Joann Osterud Airshow Collection

The Joann Osterud Airshow Collection documents Osterud's career as a stunt pilot with visual and audiovisual materials from the late 1960s through 1990.

The bulk of the collection is made up of photographic slides and prints, primarily taken by Osterud's father, Kenneth L. Osterud. In total there are 301 35mm slides and 16 prints ranging in size from 4x6 inches to 20x30 inches. All photographs are in color except one print. While a few images are more personal in nature depicting Osterud at Reed College and working at the Pacific Science Center, the majority of them depict her participating in airshows. She is depicted with her Piper J-3 Cub, Stephens Akro, and Sorrell Hyperbipe Supernova, as well as the plane "Blind Man's Bluff" she tried to use in competition in 1987. The images were taken at numerous airshows, including ones in Yuma, Arizona; Bakersfield, Oxnard, and Salinas, California; Goodland, Kansas; Reno, Nevada; Medford and North Bend, Oregon; Paine Field and Whidbey Naval Air Station, Washington; and Abbottsford and Nanaimo, British Columbia. Her various stunts such as the hammerhead, tail slides, and lomcevaks are captured in the images, as well as scenes of Osterud with other airshow participants and the crowds. About three dozen images depict other pilots and performers, including Robert Notkke, Mike Sorrel, and Art Scholl, as well as the Blue Angels and Canadian Snowbirds. Dorothy Stenzel is seen in a few images alongside Osterud at a North Bend, Oregon airshow in 1989 and one oversize print depicts Julie Clark, Lauren Lee, Suzanne Asbury, and Patty Wagstaff with Osterud.

In addition to the photographs, there are 49 videocassettes and 6 sound recordings with news programs, interviews, and documentary footage of Osterud flying at airshows. While none of the photographic images relate to Osterud's work as a commercial pilot, a few audiovisual materials do; there are four sound recordings and three videocassettes from United Airlines with training programs for the Boeing 727.

Digitized Materials: A selection of slides and prints have been digitized from this collection.