Northwest museum to outlast the airline it honors

The remaining traces of Northwest Airlines may disappear from the fleet in 2010, but the airline will always have a home in Minnesota. A private, nonprofit museum dedicated to the carrier is going to stay open, even though the object of its affection will be integrated fully into the Delta fold. Delta has its own museum, which undoubtedly will celebrate the acquisition of Northwest someday, but this isn’t standing in the way of the folks at the NWA History Centre.

Located in Bloomington, Minnesota, the museum will maintain a separate record of Northwest, though it will be tough to add to the collection down the road. Pete Patzke, chairman of the museum’s board, tells Minnesota Public Radio, “The history stops today. There is no more Northwest.”

As the existence of the brand winds down, the museum has experienced an influx of memorabilia, with the mundane now assuming greater importance. Letterhead, building signs and other items of daily use are being submitted for the museum to catalog, store and perhaps display.