Canada’s National Aviation Museum: Its History and Collections by K. M. Molson
1990; Johns Hopkins University Press; Volume: 31; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/tech.1990.0045
ISSN1097-3729
Autores Tópico(s)Canadian Identity and History
ResumoTechnology and culture Book Reviews 559 cautionary signals of the degree to which public attention has been deflected from collections themselves. Robert I. Goler Mr. Goler is curator ofdecorative and industrial arts at the Chicago Historical Society. His publications include an essay on museum history for Museum StudiesJournal. Canada’s National Aviation Museum: Its History and Collections. By K. M. Molson. Chicago: University of Chicago Press for National Aviation Museum, 1988. Pp. 291; illustrations, appendixes, index. $39.95 (U.S.); £31.95 (U.K.); $45.95 (elsewhere). According to author Kenneth Molson, who was the founding curator of Canada’s original National Aviation Museum, “per capita more Canadians own or fly aircraft than any other people in the world.” Therefore, it should not surprise us that formal collecting for the National Research Council’s Aeronautical Museum began in 1930 with the acquisition of a shipment of eight aircraft engines of World War I vintage. The first exhibition opened in Ottawa in 1932. Canada’s National Aviation Museum: Its History and Collections traces for the reader the development of Canada’s national collection of aeronau tical artifacts, from the 1930s to the opening of the first phase of the new National Aviation Museum in June 1988. Part 1 of this attractive volume will interest museum professionals, historians of technology, and aircraft enthusiasts. Molson includes details about early collecting policy and the key roles played by the National Research Council, the Canadian military, and private corpo rations and individuals in establishing, maintaining, and adding to this important collection of aircraft, engines, and other artifacts that reflect the history of aviation in Canada. In addition to the facts and figures that can be documented, the author relates stories about acquiring objects that could be told only by one of the participants. The well-illustrated second half of the book reviews the aircraft and engine collection. Alphabetically, from the A. E. A. Silver Dart to the Zenair CH300 Tri-Zenith, the author describes many of the impor tant aircraft in the collection. He briefly sketches the aircraft’s history and its importance to Canadian aviation, gives details of the prove nance of the museum’s specimen, and provides specifications and usually a color photograph. The narratives are very readable and, taken together, provide an overview of the history of aircraft devel opment in Canada. A thoughtful essay on power plants is also provided. The National Aviation Museum is well known for its expert aircraft restorations. Molson tells us about the organization’s philosophy toward restoration: “parts should be preserved rather than restored, 560 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE restored rather than replaced, and replaced only when essential.” The book reviews ten aircraft restorations in detail, with illustrations. The first of four appendixes addresses the museum’s collection of German World War I aircraft; the second takes a detailed look at the restoration of a Sopwith Snipe; the remaining two provide alphabet ical listings of the museum’s collections of aircraft and power plants. For the reader already interested in the history of aviation or the evolution of a major museum collection, Molson’s contribution to the literature will be well received. The historian of modern technology will find that the volume provides a readable, well-illustrated overview of the history of aviation in Canada through a discussion of objects representative of that history. Most who browse the book’s contents will put the National Aviation Museum in Ottawa on their travel itineraries. Linda N. Ezell Ms. Ezell is assistant director for collections management at the National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution. ...
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