawk Airlines, and a few from their predecessor Robinson Aviation.

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
This collection consists of approximately 250 images taken by C. Hadley Smith pertaining to Mohawk Airlines, and a few from their predecessor Robinson Aviation. The images are in negative format, and are mostly 4 by 5 inches, with some smaller formats occasionally mixed in. All images except one are black and white. The negatives are in individually numbered envelopes with a number scheme applied by Smith which is comprised of the date (year-month-day) and a shot number from that day. Some of the envelopes contain duplicate negatives or contact prints, and some contain two separate images. The images show Mohawk Airlines personnel; facilities; aircraft; passengers; and company events. Aircraft shown in the images include the Douglas DC-3, Convair 240 Convair-Liner, and Beech Bonanza 35. Two passengers of note that appear in the images are actress Shelley Winters and President Harry S. Truman.

Arrangement

Arrangement
This collection is in original order using the numbers that were applied by the creator.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Mohawk Airlines was founded in 1945 as Robinson Aviation and was based out of Ithaca Municipal Airport in New York. In 1948, the airline was certified as a local service carrier by the Civil Aeronautics Board and they were awarded numerous routes in the Mohawk Valley. At this time, the airline adopted the slogan "Route of the Air Chiefs" and began using a logo of a Native American on their aircraft. In 1952, the name was changed to Mohawk Airlines. By 1956, the airline had moved its corporate offices to Utica and the airline's operations base moved to Oneida County Airport in Whitestown, New York in 1958. Also in 1958, Mohawk employed the country's first African American flight attendant, Ruth Carol Taylor. Mohawk was responsible for a number of other firsts including being the first airline to used a centralized computer-based reservation service (1961), the first regional airline to used flight simulators (1965), and the first regional airline to fly jets (1965). Mohawk was purchased by Allegheny Airlines in 1972 which later became US Airways. US Airways merged with America West Airlines in 2005 and purchased American Airlines in 2015 and now operates under the American Airlines name and logo.

Administration

Author
Jessamyn Lloyd
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Hadley Smith, Gift, 2017, NASM.2017.0047
Processing Information
Arranged and described by Jessamyn Lloyd in 2017, encoded by Jessamyn Lloyd in 2020.

Digital Content


Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Use
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access.
Preferred Citation
Mohawk Airlines Negatives [Smith], NASM.2017.0047, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Douglas DC-3 Family Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Convair 240 Convair-Liner Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Beech Bonanza 35 Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Ithaca (N.Y.) Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Negatives Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Mohawk Airlines Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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