Flying Through Aviation History Collecting and preserving artifacts with ANA's Archives Department
Experience a journey through ANA's history in the archives room, where artifacts from more than 70 years are collected, stored and carefully preserved. The Archives Team, in collaboration with ANA Wing Fellows Vie Oji (AWO), aims to expand the collection and improve the safe storage and management of these historical pieces.
Located near Osaka's Itami Airport, the AWO facility houses a vast collection of artifacts from ANA's past. With nearly 10,000 documents to manage, the team meticulously enters information for each piece into a database. Proper and sequential cataloging is crucial, as many of these items are unique and irreplaceable.
For a behind-the-scenes look at key pieces of ANA's history, we spoke with Hiroshi Terai, Koichi Fukuda and Kaori Shirakawa from the ANA Archives and Alumni Office, General Affairs Department.
Step back in time with ANA
From vintage posters, boarding passes, uniforms and promotional materials, decades of ANA's aviation history are housed inside its Archives Department. Each piece is carefully identified and categorized, with the AWO team sorting them by type and year of production.
“Through my work in the Archives Department, I discovered more about ANA's founding history and the resilience that brought us to where we are today,” says Fukuda.
Each item holds years of history and is treasured as an irreplaceable memory for both ANA and its employees.
“Three years ago, I began publishing the internal newsletter, ‘ANA Archives Series’, because I wanted to share these incredible finds with all of our colleagues,” says Shirakawa.
Artifacts from ANA's history are displayed at ANA's headquarters in Shiodome, Tokyo and at partner hotels like Villa Fontaine Grand Haneda Airport.
Items on display include model planes, promotional advertisements, heritage cabin attendant uniforms and classic magazine clippings.
To share its rich aviation history with the public, the Archives Department frequently lends items to events and special exhibits at museums and universities across Japan.
Digitizing for the future
Looking ahead, the department is working on new projects to digitize and preserve artifacts. The department aims to streamline the process of accessing historical documentation to enhance preservation accuracy.
“There's an incredible variety of materials here, far more than I had ever imagined in one place,” says Terai. “I want to ensure these valuable documents are preserved and shared for future generations.”
“I find a sense of fulfillment in capturing these valuable memories and am committed to sharing the treasured history of ANA for the future!” adds Shirakawa.
The AWO office organizes documents and artifacts, cataloging and inputting each piece into ANA's custom digital system known as DiANA. Each piece is photographed, scanned, named and assigned a number to streamline the storing process. DiANA also simplifies requests, allowing items to be easily located and retrieved from the database.
With new digitization technology like DiANA, ANA's Archives Department and AWO hope to continue preserving and maintaining the history of the ANA Group for years to come.