President's Report - 2004

Following is the letter sent out by PAHF President C.W. Runnette to all members of the Foundation as part of the Annual Meeting packet. It brings members and friends up to date on the current activities of PAHF. The Harold Evans article about "The Aviator" mentioned at the end of President Runnette's letter can be found as an earlier article in this newsletter under the title DESPITE WHAT THEY SAY IN "THE AVIATOR"

March 2005

To All Pan Am Historical Foundation Members

The Pan Am Historical Foundation successfully completed its 13th year in 2004 with our finances and membership strong and stable, and a continuing and steadfast commitment to preserving the legacy of the airline.

On a sad note, I remind us all of the passing of Captain Paul Roitsch who was so critical to the founding and first decade of the Foundation. The good work that has been done and the interconnection of all of us on behalf of the memory of Pan Am, is, in very large measure, due to Paul’s eforts.

Looking to the future, in our quest to invigorate your Foundation with a new, younger membership and more capital with which to pursue such basic objectives as cataloguing unprocessed archives at the Richter Library, a representative documentary, and that elusive museum, we’ve retooled our mission to look forward as well as back. As a symbolic first step, we will present a first ever “Clipper Heritage Award” at a Vietnam Reunion dinner following this year’s Annual Meeting in Washington, to Robert and Leila Macauley and their disaster relief progeny, AmeriCares. The Clipper Heritage Award will henceforth recognize, as in the case of the Macauleys and AmeriCares, a significant contribution to humanity involving aviation or technological pioneering that exemplifies the vision, innovation and adventure that was Pan American World Airways. It’s an example of ways in which we hope to make your Foundation more relevant to generations who missed the touch and feel of the World’s Most Experienced Airline.

At the risk of inviting a deeper involvement in the Foundation than you may have had in mind, I’ve enclosed a copy of the strategy being considered by your Board, and solicit your views. Your comments and suggestions will be read, although they may not be answered or acknowledged. You can, however, earn a response by volunteering to help tackle one or more of our objectives.

Surveying the past year, we made progress-

•With the professional help of Anne Young, archivist extraordinaire, we consolidated and organized numerous valuable records maintained by Kathleen Clair with documents and other material in Paul Roitsche’s “Ice House” in Greenwich, CT.

•We contracted for, and offered to the membership, a reprint of an issue of Airways Magazine dedicated to Pan Am - which proved very popular. The result was a boon to our finances.

•We participated in a World Wings International drawing for charity, netting more than $5,000 in new funds to assist in the ongoing processing of our archives at the Richter Library.

•Our Miami Museum Committee regrouped after the City’s expectations with respect to “Freedom Tower” went unmet, and are now pursuing new possibilities in conjunction with the Historical Association of South Florida (which holds a number of our artifacts) and the Eastern Air Lines Historical Foundation.

•NOVA, the PBS documentary series with a slant toward science and technology, has unfortunately passed on our proposal for a documentary focusing on the China Clipper (and the critical importance of radio air navigation as developed by PAA). We’re now taking to American Experience, a sister PBS documentary series more broadly focused on history.

•We invited you all to check your basements and garages for Pan Am memorabilia – the more or less museum-quality stuff – and to offer it to the Foundation. If we accept, you decide on the appropriate valuation for your tax purposes.

•Our 2005 calendar recaptures some of the great Robert Taylor drawings originally featured in Pan Am Cargo calendars of the early 90ties. (See the enclosed Order Form to pick up extras ON SALE).

•We held a Board Meeting in the Richter Library at the University of Miami, home of our archives, and were educated by the Head Archivist responsible for our collection.

Our priorities in 2005 will remain the documentary, a museum, and our future, in addition to completing the processing and cataloguing of our archives – and stimulating their use by scholars, researchers, etc. At the same time, our focus will shift to the West Coast and the Pacific, first with our featured participation in the April Vietnam Reunion in Washington, and then to the Bay Area and the November celebration of the 70thAnniversary of the liftoff of the China Clipper.

For any of you who may have seen, and been disappointed by, “The Aviator” and its unfair depiction of Juan Trippe, I’ve enclosed a reprint of the very effective rebuttal in the Wall Street Journal by Harold Evans, author of “They Made America”.

Thank you all for your continuing commitment to your Foundation and to the preservation of the Pan American legacy.

C. W. Runnette
President

P. S. Please note that, henceforth, your Foundation’s address has changed:

OLD – c/o The Wings Club
P.O. Box 4464
New York, NY 10163-4464

NEW- P.O. Box 747
Bethpage, NY 11714-0747

PAHF Annual Meeting Notice

PAN AM HISTORICAL FOUNDATION
Notice of 2005 Annual Meeting of Members

Notice is hereby given that the Thirteenth Annual Meeting of Members of the
Pan Am Historical Foundation will be held on Friday, April 22, 2005 at 2:00 PM at National Press Club, 529 14th Street NW, 13th Floor, Zenger Room, Washington D.C. for the following purposes:

(1)To elect directors to serve for the ensuing year and until their successors are elected.

(2)To transact such other business as may properly come before the meeting or any adjournment thereof.

Pamela Hanlon
Secretary

New York, New York
March 25, 2005

PAHF Address Change

The Foundation has a new mailing address:

Pan Am Historical Foundation
P. O. Box 747
Bethpage, NY 11714-0747