Dydia "Red" DeLyser, PhD

Museum Curator and Archivist

    Beginning her aviation career as a glider pilot, it was flying the Museum’s P-51D Mustang that convinced Dydia to get her single-engine and tail-wheel ratings.  She is now part owner in a citabria, flying as often as she can. In addition to flying, Dr. DeLyser is assistant professor of geography at Louisiana State University (her LSU Web page: Dr. Dydia DeLyser).  Her research focuses on landscape and social memory (how the past is interpreted in the present), particularly in Western ghost towns like Bodie, California, where she researched her dissertation while employed as a maintenance worker. Before earning her doctorate in geography from Syracuse University in 1998, Dydia worked in the manuscripts division of the UCLA Library’s Department of Special Collections, where she was trained in archival work and exhibits. As the Heritage Flight Museum’s curator and archivist, Dr. DeLyser is also the museum’s first active volunteer - fitting in museum work while begging for flight time in museum aircraft and keeping up with her day job.