Whirly-Girls Archive at Texas Woman's University

From the Physical to the Digital

Increasing access to the Whirly-Girls Archive


What is the Whirly-Girls archive?
The archive is a collection of physical objects, digital materials, and recordings that are housed in the Women's Collection at Texas Woman's Univeristy. The Whirly-Girls organization is very fortunate to have a safe place for the storage of our historical materials.

The Woman’s Collection at TWU is the largest depository in the southern United States of research material about women, and Kimberly Johnson, the Director of Special Collections at Texas Woman’s University (TWU), leads the project of collecting, digitizing, and making available the materials in the Whirly-Girls archive.

What is housed in the archive?
Books, uniforms, photographs, articles, memorabilia, digital records, oral histories -- anything that is relevant for understanding the Whirly-Girls since our founding in 1955.

Newer Whirly-Girl members may not be aware of the special achievements of many of our early Whirly-Girls, and the TWU archives is a great place to begin learning about the accomplishments of our members and the history of the organization.

Are there other aviation-related collections at TWU?
Yes. TWU holds the official archives for a wide range of groups, including the following:
- The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP)
- The Association for Women in Aviation Maintenance (AWAM)
- The British Air Transport Auxiliary (BATA)
- The International Society of Women Airlinen Pilots (ISA)
- The Ninety-Nines, Inc.
- The Women Military Aviators (WMA)

There are also collections that are not related to aviation. You can see a list of TWU's special collections here.

Can the digital materials be accessed online?
Yes! You can access the materials that have been digitized from the Whirly-Girls archive using the link below: https://twu.edu/library/womans-collection/collections/women-in-aviation/whirly-girls-international/.

Would you like to donate documents or materials to the Whirly-Girls archive?
Please contact our historian for more details: historian@whirlygirls.org.

Are you interested in contributing your oral history? Or interviewing another Whirly-Girl for the oral history archive?
The oral history project is invaluable for providing first-hand information about the activities and experiences of our members. If you would like to participate, please contact our historian for more details: historian@whirlygirls.org.

How is this paid for?
The proceeds from the Whirly-Girls endowment fund TWU's activities on our behalf. You can support our archiving activities by making a contribution to the endowment on our donation page.