AIR MUSEUM OF MINNESOTA:

The Air Museum of Minnesota, a non-profit corporation, was apparently an organization of aviation historians and enthusiasts dedicated to the collection and preservation of Minnesota aviation history. George Holey of Faribault, Minnesota was its president for many years. Others associated with the group included Anne M. Holey and Stuart Radsom. It is not clear to the cataloger if the group ever in fact operated a musem, or if it simply collected information and memorabilia related to the history of aviation in Minnesota.

George Holey (1912-1989) was an aviation historian and an early Minnesota aviator. He received his transport (commercial) pilot's license in 1929, and worked as a flight instructor from 1931 to 1940 for several employers, including Hinck Flying Service (1939-1940). He was a flight supervisor and district superintendent for the Civil Aeronautics Administration from 1940 to 1944. Holey was employed by the Minnesota Department of Aeronautics from 1947 to 1977. He was apointed deputy commissioner of the Department in 1967, and served as director of its office of operations from 1976 until his retirement in 1977. He also served as secretary of the Minnesota Wing (chapter) of the OX5 Club, an association formed to perpetuate the memory and accomplishments of airmen who learned to fly with the OX5 aircraft engine.

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The collection consists primarily of subject files. There are also some clippings scrapbooks, transcripts of oral history interviews, issues of an aviation magazine, and some airport registers. There are no records of the Air Museum itself.

There is information about a number of early Minnesota aviators, airport operators, and others connected with aviation, including George Holey, C. W. Hinck, Francis J. Geng, L. D. Hammond, and Charles A. Lindbergh; Holman (St. Paul) and Wold-Chamberlain (Minneapolis) airfields; Olympian Air-Ways and Northwest Airways, Inc.; the Civil Aeronautics Administration; aviation in World War I; and the OX5 Club of America and its Minnesota Wing. There are also copies of Aero and Hydro magazine (1910-1914) with an index to Minnesota-related articles, and registers from the Duluth, Mankato, and Rochester, Minnesota airports.

Most of the material comprising the collection was donated by long-term Air Museum president George Holey, of Faribault, Minnesota, in several accessions over a period of several years.

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These documents are organized into the following sections:

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Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Air Museum of Minnesota Collection. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession numbers: 8899; 12,361; 12,376; 12,485; 12,603; 12,656; 12,733; 12,795; 12,923; 13,232; 13,404; 13,619; 14,061; 14,215; 14,385; 14,473.

Processing Information:

Processed by: John M. Wickre, May 1978-Oct. 1985; David B. Peterson, Aug. 1990-March 1992.

Catalog ID number: 990017158350104294

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Many of the following files contain oral history interview transcripts. In most cases there are audio tapes and additional copies of the interview transcripts cataloged separately in the Minnesota Historical Society sound and visual collection.

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Aeronautics Department records in the Minnesota State Archives.

Some photographs have been transferred to the Minnesota Historical Society sound and visual collections.

Oral history audio tapes have been transferred to the Minnesota Historical Society sound and visual collections.

A transcript of a 1953 interview with George Holey is located in the Minnesota Historical Society manuscript collections.

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This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:

Aeronautics -- Minnesota -- History.

Aeronautics -- Societies, etc.

Air pilots.

Airports -- Minnesota -- Registers.

Women air pilots.

Persons:

Geng, Francis J., 1893-.

Hammond, Laurence D., 1892-1968.

Hinck, Clarence W.

Holey, George, 1912-1989.

Holman, Charles Willis, 1898-1931.

Hubbard, Stanley E.

Johnson, Thorwald, 1903-1973.

Kidder, William Anson, 1886-.

Lindbergh, Charles A. (Charles Augustus), 1902-1974.

Organizations:

Aero Club of Minneapolis.

Holman Field (Airport : Saint Paul, Minn.).

Northwest Airways, Inc.

Olympian Air-Ways (Minneapolis, Minn.).

OX5 Club of America. Minnesota Wing.

OX5 Club of America (Pittsburgh, Pa.).

United States. Civil Aeronautics Administration.

Wold-Chamberlain Field.

Types of Documents:

Interviews.

Photographs.

Scrapbooks.

Titles:

Aero and hydro.

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