A Social and Charitable Organization of Former/Current American Airlines Stewardesses/Flight Attendants    Chartered 1952                                                                                            www.thekiwiclub.org

August 1, 2008

 

The Kiwi Club/C.R. Smith Exhibit Project Committee

Committee Members

Kathy Joy Minner, Past President, Chair            aakiwiclub@aol.com

Ernie Schade Reis, National President               thekiwiclub-aa@san.rr.com

Roschelle Pope Brown, Ft. Worth Kiwi Chapter    agelesskiwi@yahoo.com

Diane Carrigan Betts, Chicago Kiwi Chapter        dianebetts@sbcglobal.net

Committee members met at the C.R. Smith Museum with curator Jeffrey Johns on July 15 and 16 for a two-day workshop. We began by touring the museum and seeing the newly redesigned exhibits. They are more interactive and engaging than the old style exhibits that showed photos and artifacts in display cases with long explanations.

We also viewed many of the artifacts contained in the archives. These items, including photos, magazines, aircraft models and books are too numerous to display but are valuable pieces of American Airlines history. They may be useful in future exhibits and also provide important information for research purposes.

Jeffrey explained the painstaking process of developing a new exhibit. First a narrative is developed, and then it is broken down into sections. Each section will have an explanation and matching artifacts, digital image or both. Once this is done, a request for proposals (RFP) is made to at least three vendors to develop a design. The vendors present design renderings and we see their vision of the exhibit and the accompanying price tags. Once we choose a design, fundraising ideas are developed between The Kiwi Club and the museum to bring the design of The Kiwi Club exhibit to life.

The committee had the opportunity to visit The National Cowgirl Museum in Ft. Worth and the Old Red Museum in Dallas to view some exciting concepts that we might incorporate in the new Kiwi exhibit. The National Cowgirl Museum had a unique display for various outfits famous women in the rodeo had worn. There was a book of outfits with buttons which allowed you to choose the one you wanted to see. Push the button and utilizing a system something like the circular belt at the dry cleaners, the outfits spun into view. All of us on the committee saw this as a fun way to exhibit a group of the stewardess/flight attendant uniforms.

Other engaging possibilities are murals made of hand-blown glass that change as you move around. They could be used to display photos of early stewardesses changing into the faces of today’s flight attendants as a means to show the evolution of this job into a career.  Or perhaps a touch-screen electronic memory book of photos of all stewardesses/ flight attendants that send in a photo of themselves in uniform? Many exciting ideas will be researched for the new Kiwi exhibit.

New technology allows wonderful options to make exhibits come to life, but may be limited by available funds. Keep in mind that this museum, despite its connection to American Airlines, is a separate non-profit organization which has 501( C) ( 3) status with the I.R.S. While there is input from an executive committee from American Airlines, the museum has very limited financial support from them. The museum must raise its own money through numerous fundraising events. American’s contribution comes in the form of contacts to other companies that may offer financial support.

This is a lengthy process probably taking 12-18 months, but the results will be more than worth it. The current displays in the museum relative to The Kiwi Club are a small display case with a kiwi bird in it, a few photos and explanations of stewardesses/flight attendants in training and a several cases with uniforms on mannequins. The history of The Kiwi Club is so much more than that. Look at the cross-section of our members and see how varied and rich our history truly is.

We on the committee are very excited to be involved in this project. We are hopeful that our excitement is contagious and that all Kiwis will heartily support this effort. Please contact anyone of us on the committee should you have questions. You will receive periodic reports detailing our progress in on this project.

The Kiwi Club is a treasure to us all and the exhibit in the museum should reflect the shining gem that it is.   
[Click on photo to enlarge]