Here are some guidelines about what the Aviation Museum of N.H. collects.
What we’re interested in: Our priorities are artifacts, books, photographs, papers, or other materials related to the development and history of aviation in New Hampshire and the surrounding states.
We are especially interested in items that tell the history of Grenier Air Base from 1941 to 1966 (today’s Manchester-Boston Regional Airport) and Northeast Airlines, a Boston-based airline that operated from 1933 to 1972 and maintained extensive service throughout New England.
We are also interested in family collections of materials from aviation professionals with New Hampshire connections, whether military or commercial. Scrapbooks, uniforms, logbooks, diaries, and other original materials are all of interest. General aviation memorabilia from prior to 1980 is also of interest.
What we don’t accept: Please note the museum does not accept models or radio-controlled aircraft; collections of current general interest aviation periodicals; incomplete home-built aircraft projects; crash debris; framed or unframed pictures or prints of general aircraft in flight; or general items without clear provenance or connection to our collecting priorities.
Please do not bring unsolicited items to the museum for donation. We do not have the ability to assess your items on the spot. Also, please do not leave items at our doorstep after hours or when we’re not open.
For questions or more information about what we collect and how to donate an item, please call our archive office at (603) 669-4820 ext. 406.
Below: a collection of aviation papers and photographs saved by Fred Chevery or Portsmouth, N.H., a World War I veteran and auto mechanic who learned to fly in the 1920s and went on to manage now-vanished Lafayette Field in Portsmouth, N.H.
