Research and Collections
Our 2024 Hours of Operation Calendar is available on our Visit page.
Need help with research, ordering article reprints, or thinking about donating? Send us a message at museumarchives@modelaircraft.org.
The museum will strive to answer your questions about model aviation’s past and present. The resources in the archives, the books and periodicals in the library, and artifacts in the permanent collection are all used for daily research.
Common research requests involve:
- Article reprints from magazines in our collection.
- Information on a specific subject related to the history of modeling, or building and flying models.
- Information on previous modelers and their awards.
- Information related to specific model airplanes to help in the building process.
Whether you have one of the questions above, or something else, we are glad to use our Lee Renaud Memorial Library, and the National Model Aviation Museum Archives and Permanent Collection to help find the answer. Please see our research and service fees page for fee details.
Research options:
1) Research yourself from home
- The AMA History Project is a great resource if you are looking for information on a specific modeler, company or club. While you're there, scroll down the page for tidbits of AMA and general aeromodeling history.
- Issues of Model Aviation published between 1975 and 2015 can be accessed digitally.
- Looking for a specific book? A portion of the museum’s library catalog is searchable from home. Click on the orange button below to go to our Digital Collections website.
- Wondering if the museum has a certain object, or ephemera and objects connected to a certain event, club, or modeler? A small portion of the museum’s object and archives collections are searchable from home. Click on the orange button below to go to our Digital Collections website.
2) You can travel here and do the research yourself in our Lee Renaud Memorial Library. Note: The Library is available for in-person research during our open season.
- Our library will be available between 10am and 4pm when the museum is open.
- The Lee Renaud Memorial Library's reading areas and open shelves include books published after 1945, videos in DVD format, and many magazines and newsletters.
- Books published before 1945, and some magazines and newsletters are in special collections storage Check ahead to verify if staff will be available for item retrieval during your visit. Please contact us by email or phone: museumarchives@modelaircraft.org or (765) 287-1256 ext. 511.
- For the health and safety of you and the staff, please do not enter the premises if you are ill or have symptoms.
- Please bring your own paper and pencils for note-taking. We will not have supplies available for researchers at this time.
- A black and white copier is available to the public, and takes one-dollar bills and coins. Copier fees are listed on our research and service fees page.
- If you are not an AMA member or museum patron, museum entrance fees apply to library researchers.
3) In-person archives and object collections research: Although we usually offer appointments, in-person research will be unavailable for the archives and object collections until further notice. We apologize for the inconvenience.
4) Have the museum staff do the research for you.
- Please contact our Archivist and Historian, Jackie Shalberg, at museumarchives@modelaircraft.org or (765) 287-1256 ext. 511.
- Include as much information as you can about the information you hope to find, what type of materials you want, and where you’ve already looked.
- The first hour of research by staff is free. After that, and for all copies and images provided, a research fee will apply.
Notice concerning copyright restrictions:
“The copyright law of the United States (title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specific conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be ‘used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research.’ If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of ‘fair use,’ that user may be liable for copyright infringement. This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if, in its judgment, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of copyright law.” - U.S. Copyright Office, https://www.copyright.gov/policy/section108/discussion-document.pdf
Contact:
Contact our Archivist and Historian, Jackie Shalberg, at museumarchives@modelaircraft.org or (765) 287-1256 ext. 511 for questions regarding research at the National Model Aviation Museum.