Biography - Anne Millbrooke

Born in Oregon and raised on the coast of Washington state, I went east to college — first to Boise State College in Idaho for a bachelor’s degree, then to the University of Wisconsin at Madison for a master’s degree, and finally to the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia for the doctorate. My graduate studies in the history and sociology of science and technology provided a broad foundation in both methodology and content. For a decade I worked in the corporate world. As manager of the Archive and Historical Resource Center at United Technologies, I served as the historian for Pratt and Whitney aircraft engines, Hamilton Standard propellers and spacesuits, Sikorsky amphibians and helicopters, Otis elevators and escalators (and even the Otis-produced Sultan car), and other divisions of the corporation. I taught in Connecticut — at the University of Hartford and Wesleyan University. I later taught in the Montana State and University of Alaska systems. Along the way I received Mellon, Smithsonian, National Science Foundation, and NASA fellowships. My publications include an award-winning Aviation History textbook, a 700-page reference book of Abbreviations, Acronyms, and Alphabets of Aviation, and the National Register of Historic Places bulletin on Guidelines for Evaluating and Documenting Historic Aviation Properties. Academics aside, I enjoy hiking, biking, cross-country skiing, and birding.