The Reluctant Archivist

I am a reluctant archivist. My dad Robert J Price, a prominent industrial designer and former CBA VP/owner, passed away over 5 years ago at age 89. I'm faced with a collection of drawings, photos, reprints and marketing materials from the 1950s to the 1970s of a remarkable aircraft interior design consulting firm, Charles Butler Associates (CBA). My dad gave me no direction as to what to do with all this stuff. As my dad laments to his close friend, Peter Cambridge in a letter on February 10, 1998, "What will probably happen to the CBA material is that I will die without having sorted it out and nobody will have a clue about what is what." which is exactly what has happened. However to prove my dad wrong, I am hopeful we can put together the pieces and place them in safe places in an institution to preserve this important piece of industrial design history.

My hope with this blog, is to educate the public about a company that was part of a somewhat hidden industry that helped fledgling airlines promote commercial flying after the war. The goal was to make the interiors of the airplanes inviting and at the same time calming to comfort passengers who were not used to be 10,000 feet above the ground. This required an artistic eye that looked at everything from the lighting to wall decorations and seats. Charles Butler was one of the industrial designers that included Raymond Loewy and Walter Dorwin Teague who saw this opportunity.

After Charles Butler left Raymond Loewy's firm, (see my dad's original blog http://concorde1-priceairchive.blogspot.com/2007/05/charles-butler-associates.html), he partnered with Zimmerman, a man I never met. Charles Butler bought him out and forged out on his own. My dad joined the firm later as the lead industrial designer.

I'm hoping that perhaps someone who used to work there and can fill in the blanks will find this blog and reach out to me. Meanwhile, I will continue to post more information as I find it.