Our Archives Department supports the Museum's mission and assists scholars and researchers by acquiring, preserving, organizing, and describing the documentary evidence of aerospace history.

The Archives' collections span the history of flight from ancient times to the present day and include a wide range of visual and textual materials, including documents, photographs, motion picture film and video, and more than two million technical drawings.

The National Air and Space Museum Archives Reading Room is open to researchers by appointment only. Learn more about planning your visit. 

A scrapbook page featuring newspaper clippings about Ruth Law, as well as ribbons.

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About the Archives Collection
A black and white photograph of a man on a lift filming a battle damaged plane.

Film Archives

A photo taken from underneath an aircraft. One man leans out with a camera, the other is a pilot.

Photo Archives

Men sit with headphones on and devices at the center of a table.

Audio Collections

A card with hand-written and stamped details.

Aircraft History Cards

A line drawing of a biplane

Technical and Scale Drawings

A tabbed page from a manual. The front includes a graphic of a green-tinged image with planes flying and the text "General Section Orientation of Structure, Systems, and Components of units. B-17F Airplane."

Aircraft Technical Manuals

A diagram with German writing on it.

Captured Technical Documents

Multiple colorful files in a folder.

Technical Reference Files