TAMPA, Fla. — First off, happy birthday Tampa!
It’s the big 138!
It’s also Archives Awareness Week in Tampa.
In honor of the week — a chance to look into one of the City of Tampa’s Historical Vaults.
Behind an unassuming set of locked doors at Tampa International Airport sits archival treasure.
Stephanie O’Driscoll is one of its keepers.
And every drawer she opens tells a story.
Like an ad for the “1971 Jet Airport of the Future,” the modern-day TIA.
O’Driscoll – a records analyst, curated the airport’s upcoming historical exhibition with documents and news clippings going back for more than a century.
“There’s going to be a lot of things people haven’t seen before,” said Driscoll.
And maybe a few things they have.
The city of Tampa created a 1960’s voiceover animation of the airport, complete with an explanation of their futuristic people movers for longer walks to bigger planes.
Here is part of the voiceover explaining their trams.
“Service, just like an elevator — in cars that are air conditioned and driven by smooth, silent electric motors under automatic control.”
Dylan Didion is in another archival room a few floors above the first space.
The records and information manager shows off original charcoal drawings — 1960s sketches of all the possible people movers, including a suspended monorail system.
It helps give context to what people imagined their future might be, both in the 1960s and today.
Here’s the best part of this futuristic tram history for Didion:
“Seeing that rendered out and the different ideas that they had back then,” Didion said. “And how it’s kind of come to fruition today, and where we’re going in the future.”
Also to be part of the official record — the renderings for 2025’s potential future, the new Airside D, scheduled to open in late 2028.
And experts like O’Driscoll, Didion and a team of professionals are keeping our official record for the people who come after us.
Virginia Johnson
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