OCTOBER | NOVEMBER 2023
Exclusive News From Boeing
Boeing Archives arrives in new home , primed for the future :
A move years in the making helps preserve Boeing company history into the next century .
Nearly 25 million artifacts – and counting .
That ’ s how many pieces of the Boeing legacy now reside in the new home of the Boeing Archives in Auburn , Washington .
The new location is the fourth location for the company archives , which have expanded over the decades to house documents dating back to the founding days of 1916 .
The collection includes models of unbuilt aircraft , artwork , materials , models of airplanes built by Boeing and its legacy companies , special collections , manuscripts , artifacts , flat file and file cabinets , plus items yet to be processed . It is the largest collection of aviation history in the world , according to Michael Lombardi , Boeing chief historian .
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Why it matters : Lombardi said the archives provide valuable services to the company beyond preserving its rich and diverse heritage for future generations .
“ We provide the engineering organization with data from past projects and the knowledge of former engineers so that they can build upon that rather than recreate it ,” Lombardi said . “ Our collections also give us the power of storytelling , allowing us to inspire everyone on the Boeing team .”
Getting here : Planning for the move began in 2021 , including engaging vendors to document , protect , pack , move and unpack every bit of Boeing history stored in the then-current location in Bellevue , Washington . The company also keeps a Douglas Company collection in El Segundo , California , and a McDonnell Corporation collection in St . Louis , Missouri .
Boeing Historical Services and Iron Mountain staff worked together to stabilize and box loose materials , label materials by heritage company , create box-level descriptions and then barcode collections at the item , box , cart or pallet level .
Over the course of six months , at the rate of up to three trips per day of the 25 miles ( 40 kilometers ) between Bellevue and Auburn , trucks brought 306 pallets and 644 carts of treasures .
Hundreds of aircraft models from the heritage of Boeing , McDonnell Douglas and North American Aviation , including rare models of proposals that were never built , are on display in the Boeing Archives .