From the Archives of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum: A Company Thanksgiving
FROM THE ARCHIVES
From the Archives of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum: A Company Thanksgiving
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
Posted on Thu, November 19, 2015
by: Elizabeth Borja
Archives Division
Many families have their own Thanksgiving traditions that they faithfully recreate each November—Grandma’s stuffing, Aunt Jean’s serving platter, homemade cranberry sauce, or an insistence upon the canned sauce with ridges. After the meal, it may be nap time or football time. But the most common tradition is cooking and eating a big, fat Thanksgiving turkey. The collections in the National Air and Space Museum Archives provide a cornucopia of images and information on the history of aviation and spaceflight, some with moments of Thanksgiving cheer. For example, in 1921, President Harding’s turkey arrived via airplane and wearing goggles. A series of photographs from 1945 found in the John E. Parker Scrapbooks documents the Northwestern Aeronautical Corporation’s turkey giveaway for employees in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Enjoy your Thanksgiving traditions. Just remember, it’s not advisable to drop turkeys from a helicopter.
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Story credit: https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/archives-company-thanksgiving
Photo credit: National Air and Space Museum Archives; Men unload a case of turkeys from a truck. In 1945, the Northwestern Aeronautical Corporation distributed bagged, holiday turkeys to its employees.