APPLICATIONS
The Dave Abrams and Gene Banning Pan Am Research Grant
The Pan Am Historical Foundation announces the annual Dave Abrams and Gene Banning Pan Am Research Grant competition. Up to $3,000 will be awarded to support a research or creative project using the Pan American World Airways, Inc. Records held by the University of Miami Libraries’ Special Collections. The grant honors two of Pan Am’s most avid historians, Dave Abrams and Gene Banning.
Since its first international flight in 1927, Pan Am positioned itself as a world leader in American commercial aviation. The Pan Am records date from 1927 to the 1990s and include administrative and financial files; technical and research reports; public relations and promotional materials; internal publications including newsletters, journals and press releases; and thousands of photographs.
The grant is open to advanced graduate students, independent scholars, and faculty. Priority will be given to research proposals that will result in publication in any media.
Application Procedures
Applicants must submit a proposal of no more than two pages describing their research project, include a curriculum vitae or résumé, and provide two letters of recommendation.
2024 Application Deadline: August 1, 2024.
https://www.library.miami.edu/specialcollections/abrams-banning-grant.html
Please send inquiries and applications to:
About Dave Abrams and Gene Banning
After graduating from the University of Miami, Dave Abrams (1919-2005) joined Pan American Airways and worked for 42 years as a meteorologist, navigator and Director of Flight Operations for Latin America. Abrams was instrumental in the formation of The Pan Am Historical Foundation after the company shut its doors in 1991, and in finding a home for the Pan Am’s archives and memorabilia.
Gene Banning (1918-2006) was one of the longest serving pilots for Pan Am. His aviation days started with the infamous flying boats in 1941 and ended with Boeing 747s in 1978. An avid researcher, Banning was a guiding member of The Pan Am Historical Foundation from its inception and the author of Airlines of Pan American since 1927 (McLean, Va.: Paladwr, 2001).
About the Pan Am Historical Foundation and the University of Miami Libraries
The Pan Am Historical Foundation is a group dedicated to preserving the heritage of Pan American World Airways.The Special Collections of the University of Miami Libraries preserves and provides access to research materials focusing on the history and culture of Florida, the Caribbean and Latin America. The Pan American World Airways, Inc. Records consists of hundreds of boxes of materials and reigns as the most avidly consulted single resource in Special Collections. For more information about the Special Collections of the University of Miami Libraries, visit http://library.miami.edu/specialcollections.
Recent Winners - Watch the June 27, 2024 Presentations
https://www.facebook.com/umspeccoll/videos/361134613678809
Kevin James, PhD, Scottish Studies Foundation Chair and Professor of History, University of Guelph.'[A] Pretty Far Stretch of the Chewing Gum?' Pan American’s Clipper Clubs, the Regulatory State, and Exclusive Spaces in Commercial Aviation, 1949–1974.
Jeongmin Kim, PhD, Associate Professor of History, University of Manitoba. Holidays on Duty Pan Am’s Military Cooperation Program and Female Flight Attendants During the Vietnam War.
Past Winners
2019: Elizabeth Manley, “Imagining the Tropics: Women, the Professionalization of Caribbean Tourism, and the Conjuring of Island Fantasy, 1890 – 1980" - "Creating Caribbean Vactionlands" by Beth Manly presented March 3, 2022
2018: Dr. Henry Knight-Lozano, Senior Lecturer in History and American Studies, Northumbria University, UK
2017: Dr. Bryce Evans, Associate Professor in History, Liverpool Hope University - "Pan Am: A Gastronomic History" presented 03/08/2018
2016: Sean Seyer, "Independent Internationalism in the Air"
2015: Josue Sakata, Boston Public School Primary Source Sets
2014: Hadassah St. Hubert, “Visions of a Modern Nation: Haiti at the World’s Fairs”
2013: Ken Fortenberry & Gregg Herken, “Point of No Return: Solving the Mystery of the Lost Clipper”
2012: Felipe F. Cruz, “Flight of the Toucans: Technology and Culture in the Brazilian Airspace”
2012: Gordon H Pirie examined Pan Am’s role in civil aviation to, and from, in post-colonial Africa
2011: Jonathan Ruano, “Pan American Airways, the South Atlantic Route and Rise of the American Empire”
2010: Houston Johnson, “Taking Off: The Politics and Culture of American Aviation, 1927-1929”
2009: Augustine Meaher “Pan Am Arrives Down Under: A Diplomatic and Aeronautical Accomplishment”
2009: Roger Turner, “Pan-Am’s Contribution to the Development of Aeronautical Meteorology”
2007: Jennifer Van Vleck “No Distant Places: Aviation and American Globalism, 1924-1968”
(Photos courtesy of University of Miami Special Collections)
