She’s preserving Keesler’s heritage Published Nov. 19, 2008 By Susan Griggs 81st Training Wing Public Affairs KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, MISS -- What did you want to be when you grew up? Doctor, lawyer, teacher, rock star, racecar driver, pro football player ... the possibilities go on and on. It's unlikely that "historian" was on anyone's list, not even for Tasha Hairston, who became the 81st Training Wing's historian in June. "I was always drawn to history, but I never thought I could make a living at it," said Ms. Hairston, a Mississippi native who grew up in Ohio. After earning a bachelor's degree in geology from Central State University in Ohio, Ms. Hairston began her career as a naturalist and outreach coordinator for Cleveland Metroparks. Her professional path diverged in 1998 when she accepted a job as a National Park Service ranger at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Site in Atlanta. "It was a powerful experience -- it really stirred up the historian part of me," Ms. Hairston explained. "The story of the civil rights movement came alive for me." She met all the members of Dr. King's family as well as Andrew Young, a civil rights activist who was one of Dr. King's top aides. Mr. Young went on to serve three terms in Congress, two terms as Atlanta's mayor and an appointment as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. After conducting tours of Ebenezer Baptist Church, part of the historical site, and listening to tapes of Dr. King's sermons, her job became a faith experience that encouraged her spiritual development, too. Ms. Hairston returned to Ohio in 2001 to teach history and language arts to middle-school students with special needs before beginning graduate school at Wright State University. She worked as an archeological interpreter for the university's Wright Brothers' Inventing Flight Celebration and an archivist for the university's aviation history processor. After earning a master's degree in public history, Ms. Hairston went to work for the Air Force through the Palace Acquire program. She became a historian for the Aeronautical Systems Center and Air Force Materiel Command history offices at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. She researched, compiled and wrote histories, conducted oral histories of deployed service members, organized databases and maintained the library and archive. Those skills have come in handy for Ms. Hairston, who's already developed and standardized a method for requesting information from groups, squadrons, units and offices across the base to include in Keesler's annual history. She's also trying to fill in the blanks for major events and changes that occurred when the base historian's post was vacant recently. Mr. Hairston has some ambitious plans for Keesler's history program. She wants to catalog and organize Keesler's photograph and slide collections into something more accessible for historical research. She also wants to convert more paper documents and photographs into electronic files. She plans to index and organize the base's collection of memorialization documents for its buildings, streets and small monuments. She'd also like to create a digital database system for graduation photos from the 81st Training Group. "Because Keesler is a training base, I want to make sure I'm collecting and documenting that story," she remarked. "I recently received a call about a graduation photo for Johnny Cash -- he trained on our base in the late '40s, but I couldn't help them. My intention is not to become the repository for graduation photos, but technology has made collecting pictures an easier endeavor." Ms. Hairston is also hopeful that the base's heritage center, the last World War II barracks at Keesler, can be revived and reopened. "A mix of the old and new is ideal for the long term," she remarked. She also wants to work with volunteers to identify and safeguard Keesler's old photos and collect donations of old Keesler yearbooks, graduation books, pamphlets and unique publications. Other goals are to create a hurricane disaster plan for Keesler's cultural resources, generate a series of articles on Keesler's memorial buildings and streets and find appropriate locations on base to display four remaining pieces of official Air Force art. She'd also like to commission an official piece of Air Force art that relates to the Tuskegee Airmen who trained as aircraft mechanics at Keesler. "Just because it's overwhelming and difficult doesn't mean it's not worth trying," she emphasized.