The Aeronca Museum Online Archives
The Online Archives is the Aeronca Museum's collection of digital documents combined with our data-rich index and powerful search engine. Many of these documents have been obtained from the FAA ACO office in Chicago or from the private collection of many individuals.
One goal of the Aeronca Museum is to digitally preserve all documents related to Aeronca aircraft built by the Aeronautical Corporation of America from 1928 to 1951.
Some documents are quite common, while some are more difficult to find and some documents are very rare. As a matter of necessity, most history museums charge a small fee to make copies of documents from their archives as a means to generate revenue to support museum operations. The Aeronca Museum is no different.
The Aeronca Museum Document preservation effort is to create the most extensive collection of Aeronca documents. From factory drawings, to photos, to magazine articles, the Aeronca Museum is steadily preserving a special niche of American history. The documents are scanned, cleaned, formatted, indexed and added to the online document archive. The digital document archive is backed-up and the physical documents are safely preserved in the Museum's storage facility. It is a labor intensive process and the small fees charged for document copies help us recover the costs of creating and maintaining the Museum Document Archive.
How to use the Document Archives:
- Select one of the many document types on the left-hand side of the screen.
- Your search criteria in the Search form: Enter keywords and select one or more aircraft models. Click Search.
- Browse through the results.
- Some documents you will be able to view directly from the website once you have logged in. Other documents require Museum membership or purchase.
Access to the documents is a combination of your Membership Status and the Document Access Level. Typically, common or public documents are "Free", while most of the documents for free only to Members, and finally some rare documents must be purchased.
You can determine a Document Access level on any Archive Search Results Page and also on the Detail Document Page; After searching for items on the Archive Search Results Page, observe the Alphabet Icon next to each document. These Alphabet Icons indicate the Document Access Level as follows:
| Access Level |
Icon | Description |
| Free |
|
These documents are Free to non-members and members. Non-members simply need to register for a userid to access FREE documents. |
| Member |
|
Museum members have free online access to these documents. However, non-members may purchase these documents for a minimal price, starting at $1 for many documents. |
| Premium |
|
Museum members may purchase these rare or highly-valuable documents at a discount for immediate online viewing. However, non-members may purchase these documents at the regular price. |
Because we value the support of our Museum members, our members receive free access to many documents and discounts on premium documents as well as discounts on merchandise in the Museum store.
Categorically, here is a list of the document types that comprise the Aeronca Museum Online Archive:
| Aeronca Museum Online Archive - Document Types |
| Drawings |
| Service Letters |
| Helps & Hints |
| Pre-War Service Memos |
| Supplier Service Letters |
| Museum Knowledge Briefs |
| Aeronca Reports |
| TC Data Sheets |
| Manuals |
| 337 forms |
| Historical Photos |
| Parts Detail Photos |
| Public Photo Gallery |
| Advertisements |
| Sales Literature |
| News Stores |
| CAD Files |
| Miscellaneous Documents |
If you know of any historical Aeronca documents that we may not yet have in our archive, please contact us. At a minimum we would like to scan or photograph the document. At most we would be grateful if you would consider a donation of the document to the museum.