amelia earhart biography essay

Amelia Earhart

Amelia Earhart, the first person to fly across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, mysteriously disappeared while flying over the Pacific in 1937.

Latest News: An Exploration Team Believes It Found Amelia Earhart’s Missing Plane

Deep Sea Vision, a marine robotics company led by private pilot Tony Romeo, released a sonar image January 29 depicting a shape similar to the contours of a Lockheed 10-E Electra plane—the same craft Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan were flying when they vanished over the Pacific Ocean in July 1937. The discovery, the exact location of which Deep Sea Vision is keeping a secret, was part of a 90-day search spanning roughly 5,200 square miles of ocean floor. Authorities are working to validate the group’s findings.

Romeo believes the image , taken about 100 miles from Howland Island, supports the “Date Line Theory” surrounding Earhart’s disappearance. This posits that navigator Noonan miscalculated their position by roughly 60 miles after forgetting to account for the International Date Line during their flight and forcing the plane into an ocean landing. “We always felt that [Earhart] would have made every attempt to land the aircraft gently on the water, and the aircraft signature that we see in the sonar image suggests that may be the case,” Romeo said. “We’re thrilled to have made this discovery at the tail end of our expedition, and we plan to bring closure to a great American story.”

Quick Facts

Becoming a pilot, first transatlantic flight as a passenger, book and celebrity persona, first solo flight across the atlantic by a woman, other notable flights, husband george putnam, last flight and disappearance, theories and investigations into earhart’s disappearance, who was amelia earhart.

Amelia Earhart, fondly known as “Lady Lindy,” was an American aviator who mysteriously disappeared in July 1937 while trying to circumnavigate the globe from the equator. Earhart was the 16 th woman to be issued a pilot’s license. She had several notable flights, including becoming the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean in 1928, as well as the first person to fly over both the Atlantic and Pacific. Earhart was legally declared dead in 1939.

FULL NAME: Amelia Earhart BORN: July 24, 1897 DIED: January 5, 1939 (legal declaration of death) BIRTHPLACE: Atchison, Kansas SPOUSE: George Putnam (1931-1939) ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Leo

Amelia Earhart was born on July 24, 1897, in Atchison, Kansas. Earhart spent much of her early childhood in the upper-middle-class household of her maternal grandparents. Earhart’s mother, Amelia “Amy” Otis, married a man who showed much promise but was never able to break the bonds of alcohol. Edwin Earhart was on a constant search to establish his career and put the family on a firm financial foundation. When the situation got bad, Amy would shuttle Earhart and her sister Muriel to their grandparents’ home. There they sought out adventures, exploring the neighborhood, climbing trees, hunting for rats and taking breathtaking rides on Earhart’s sled.

Even after the family was reunited when Earhart was 10, Edwin constantly struggled to find and maintain gainful employment. This caused the family to move around, and Earhart attended several different schools. She showed early aptitude in school for science and sports, though it was difficult to do well academically and make friends.

In 1915, Amy separated once again from her husband and moved Earhart and her sister to Chicago to live with friends. While there, Earhart attended Hyde Park High School, where she excelled in chemistry. Her father’s inability to be the provider for the family led Earhart to become independent and not rely on someone else to “take care” of her.

After graduation, Earhart spent a Christmas vacation visiting her sister in Toronto, Canada. After seeing wounded soldiers returning from World War I, she volunteered as a nurse’s aide for the Red Cross. Earhart came to know many wounded pilots. She developed a strong admiration for aviators, spending much of her free time watching the Royal Flying Corps practicing at the airfield nearby. In 1919, Earhart enrolled in medical studies at Columbia University. She quit a year later to be with her parents, who had reunited in California.

At a Long Beach air show in 1920, Earhart took a plane ride that transformed her life. It was only 10 minutes, but when she landed she knew she had to learn to fly. Working at a variety of jobs, from photographer to truck driver, she earned enough money to take flying lessons from pioneer female aviator Anita “Neta” Snook. Earhart immersed herself in learning to fly. She read everything she could find on flying and spent much of her time at the airfield. She cropped her hair short, in the style of other women aviators. Worried what the other, more experienced pilots might think of her, she even slept in her new leather jacket for three nights to give it a more “worn” look.

In the summer of 1921, Earhart purchased a second-hand Kinner Airster biplane painted bright yellow. She nicknamed it “The Canary,” and set out to make a name for herself in aviation.

On October 22, 1922, Earhart flew her plane to 14,000 feet—the world altitude record for female pilots. On May 15, 1923, Earhart became the 16 th woman to be issued a pilot’s license by the world governing body for aeronautics, The Federation Aeronautique.

Throughout this period, the Earhart family lived mostly on an inheritance from Amy’s mother’s estate. Amy administered the funds but, by 1924, the money had run out. With no immediate prospects of making a living flying, Earhart sold her plane. Following her parents’ divorce, she and her mother set out on a trip across the country starting in California and ending up in Boston. In 1925, she again enrolled in Columbia University but was forced to abandon her studies due to limited finances. Earhart found employment first as a teacher, then as a social worker.

Earhart gradually got back into aviation in 1927, becoming a member of the American Aeronautical Society’s Boston chapter. She also invested a small amount of money in the Dennison Airport in Massachusetts and acted as a sales representative for Kinner airplanes in the Boston area. As she wrote articles promoting flying in the local newspaper, she began to develop a following as a local celebrity.

After Charles Lindbergh ’s solo flight from New York to Paris in May 1927, interest grew for having a woman fly across the Atlantic. In April 1928, Earhart received a phone call from Captain Hilton H. Railey, a pilot and publicity man, asking her, “Would you like to fly the Atlantic?” In a heartbeat, she said yes. She traveled to New York to be interviewed and met with project coordinators, including publisher George Putnam. Soon, she was selected to be the first woman on a transatlantic flight—as a passenger. The wisdom at the time was that such a flight was too dangerous for a woman to conduct herself.

On June 17, 1928, Earhart took off from Trepassey Harbor, Newfoundland, in a Fokker F.Vllb/3m named Friendship . Accompanying her on the flight was pilot Wilmer “Bill” Stultz and co-pilot and mechanic Louis E. “Slim” Gordon. Approximately 20 hours and 40 minutes later, they touched down at Burry Point, Wales, in the United Kingdom. Due to the weather, Stultz did all the flying. Even though this was the agreed upon arrangement, Earhart later confided that she felt she “was just baggage, like a sack of potatoes.” Then she added, “Maybe someday I’ll try it alone.”

The Friendship team returned to the United States, greeted by a ticker-tape parade in New York and later a reception held in their honor with President Calvin Coolidge at the White House. The press dubbed Earhart “Lady Lindy,” a derivative of the “Lucky Lind,” nickname for Lindbergh.

In 1928, Earhart wrote a book about aviation and her transatlantic experience, 20 Hrs., 40 Min . Upon publication that year, Earhart’s collaborator and publisher, George Putnam, heavily promoted her through a book and lecture tours and product endorsements. Earhart actively became involved in the promotions, especially with women’s fashions. For years she had sewn her own clothes, and now she contributed her input to a new line of women’s fashion that embodied a sleek, purposeful, yet feminine look.

Through her celebrity endorsements, Earhart gained notoriety and acceptance in the public eye. She accepted a position as associate editor at Cosmopolitan magazine, using the media outlet to campaign for commercial air travel. From this forum, she became a promoter for Transcontinental Air Transport, later known as Trans World Airlines (TWA), and was a vice president of National Airways, which flew routes in the northeast.

Earhart’s public persona presented a gracious and somewhat shy woman who displayed remarkable talent and bravery. Yet deep inside, Earhart harbored a burning desire to distinguish herself as different from the rest of the world. She was an intelligent and competent pilot who never panicked or lost her nerve, but she was not a brilliant aviator. Her skills kept pace with aviation during the first decade of the century, but as technology moved forward with sophisticated radio and navigation equipment, Earhart continued to fly by instinct.

She recognized her limitations and continuously worked to improve her skills, but the constant promotion and touring never gave her the time she needed to catch up. Recognizing the power of her celebrity, she strove to be an example of courage, intelligence, and self-reliance. She hoped her influence would help topple negative stereotypes about women and open doors for them in every field.

Earhart set her sights on establishing herself as a respected aviator. Shortly after returning from her 1928 transatlantic flight, she set off on a successful solo flight across North America. In 1929, she entered the first Santa Monica-to-Cleveland Women’s Air Derby, placing third. In 1931, Earhart powered a Pitcairn PCA-2 autogyro and set a world altitude record of 18,415 feet. During this time, Earhart became involved with the Ninety-Nines, an organization of female pilots advancing the cause of women in aviation. She became the organization’s first president in 1930.

On May 20, 1932, Earhart became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, in a nearly 15-hour voyage from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, to Culmore, Northern Ireland. Before their marriage, Earhart and George Putnam worked on secret plans for a solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean. By early 1932, they had made their preparations and announced that, on the fifth anniversary of Lindbergh’s flight across the Atlantic, Earhart would attempt the same feat.

Earhart took off in the morning from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, with that day’s copy of the local newspaper to confirm the date of the flight. Almost immediately, the flight ran into difficulty as she encountered thick clouds and ice on the wings. After about 12 hours the conditions got worse, and the plane began to experience mechanical difficulties. She knew she wasn’t going to make it to Paris as Lindbergh had, so she started looking for a new place to land. She found a pasture just outside the small village of Culmore, in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, and successfully landed.

On May 22, 1932, Earhart made an appearance at the Hanworth Airfield in London, where she received a warm welcome from local residents. Earhart’s flight established her as an international hero. As a result, she won many honors, including the Gold Medal from the National Geographic Society, presented by President Herbert Hoover ; the Distinguished Flying Cross from the U.S. Congress; and the Cross of the Knight of the Legion of Honor from the French government.

Earhart made a solo trip from Honolulu to Oakland, California, establishing her as the first person to fly both across the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans. In April 1935, she flew solo from Los Angeles to Mexico City, and a month later, she flew from Mexico City to New York. Between 1930 and 1935, Earhart set seven women’s speed and distance aviation records in a variety of aircraft. In 1935, Earhart joined the faculty at Purdue University as a female career consultant and technical advisor to the Department of Aeronautics, and she began to contemplate one last fight to circle the world.

On February 7, 1931, Earhart married George Putnam, the publisher of her autobiography, at his mother’s home in Connecticut.

Putnam had already published several writings by Lindbergh when he saw Earhart’s 1928 transatlantic flight as a best-selling story with Earhart as the star. Putnam, who was married to Crayola heiress Dorothy Binney Putnam, invited Earhart to move into their Connecticut home to work on her book.

Earhart became close friends with Dorothy, but rumors surfaced about an affair between Earhart and Putnam, who both insisted the early part of their relationship was strictly professional. Unhappy in her marriage, Dorothy was having an affair with her son’s tutor, according to Whistled Like a Bird by Sally Putnam Chapman, Dorothy’s grandaugther. The Putnams divorced in 1929.

Soon after their split, Putnam actively pursued Earhart, asking her to marry him on several occasions. Earhart declined before eventually agreeing. On the day of their wedding, Earhart wrote a letter to Putnam telling him, “I want you to understand I shall not hold you to any medieval code of faithfulness to me nor shall I consider myself bound to you similarly.”

Earhart’s attempt to be the first person to circumnavigate the earth around the equator ultimately resulted in her disappearance on July 2, 1937. Earhart purchased a Lockheed Electra L-10E plane and pulled together a top-rated crew of three men: Captain Harry Manning, Fred Noonan, and Paul Mantz. Manning, who had been the captain of the President Roosevelt, which brought Earhart back from Europe in 1928, would become Earhart’s first navigator. Noonan, who had vast experience in both marine and flight navigation, was to be the second navigator. Mantz, a Hollywood stunt pilot, was chosen to be Earhart’s technical advisor.

The original plan was to take off from Oakland, California, and fly west to Hawaii. From there, the group would fly across the Pacific Ocean to Australia. Then, they would cross the sub-continent of India, on to Africa, then to Florida, and back to California.

On March 17, 1937, they took off from Oakland on the first leg. They experienced some periodic problems flying across the Pacific and landed in Hawaii for some repairs at the United States Navy’s Field on Ford Island in Pearl Harbor. After three days, the Electra began its takeoff, but something went wrong. Earhart lost control and looped the plane on the runway. How this happened is still the subject of some controversy. Several witnesses, including an Associated Press journalist, said they saw a tire blow. Other sources, including Paul Mantz, indicated it was a pilot error. Although no one was seriously hurt, the plane was severely damaged and had to be shipped back to California for extensive repairs.

In the interim, Earhart and Putnam secured additional funding for a new flight. The stress of the delay and the grueling fund-raising appearances left Earhart exhausted. By the time the plane was repaired, weather patterns and global wind changes required alterations to the flight plan. This time Earhart and her crew would fly east. Captain Harry Manning would not join the team, due to previous commitments. Paul Mantz was also absent, reportedly due to a contract dispute.

After flying from Oakland to Miami, Earhart and Noonan took off on June 1 from Miami with much fanfare and publicity. The plane flew toward Central and South America, turning east for Africa. From there, the plane crossed the Indian Ocean and finally touched down in Lae, New Guinea, on June 29, 1937. About 22,000 miles of the journey had been completed. The remaining 7,000 miles would take place over the Pacific.

In Lae, Earhart contracted dysentery that lasted for days. While she recuperated, several necessary adjustments were made to the plane. Extra amounts of fuel were stowed on board. The parachutes were packed away, for there would be no need for them while flying along the vast and desolate Pacific Ocean.

The flyers’ plan was to head to Howland Island, 2,556 miles away, situated between Hawaii and Australia. A flat sliver of land 6,500 feet long, 1,600 feet wide, and no more than 20 feet above the ocean waves, the island would be hard to distinguish from similar-looking cloud shapes. To meet this challenge, Earhart and Noonan had an elaborate plan with several contingencies. Celestial navigation would be used to track their routes and keep them on course. In the case of overcast skies, they had radio communication with a U.S. Coast Guard vessel, Itasca , stationed off Howland Island. They could also use their maps, compass and the position of the rising sun to make an educated guess in finding their position relative to Howland Island.

After aligning themselves with Howland’s correct latitude, they would run north and south looking for the island and the smoke plume to be sent up by the Itasca. They even had emergency plans to ditch the plane if need be, believing the empty fuel tanks would give the plane some buoyancy, as well as time to get into their small inflatable raft to wait for rescue.

Earhart and Noonan set out from Lae on July 2, 1937, at 12:30 a.m., heading east toward Howland Island. Although the flyers seemed to have a well-thought-out plan, several early decisions led to grave consequences later on. Radio equipment with shorter wavelength frequencies were left behind, presumably to allow more room for fuel canisters. This equipment could broadcast radio signals farther distances. Due to inadequate quantities of high-octane fuel, the Electra carried about 1,000 gallons—50 gallons short of full capacity.

The Electra’s crew ran into difficulty almost from the start. Witnesses to the July 2 takeoff reported that a radio antenna might have been damaged. It is also believed that, due to the extensive overcast conditions, Noonan might have had extreme difficulty with celestial navigation. If that weren’t enough, it was later discovered that the flyers were using maps that may have been inaccurate. According to experts, evidence shows that the charts used by Noonan and Earhart placed Howland Island nearly six miles off its actual position.

These circumstances led to a series of problems that couldn’t be solved. As Earhart and Noonan reached the supposed position of Howland Island, they maneuvered into their north and south tracking route to find the island. They looked for visual and auditory signals from the Itasca , but for various reasons, radio communication was very poor that day. There was also confusion between Earhart and the Itasca over which frequencies to use, and a misunderstanding as to the agreed upon check-in time; the flyers were operating on Greenwich Civil Time and the Itasca was operating on the naval time zone, which set their schedules 30 minutes apart.

On the morning of July 2, 1937, at 7:20 a.m., Earhart reported her position, placing the Electra on a course at 20 miles southwest of the Nukumanu Islands. At 7:42 a.m., the Itasca picked up this message from the Earhart: “We must be on you, but we cannot see you. Fuel is running low. Been unable to reach you by radio. We are flying at 1,000 feet.” The ship replied, but there was no indication that Earhart heard this. The flyers’ last communication was at 8:43 a.m. Although the transmission was marked as “questionable,” it is believed Earhart and Noonan thought they were running along the north-south line. However, Noonan’s chart of Howland’s position was off by 5 nautical miles. The Itasca released its oil burners in an attempt to signal the flyers, but they apparently didn’t see it. In all likelihood, their tanks ran out of fuel, and they had to ditch at sea.

When the Itasca realized that they had lost contact, they began an immediate search. Despite the efforts of 66 aircraft and nine ships—an estimated $4 million rescue authorized by President Franklin D. Roosevelt —the fate of the two flyers remained a mystery. The official search ended on July 18, 1937, but Putnam financed additional search efforts, working off tips of naval experts and even psychics in an attempt to find his wife. In October 1937, he acknowledged that any chance of Earhart and Noonan surviving was gone. On January 5, 1939, Earhart was declared legally dead by the Superior Court in Los Angeles.

Since her disappearance, several theories have formed regarding Earhart's last days, many of which have been connected to various artifacts that have been found on Pacific islands. Two seem to have the greatest credibility. One is that the plane that Earhart and Noonan were flying was ditched or crashed, and the two perished at sea. Several aviation and navigation experts support this theory, concluding that the outcome of the last leg of the flight came down to “poor planning, worse execution.” Investigations concluded that the Electra aircraft wasn’t fully fueled and couldn’t have made it to Howland Island even if conditions were ideal. The fact that there were so many issues creating difficulties lead investigators to the conclusion that the plane simply ran out of fuel some 35 to 100 miles off the coast of Howland Island.

Another theory is that Earhart and Noonan might have flown without radio transmission for some time after their last radio signal, landing at uninhabited Nikumaroro reef, a tiny island in the Pacific Ocean 350 miles southeast of Howland Island. This island is where they would ultimately die. This theory is based on several on-site investigations that have turned up artifacts such as improvised tools, bits of clothing, an aluminum panel and a piece of Plexiglas the exact width and curvature of an Electra window. In May 2012, investigators found a jar of freckle cream on a remote island in the South Pacific, in proximity to their other findings, that many investigators believe belonged to Earhart.

Amelia Earhart Photo and Amelia Earhart: The Lost Evidence

Amelia Earhart: The Lost Evidence was an investigative special on History that aired in July 2017 exploring the significance of a photograph discovered by a retired federal agent in the National Archives. The photograph, which surfaced another theory about Earhart’s disappearance, was supposedly taken by a spy on Jaluit Island and has been found to be unaltered. A facial-recognition expert interviewed in the History special believes that a woman and man in the photo are good matches for Earhart and Noonan (a male figure has a hairline like Noonan’s). In addition, a ship is seen towing an object that aligns with the measurements of Earhart’s plane. The claim is if Earhart and Noonan landed there, the Japanese ship Koshu Maru was in the area and could have taken them and the plane to Jaluit before bringing them, as prisoners, to Saipan.

Some experts have questioned this theory. Earhart expert Richard Gillespie, who leads The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR), told The Guardian that the photo was “silly.” TIGHAR, which has been investigating Earhart’s disappearance since the 1980s, believes that running out of fuel, Earhart and Noonan landed on Nikumaroro’s reef and lived as castaways before dying on the atoll. According to another article in The Guardian , in July 2017 a Japanese military blogger found the same photo in a Japanese-language travelogue archived in Japan’s national library, and the picture was published in 1935—two years before Earhart’s disappearance. The communications director of the National Archives told NPR that the archives don’t know the date of the photograph or the photographer.

In October 2014, it was reported that researchers at TIGHAR found a 19 inch by 23-inch scrap of metal on Nikumaroro’s reef that the group identified as a fragment of Earhart’s plane. The piece was found in 1991 in a small, uninhabited island in the southwestern Pacific.

In July 2017, a team of four forensic bone-sniffing dogs with TIGHAR and the National Geographic Society claimed to have found the spot where Earhart might have died. In 1940, a British official reported finding human bones beneath a ren tree. Future expeditions found potential signs of an American female castaway, including campfire remains and a woman’s compact. The TIGHAR team said all four of their dogs alerted investigators of human remains near a ren tree and sent samples of the soil to a lab in Germany for DNA analysis.

In 2018, anthropologist Richard Jantz announced the results of a study in which he reexamined the original forensic analysis of the bones discovered in 1940. The original analysis determined the bones to possibly be from a short, stocky European male, but Jantz noted that the scientific techniques used at the time were still being developed.

After comparing the bone measurements to data from 2,776 other people from the time period, and studying photos of Earhart and her clothing measurements, Jantz concluded that there was a likely match. “This analysis reveals that Earhart is more similar to the Nikumaroro bones than 99 percent of individuals in a large reference sample,” he said. “This strongly supports the conclusion that the Nikumaroro bones belonged to Amelia Earhart.”

Radio Signals

Complementing the results of the bone analysis, in July 2018, TIGHAR executive director Richard Gillespie released a report built around years of analysis of radio distress signals sent by Earhart in the days after her disappearance.

Hypothesizing that Earhart and Noonan came down on Nikumaroro reef, the only place large enough to land a plane in the vicinity, Gillespie studied tide patterns and determined that the distress signals corresponded with the reef's low tides, the only time Earhart could run the plane’s engine without fear of flooding.

Furthermore, various citizens documented the reception of messages from Earhart via radio, their accounts corroborated by publications from the time. On July 4, two days after the crash, a San Francisco resident heard a voice from the radio saying, “Still alive. Better hurry. Tell husband all right.” Three days later, someone in eastern Canada picked up the message, “Can you read me? Can you read me? This is Amelia Earhart… please come in,” believed to be the final verifiable transmission from the pilot.

Robert Ballard-National Geographic Search

In August 2019, famed explorer Robert Ballard, who found the Titanic in 1985, led a research team to Nikumaroro with the hope of uncovering more answers about Earhart’s disappearance. The search was sponsored by National Geographic, which planned to air a two-hour documentary about Ballard’s efforts later in the year.

Deep Sea Vision Sonar Image

In January 2024, the Deep Sea Vision exploration team announced it had obtained a sonar image of an object on the Pacific Ocean floor similar to the contours of a Lockheed 10-E Electra—the same type of plane that disappeared with Earhart—and planned to continue to examine the area.

The group and its CEO, Tony Romeo, scanned about 5,200 square miles of unsearched ocean floor over three months to obtain the image. While the exact location of the find hasn’t been publicly disclosed, it’s believed to be about 100 miles from Howland Island. Romeo and DSV believe the object could be Earhart’s plane based on the “Date Line Theory,” suggesting navigator Noonan failed to account for the International Date Line during the flight, which led to a geographic miscalculation.

Earhart’s life and career have been celebrated for the past several decades on “Amelia Earhart Day,” which is held annually on July 24—her birthday.

Earhart possessed a shy, charismatic appeal that belied her determination and ambition. In her passion for flying, she amassed a number of distance and altitude world records. But beyond her accomplishments as a pilot, she also wanted to make a statement about the role and worth of women. She dedicated much of her life to prove that women could excel in their chosen professions just like men and have equal value. This all contributed to her wide appeal and international celebrity. Her mysterious disappearance, added to all of this, has given Earhart lasting recognition in popular culture as one of the world’s most famous pilots.

• The woman who can create her own job is the woman who will win fame and fortune.
• Adventure is worthwhile in itself.
• Preparation, I have often said, is rightly two-thirds of any venture.
• In my life, I had come to realize that when things were going very well, indeed, it was just the time to anticipate trouble.
• Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace.
• I have a feeling there is just about one more good flight left in my system, and I hope this trip is it. [said to reporters before her last flight]
• As soon as I left the ground, I knew I myself had to fly. [after her first airplane ride]
• I’ve had practical experience and know the discrimination against women in various forms of industry. A pilot’s a pilot. I hope that such equality could be carried out in other fields so that men and women may achieve equally in any endeavor they set out.
• The time to worry is three months before a flight. Decide then whether or not the goal is worth the risks involved. If it is, stop worrying. To worry is to add another hazard.
• As far as I know I’ve only got one obsession—a small and probably typically feminine horror of growing old—so I won’t feel completely cheated if I fail to come back.

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Amelia Earhart

By: History.com Editors

Updated: March 9, 2022 | Original: November 9, 2009

Amelia Earhart was an American aviator who set many flying records and championed the advancement of women in aviation . She became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean , and the first person ever to fly solo from Hawaii to the U.S. mainland. During a flight to circumnavigate the globe, Earhart disappeared somewhere over the Pacific in July 1937. Her plane wreckage was never found, and she was officially declared lost at sea. Her disappearance remains one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of the twentieth century.

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Amelia Mary Earhart was born in Atchison, Kansas on July 24, 1897. She defied traditional gender roles from a young age. Earhart played basketball, took an auto repair course and briefly attended college.

During World War I , she served as a Red Cross nurse’s aid in Toronto, Canada. Earhart began to spend time watching pilots in the Royal Flying Corps train at a local airfield while in Toronto.

After the war, she returned to the United States and enrolled at Columbia University in New York as a pre-med student. Earhart took her first airplane ride in California in December 1920 with famed World War I pilot Frank Hawks—and was forever hooked.

In January 1921, she started flying lessons with female flight instructor Neta Snook. To help pay for those lessons, Earhart worked as a filing clerk at the Los Angeles Telephone Company. Later that year, she purchased her first airplane, a secondhand Kinner Airster. She nicknamed the yellow airplane “the Canary.”

Earhart passed her flight test in December 1921, earning a National Aeronautics Association license. Two days later, she participated in her first flight exhibition at the Sierra Airdrome in Pasadena, California .

Earhart’s Aviation Records

Earhart set a number of aviation records in her short career. Her first record came in 1922 when she became the first woman to fly solo above 14,000 feet.

In 1932, Earhart became the first woman (and second person after Charles Lindbergh ) to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She left Newfoundland, Canada, on May 20 in a red Lockheed Vega 5B and arrived a day later, landing in a cow field near Londonderry, Northern Ireland.

Upon returning to the United States, Congress awarded her the Distinguished Flying Cross—a military decoration awarded for “heroism or extraordinary achievement while participating in an aerial flight.” She was the first woman to receive the honor.

Later that year, Earhart made the first solo, nonstop flight across the United States by a woman. She started in Los Angeles and landed 19 hours later in Newark, New Jersey . She also became the first person to fly solo from Hawaii to the United States mainland in 1935.

The Ninety-Nines

Earhart consistently worked to promote opportunities for women in aviation.

In 1929, after placing third in the All-Women’s Air Derby—the first transcontinental air race for women—Earhart helped to form the Ninety-Nines, an international organization for the advancement of female pilots.

She became the first president of the organization of licensed pilots, which still exists today and represents women flyers from 44 countries.

1937 Flight Around the World

On June 1, 1937, Amelia Earhart took off from Oakland, California, on an eastbound flight around the world. It was her second attempt to become the first pilot ever to circumnavigate the globe.

She flew a twin-engine Lockheed 10E Electra and was accompanied on the flight by navigator Fred Noonan. They flew to Miami, then down to South America, across the Atlantic to Africa, then east to India and Southeast Asia.

The pair reached Lae, New Guinea, on June 29. When they reached Lae, they already had flown 22,000 miles. They had 7,000 more miles to go before reaching Oakland.

What Happened to Amelia Earhart?

Earhart and Noonan departed Lae for tiny Howland Island—their next refueling stop—on July 2. It was the last time Earhart was seen alive. She and Noonan lost radio contact with the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Itasca , anchored off the coast of Howland Island, and disappeared en route.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized a massive two-week search for the pair, but they were never found. On July 19, 1937, Earhart and Noonan were declared lost at sea.

Scholars and aviation enthusiasts have proposed many theories about what happened to Amelia Earhart. The official position from the U.S. government is that Earhart and Noonan crashed into the Pacific Ocean, but there are numerous theories regarding their disappearance.

Crash and Sink Theory

According to the crash and sink theory, Earhart’s plane ran out of gas while she searched for Howland Island, and she crashed into the open ocean somewhere in the vicinity of the island.

Several expeditions over the past 15 years have attempted to locate the plane’s wreckage on the seafloor near Howland. High-tech sonar and deep-sea robots have failed to yield clues about the Electra’s crash site.

Gardner Island Hypothesis

The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) postulates that Earhart and Noonan veered off-course from Howland Island and landed instead some 350 miles to the Southwest on Gardner Island, now called Nikumaroro, in the Republic of Kiribati. The island was uninhabited at the time.

A week after Earhart’s disappearance, Navy planes flew over the island. They noted recent signs of habitation but found no evidence of an airplane.

TIGHAR believes that Earhart—and perhaps Noonan—may have survived for days or even weeks on the island as castaways before dying there. Since 1988, several TIGHAR expeditions to the island have turned up artifacts and anecdotal evidence in support of this hypothesis.

Some of the artifacts include a piece of Plexiglas that may have come from the Electra’s window, a woman’s shoe dating back to the 1930s, improvised tools, a woman’s cosmetics jar from the 1930s and bones that appeared to be part of a human finger.

In June 2017, a TIGHAR-led expedition arrived on Nikumaroro with four forensically trained bone-sniffing border collies to search the island for any skeletal remains of Earhart or Noonan. The search turned up no bones or DNA.

In August 2019, Robert Ballard, the ocean explorer known for locating the wreck of the Titanic , led a team to search for Earhart's plane in the waters around Nikumaroro. They saw no signs of the Electra.

Other Theories About Earhart’s Disappearance

There are numerous conspiracy theories about Earhart’s disappearance. One theory posits that Earhart and Noonan were captured and executed by the Japanese.

Another theory claims that the pair served as spies for the Roosevelt administration and assumed new identities upon returning to the United States.

READ MORE: Tantalizing Theories About the Earhart Disappearance

The Life of Amelia Earhart: Purdue Libraries .

Amelia Earhart: Missing for 80 Years But Not Forgotten: Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum .

Model, Static, Lockheed Electra, Amelia Earhart: Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

Exclusive: Bone-Sniffing Dogs to Hunt for Amelia Earhart’s Remains: National Geographic .

Where Is Amelia Earhart? Three Theories but No Smoking Gun: National Geographic .

The Earhart Project: The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) .

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Amelia Earhart

She never reached her fortieth birthday, but in her brief life, Amelia Earhart became a record-breaking female aviator whose international fame improved public acceptance of aviation and paved the way for other women in commercial flight.

Amelia Mary Earhart was born on July 24, 1897 in Atchison, Kansas to Amy Otis Earhart and Edwin Stanton Earhart, followed in 1899 by her sister Muriel. The family moved from Kansas to Iowa to Minnesota to Illinois, where Earhart graduated from high school. During World War I, she left college to work at a Canadian military hospital, where she met aviators and became intrigued with flying.

After the war, Earhart completed a semester at Columbia University, then the University of Southern California. With her first plane ride in 1920, she realized her true passion and began flying lessons with female aviator Neta Snook. On her twenty-fifth birthday, Earhart purchased a Kinner Airster biplane. She flew it, in 1922, when she set the women’s altitude record of 14,000 feet. With faltering family finances, she soon sold the plane. When her parents divorced in 1924, Earhart moved with her mother and sister to Massachusetts and became a settlement worker at Dennison House in Boston, while also flying in air shows.

Earhart’s life changed dramatically in 1928, when publisher George Putnam — seeking to expand on public enthusiasm for Charles Lindbergh’s transcontinental flight a year earlier — tapped Earhart to become the first woman to cross the Atlantic by plane. She succeeded, albeit, as a passenger. But when the flight from Newfoundland landed in Wales on June 17, 1928, Earhart became a media sensation and symbol of what women could achieve. Putnam remained her promoter, publishing her two books: 20 Hrs. 40 Mins. (1928) and The Fun of It (1932). Earhart married Putnam in 1931, though she retained her maiden name and considered the marriage an equal partnership.

Earhart’s popularity brought opportunities from a short-lived fashion business to a stint as aviation editor at Cosmopolitan (then a family magazine). It also brought financing for subsequent record-breaking flights in speed and distance. In 1932, she became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic — as a pilot. Her awards included the American Distinguished Flying Cross and the Cross of the French Legion of Honor. In 1929, Earhart helped found the Ninety-Nines, an organization of female aviators.

In 1935, Purdue University hired Earhart as aviation advisor and career counselor for women and purchased the Lockheed plane she dubbed her “flying laboratory.” On June 1, 1937, she left Miami with navigator Fred Noonan, seeking to become the first woman to fly around the world. With 7,000 miles remaining, the plane lost radio contact near the Howland Islands. It was never found, despite an extensive search that continued for decades.

• Rich, Doris.  Amelia Earhart: A Biography. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Press, 1996.
• Ware, Susan. Still Missing: Amelia Earhart and the Search for Modern Feminism. New York: W.W. Norton, 1993 .
• Amelia Earhart: The Official Website. “Biography.” Accessed July 25, 2014.
• “Complete Program Transcript, American Experience: Amelia Earhart.” PBS.com. Accessed July 25, 2014 .
• Thurman, Judith. “Missing Woman: Amelia Earhart’s Flight.” New Yorker , September 14, 2009.
• The Ninety-Nines, Inc. “Amelia Earhart – A Timeline.” Accessed July 25, 2014.
• NASA. “Earhart Crosses the Atlantic.” Accessed July 25, 2014 .
• PHOTO: Library of Congress

MLA - Michals, Debra.  “Amelia Earhart.”  National Women’s History Museum. National Women’s History Museum, 2015.  Date accessed. 

Chicago - Michals, Debra.  “Amelia Earhart.” National Women’s History Museum. 2015. www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/amelia-earhart.

Amelia Earhart Birthplace Museum  

Earhart, Amelia.  20 Hours, 40 Minutes . G.P. Putnam's Sons. 1928.

Earhart, Amelia, The Fun of It . Harcourt, Brace and Company.  1933.

Butler, Susan.  East to the Dawn: The Life of Amelia Earhart . Da Capo Press: Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1997.

Fleming, Candace.  Amelia Lost: The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart .  New York: Swartz & Wade Books, 2011.

Lovell, Mary.  The Sounds of Wings . New York, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1989.

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Biography Online

Amelia Earhart Biography

Amelia Mary Earhart was an aviation pioneer who became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. She set many solo flying records and wrote several successful books about her experiences. She was a supporter of equal rights for women and saw her role to inspire other women and give them confidence that they could achieve the same as men. In 1937, aged just 40 years old, Amelia Earhart disappeared over the Pacific Ocean on a solo flight attempting to circumnavigate the globe.

“The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process is its own reward. “

– Amelia Earhart

Short Biography Amelia Earhart

Amelia Earhart was born in Atchison, Kansas. Her father was a lawyer and her grandfather a former federal judge, and leading citizen of Atchison.

From an early age, Amelia displayed a great sense of adventure and was often referred to as a ‘tomboy’. She enjoyed pursuits not common for girls of her age – such as shooting rats with a rifle, climbing trees and keeping wildlife such as worms and a tree toad. Her mother encouraged a greater freedom for her children that wasn’t common for the time. Her mother once commented that she didn’t believe in bringing up her children to be ‘nice little girls’. This spirit of relative freedom and adventure was a common trait throughout her life.

In 1909, Amelia and her sister joined her parents in Des Moines, Iowa, where her father was now working for the railroad company. Unfortunately, her father was diagnosed as an alcoholic, and later he lost his job. In 1915, the family moved to St Paul, Minnesota, before shortly having to move on again to Chicago.

In her young years, Amelia was educated at home. She was a keen reader and kept a scrapbook of women who had made significant achievements in fields that were at the time, primarily the preserve of men.

After moving to Chicago, Amelia tried to find a school with good science teaching, but she was disappointed by what was on offer, and her education proved a disappointment.

In 1917, she trained as a nurse and began volunteer work in the Spadina Military Hospital for wounded soldiers from the Western Front. In 1918, she contracted the Spanish flu, while working as a nurse in Toronto. It took her a year to recover and left her with chronic sinusitis, which adversely affected her flying.

Learning to fly

“I did not understand it at the time, but I believe that little red airplane said something to me as it swished by.”

On December 28, 1920, she had her first flight with pilot Frank Hawks. She said.

“ By the time I had got two or three hundred feet off the ground, I knew I had to fly.”

Working in a variety of jobs, Amelia saved up money to be able to pay for flying lessons. In 1921, with help from her parents, she was able to receive flying lessons from Anita Snook, a pioneer female pilot. By 1923, Amelia was the 16th women to be issued a pilot’s license.

By 1927, she had accumulated 500 solo hours flying. This was quite an achievement given the rudimentary state of early aviation. A pilot had to be good with manual controls but also adept at navigation and securing a safe flying route.

Personal Life

“I want you to understand I shall not hold you to any medieval code of faithfulness to me nor shall I consider myself bound to you similarly.”

Together they had no children, though George had two children from a former marriage.

1928 Transatlantic Flight

In 1927, Charles Lindbergh became the first person to fly solo from New York to Paris and it created a global media sensation. Shortly after, Amy Phipps Guest offered to sponsor a female who might be willing to undertake the flight.

In 1928, she accompanied pilot Wilmer Stultz on a 20-hour flight across the Atlantic to England. This flight received a significant deal of media attention and made Amelia a public figure. She was sometimes referred to as Lady Lindy; this led to profitable marketing opportunities with a cigarette company ‘Lucky Strike’. Her newfound image enabled her to become involved in the design of female fashion, focusing on simple, natural lines which were also practical to wear. Her image as a successful pilot also played a role in raising the profile of air travel for ordinary people. The 1930s was the real beginning of commercial air travel.

First Solo Transatlantic Flight 1932

Shortly after her first flight across the Atlantic, she set out to make several untarnished air flights on her own. She became the first woman to make a solo transatlantic flight on May 21, 1932; flying from Newfoundland to a field in Culmore, north of Derry

She also used her image to support women’s groups, especially women’s groups dedicated to flying such as the Ninety-Nines. She became friendly with Eleanor Roosevelt , who shared a similar outlook on human rights and female equality.

1937 World Flight

With support from Purdue University, Earhart began plans to make a challenging 29,000-mile global flight around the equator. It would not be the first flight to transverse the globe, but it would be longest staying close to the equator. She had a Lockheed Electra 10E – built to her specifications. For part of the flight, she would be joined by Fred Noonan, an experienced navigator.

By late June 1937, Earhart and Noonan had travelled from Miami to South East Asia and Lae, New Guinea. On July 2nd they took off from Lae intending to go to Howland Island. However, on their approach to Howland Island, there were radio messages that they were running low on fuel. Contact was lost, and the plane never made it to their destination. Despite an extensive search for the plane, they couldn’t be found, and they were presumed dead in absentia.

In a letter to her husband shortly before the final fatal flight, she wrote:

“Please know I am quite aware of the hazards, I want to do it because I want to do it. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others.”

The most widely accepted theory is that they ran out of fuel and had to ditch the plane in the sea. Others claim they may have made it to Phoenix Island.

Achievements of Amelia Earhart

• First female to fly solo from Hawaii to California. January 11, 1935
• First female to fly solo across Atlantic May 21, 1932
• Inspired a generation of female pilots to take up a domain primarily the reserve of men.
• Women’s Airforce Service Pilots who helped in World War II.
• Woman’s world altitude record: 14,000 ft (1922)
• First woman to fly the Atlantic (1928)
• Speed records for 100 km (1931)
• First woman to fly an autogyro (1931)
• Altitude record for autogyros: 15,000 ft (1931)
• First person to cross the U.S. in an autogyro (1932)
• First woman to fly the Atlantic solo (1932)
• First person to fly the Atlantic twice (1932)
• First woman to receive the Distinguished Flying Cross (1932)
• First woman to fly non-stop, coast-to-coast across the U.S. (1933)
• Woman’s speed transcontinental record (1933)
• First person to fly solo between Honolulu, Hawaii and Oakland, California (1935)
• First person to fly solo from Los Angeles, California to Mexico City, Mexico (1935)
• First person to fly solo nonstop from Mexico City, Mexico to Newark, New Jersey (1935) Speed record for east-to-west flight from Oakland, California to Honolulu,
• Hawaii (1937)
• President Herbert Hoover presented Earhart with a gold medal from the National Geographic Society.
• Congress awarded her the Distinguished Flying Cross – the first ever given to a woman.

Citation: Pettinger, Tejvan .  “Amelia Earhart Biography” , Oxford, UK. www.biographyonline.net, 11th Feb 2013. Last updated 1 March 2019.

Who Was Amelia Earhart?

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Amelia earhart.

How this pilot changed how high people thought women could fly

Amelia Earhart didn’t flinch. The 21-year-old was attending an air show in Canada in 1918 when a stunt plane dived right toward her. But instead of running out of the way, she faced the plane down.

That wasn’t Earhart’s only brave moment. Born in Kansas on July 24, 1897, she volunteered during World War I starting in 1917, treating wounded Canadian soldiers returning from the European battlefields. Nearby were pilot practice fields, where she discovered her passion for flying. After taking her first flight in 1920, she started working odd jobs to pay for flying lessons. Then, in 1923, she earned an international pilot’s license, becoming one of only 16 women in the world to have one.

Aviation in the 1920s was still new—after all, the Wright brothers ’ first flight had just happened in 1903—and most pilots were men. Earhart wanted to change that and in 1931 became the first president of the Ninety-Nines, an organization of female pilots. The next year, no one would ever think of pilots as “just men” again.

In 1932, Earhart took off from Newfoundland, Canada. Fifteen hours later, she landed in a cow pasture in Northern Ireland and became the first woman to fly by herself across the Atlantic Ocean. And she didn’t stop there. In 1935, she became the first person to fly solo across both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans after she flew from Honolulu, Hawaii , to Oakland, California . In fact, between 1930 and 1935, Earhart set at least five women's speed and distance flying records.

But Earhart wanted to do something even bigger. On June 1, 1937, she and navigator Fred Noonan took off from Miami, Florida , in an attempt to fly 29,000 miles around the world. By June 29, they had made it to New Guinea (now Papua New Guinea), an island north of Australia in the Indian Ocean. They had only 7,000 miles to go. But something happened as they crossed the Pacific Ocean. They set out on July 2, 1937, at 12:30 a.m., heading toward tiny Howland Island. They were never seen again.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt sent 66 aircraft and nine ships to look for them, but the fliers had vanished. The official search ended on July 18, 1937, but to this day people are still trying to solve the mystery of what happened to the woman who changed aviation history.

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Amelia Earhart

She never reached her fortieth birthday, but in her brief life, Amelia Earhart became a record-breaking female aviator whose international fame improved public acceptance of aviation and paved the way for other women in commercial flight.

Amelia Mary Earhart was born on July 24, 1897 in Atchison, Kansas to Amy Otis Earhart and Edwin Stanton Earhart, followed in 1899 by her sister Muriel. The family moved from Kansas to Iowa to Minnesota to Illinois, where Earhart graduated from high school. During World War I, she left college to work at a Canadian military hospital, where she met aviators and became intrigued with flying.

After the war, Earhart completed a semester at Columbia University, then the University of Southern California. With her first plane ride in 1920, she realized her true passion and began flying lessons with female aviator Neta Snook. On her twenty-fifth birthday, Earhart purchased a Kinner Airster biplane. She flew it, in 1922, when she set the women’s altitude record of 14,000 feet. With faltering family finances, she soon sold the plane. When her parents divorced in 1924, Earhart moved with her mother and sister to Massachusetts and became a settlement worker at Dennison House in Boston, while also flying in air shows.

Earhart’s life changed dramatically in 1928, when publisher George Putnam – seeking to expand on public enthusiasm for Charles Lindbergh’s transcontinental flight a year earlier – tapped Earhart to become the first woman to cross the Atlantic by plane. She succeeded, albeit, as a passenger. But when the flight from Newfoundland landed in Wales on June 17, 1928, Earhart became a media sensation and symbol of what women could achieve. Putnam remained her promoter, publishing her two books: 20 Hrs. 40 Mins. (1928)  and The Fun of It (1932). Earhart married Putnam in 1931, though she retained her maiden name and considered the marriage an equal partnership.

Earhart’s popularity brought opportunities from a short-lived fashion business to a stint as aviation editor at Cosmopolitan (then a family magazine). It also brought financing for subsequent record-breaking flights in speed and distance. In 1932, she became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic – as a pilot. Her awards included the American Distinguished Flying Cross and the Cross of the French Legion of Honor. In 1929, Earhart helped found the Ninety-Nines, an organization of female aviators.

In 1935, Purdue University hired Earhart as aviation advisor and career counselor for women and purchased the Lockheed plane she dubbed her “flying laboratory.” On June 1, 1937, she left Miami with navigator Fred Noonan, seeking to become the first woman to fly around the world. With 7,000 miles remaining, the plane lost radio contact near the Howland Islands. It was never found, despite an extensive search that continued for decades.

By Debra Michals, Ph.D.

• Rich, Doris.  Amelia Earhart: A Biography. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Press, 1996.
• Ware, Susan. Still Missing: Amelia Earhart and the Search for Modern Feminism. New York: W.W. Norton, 1993 .
• Amelia Earhart: The Official Website. “Biography.” Accessed July 25, 2014.
• “Complete Program Transcript, American Experience: Amelia Earhart.” PBS.com. Accessed July 25, 2014 .
• Thurman, Judith. “Missing Woman: Amelia Earhart’s Flight.” New Yorker , September 14, 2009.
• The Ninety-Nines, Inc. “Amelia Earhart – A Timeline.” Accessed July 25, 2014.
• NASA. “Earhart Crosses the Atlantic.” Accessed July 25, 2014 .
• PHOTO: Library of Congress

MLA - Michals, Debra.  “Amelia Earhart.”  National Women’s History Museum. National Women’s History Museum, 2015.  Date accessed. 

Chicago - Michals, Debra.  “Amelia Earhart.” National Women’s History Museum. 2015. www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/amelia-earhart.

Amelia Earhart Birthplace Museum  

Earhart, Amelia.  20 Hours, 40 Minutes . G.P. Putnam's Sons. 1928.

Earhart, Amelia, The Fun of It . Harcourt, Brace and Company.  1933.

Butler, Susan.  East to the Dawn: The Life of Amelia Earhart . Da Capo Press: Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1997.

Fleming, Candace.  Amelia Lost: The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart .  New York: Swartz & Wade Books, 2011.

Lovell, Mary.  The Sounds of Wings . New York, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1989.

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Biography of Amelia Earhart, Pioneering Female Pilot

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Amelia Earhart (born Amelia Mary Earhart; July 24, 1897–July 2, 1937 [date of disappearance]) was the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean and the first person to make a solo flight across both the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans. She also set several height and speed records in an airplane. Despite all these records, Amelia Earhart is perhaps best remembered for her mysterious disappearance on July 2, 1937, which has become one of the enduring mysteries of the 20th century.

Fast Facts: Amelia Earhart

• Known For : The first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, the first person to make a solo flight across both the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans, mysteriously disappeared flying over the Pacific Ocean on July 2, 1937
• Also Known As : Amelia Mary Earhart, Lady Lindy
• Born : July 24, 1897 in Atchison, Kansas
• Parents : Amy and Edwin Earhart
• Died : Date unknown; Earhart's plane vanished on July 2, 1937
• Education : Hyde Park High School, Ogontz School
• Published Works : 20 Hrs., 40 Min.: Our Flight in the Friendship,   The Fun of It
• Awards and Honors : Distinguished Flying Cross, Cross of Knight of the Legion of Honor, Gold Medal of the National Geographic Society
• Spouse : George Putnam
• Notable Quote : “The most effective way to do it is to do it.”

Amelia Mary Earhart was born on July 24, 1897, in Atchison, Kansas to Amy and Edwin Earhart. Her father was a lawyer for a railroad company, a job that required frequent moving, so Amelia Earhart and her sister lived with their grandparents until Amelia was 12.

As a teenager, Amelia moved around with her parents for a few years, until her father lost his job due to a drinking problem. Tired of her husband’s alcoholism and the family’s increasing money troubles, Amy Earhart moved herself and her daughters to Chicago, leaving their father behind in Minnesota.

Earhart graduated from Chicago’s Hyde Park High School and went on to the Ogontz School in Philadelphia. She soon dropped out to become a nurse for returning  World War I  soldiers and for victims of the  influenza epidemic of 1918 . She made several attempts to study medicine and she worked as a social worker, but once she discovered flying, aviation became her sole passion.

First Flights

In 1920 when she was 23 years old, Earhart developed an interest  in airplanes . While visiting her father in California, she attended an air show and decided to try flying for herself.

Earhart took her first flying lesson in 1921. She received her “Aviator Pilot” certification from the Federation Aeronautique Internationale on May 16, 1921.

Working several jobs, Earhart saved up the money to buy her own airplane, a small Kinner Airster she called the "Canary." In the "Canary," she broke the women’s altitude record in 1922 by becoming the first woman to reach 14,000 feet in an airplane.

The First Woman to Fly Over the Atlantic

In 1927, aviator  Charles Lindbergh  made history by becoming the first person to fly non-stop across the Atlantic, from the U.S. to England. A year later, publisher George Putnam tapped Amelia Earhart to be the first woman to fly across the Atlantic—as a passenger. The pilot and navigator were both men.

On June 17, 1928, the journey began when the "Friendship," a Fokker F7, took off from Newfoundland, Canada bound for England. Ice and fog made the trip difficult and Earhart spent much of the flight scribbling notes in a journal, while Bill Stultz and Louis Gordon handled the plane.

20 Hours, 40 Minutes

On June 18, 1928, after 20 hours and 40 minutes in the air, the plane landed in South Wales. Although Earhart said she did not contribute any more to the flight than “a sack of potatoes” would have, the press saw her accomplishment differently. They started calling Earhart “Lady Lindy,” after Charles Lindbergh.

Amelia Earhart became an instant celebrity as a woman aviator. Shortly after her trip, Earhart published the book "20 Hrs., 40 Min.: Our Flight in the Friendship," which detailed her experiences. She began to give lectures and fly in shows, again setting records.

More Record-Breaking

In August 1928 Earhart flew solo across the United States and back—the first time a female pilot had made the journey alone. In 1929, she founded and participated in the Woman’s Air Derby, an airplane race from Santa Monica, California to Cleveland, Ohio. Earhart finished third, behind noted pilots Louise Thaden and Gladys O’Donnell.

In 1931, Earhart married George Putnam. This same year she co-founded a professional international organization for female pilots. Earhart was the first president. The Ninety-Niners, named because it originally had 99 members, still represents and supports female pilots today. Earhart published a second book about her accomplishments, "The Fun of It," in 1932.

Solo Across the Ocean

Having won multiple competitions, flown in air shows, and set new altitude records, Earhart began looking for a bigger challenge. In 1932, she decided to become the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. On May 20, 1932, she took off again from Newfoundland, piloting a small Lockheed Vega.

It was a dangerous trip: clouds and fog made it difficult to navigate, her plane’s wings became covered with ice, and the plane developed a fuel leak about two-thirds of the way across the ocean. Worse, the altimeter  stopped working, so Earhart had no idea how far above the ocean’s surface her plane was—a situation that nearly resulted in her crashing into the water.

Touched Down in a Sheep Pasture in Ireland

In serious danger, Earhart abandoned her plans to land at Southampton, England, and made for the first bit of land she saw. She touched down in a sheep pasture in Ireland on May 21, 1932, becoming the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic and the first person to fly across the Atlantic twice.

The solo Atlantic crossing was followed by more book deals, meetings with heads of state, and a lecture tour, as well as more flying competitions. In 1935, Earhart made a solo flight from Hawaii to Oakland, California, becoming the first person to fly solo from Hawaii to the U.S. mainland. This trip also made Earhart the first person to fly solo across both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Not long after making her Pacific flight in 1935, Amelia Earhart decided she wanted to try flying around the entire world. A U.S. Army Air Service crew had made the trip in 1924 and male aviator Wiley Post flew around the world by himself in 1931 and 1933.

Earhart had two new goals. First, she wanted to be the first woman to fly solo around the world. Second, she wanted to fly around the world at or near the equator, the planet’s widest point: The previous flights had both circled the world much closer to the  North Pole , where the distance was shortest.

The Most Difficult Point in the Trip

Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan plotted their course around the world. The most difficult point in the trip would be the flight from Papua New Guinea to Hawaii because it required a fuel stop at Howland Island, a small coral island about 1,700 miles west of Hawaii. Aviation maps were poor at the time and the island would be difficult to find from the air, but the fuel stop was necessary.

During last minute preparation for the flight, Earhart decided not to take the full-sized radio antenna that Lockheed recommended, instead opting for a smaller antenna. The new antenna was lighter, but it also could not transmit or receive signals as well, especially in bad weather.

The First Leg

On May 21, 1937, Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan took off from Oakland, California, on the first leg of their trip. The plane landed first in Puerto Rico and then in several other locations in the Caribbean before heading to Senegal. They crossed Africa, stopping several times for fuel and supplies, then went on to  Eritrea , India, Burma, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea. There, Earhart and Noonan prepared for the toughest stretch of the trip—the landing at Howland Island.

Since every pound in the plane meant more fuel used, Earhart removed every non-essential item—even the parachutes. The plane was checked by mechanics to ensure it was in top condition. However, Earhart and Noonan had been flying for over a month straight by this time and both were tired.

On July 2, 1937, Earhart’s plane left Papua New Guinea  heading toward Howland Island. For the first seven hours, Earhart and Noonan stayed in radio contact with the airstrip in Papua New Guinea.

After that, they made intermittent radio contact with a Coast Guard ship patrolling the waters below. However, the reception was poor and messages between the plane and the ship were frequently lost or garbled.

The Plane Disappears

Two hours after Earhart’s scheduled arrival at Howland Island, on July 2, 1937, the Coast Guard ship received a final static-filled message that indicated Earhart and Noonan could not see the ship or the island and they were almost out of fuel. The crew of the ship tried to signal the ship’s location by sending up black smoke, but the plane did not appear.

Neither the plane, Earhart, or Noonan were ever seen or heard from again. Naval ships and aircraft began to search for Earhart's aircraft. On July 19, 1937, they abandoned their search and in October 1937, Putnam abandoned his private search. In 1939, Amelia Earhart was declared legally dead in a court in California

During her lifetime, Amelia Earhart captured the imagination of the public. As a woman daring to do what few women—or men—had done, at a time when the organized women's movement had virtually disappeared, she represented a woman willing to break out of traditional roles.

The mystery of what happened to Earhart, Noonan, and the plane has not yet been solved. Theories say they might have crashed over the ocean or crashed on Howland Island or a nearby island without the ability to contact help. Other theories have proposed that they were shot down by the Japanese, or were captured or killed by the Japanese.

In 1999, British archaeologists claimed to have found artifacts on a small island in the South Pacific that contained Earhart’s DNA, but the evidence is not conclusive. Near the plane’s last known location, the ocean reaches depths of 16,000 feet, well below the range of today’s deep-sea diving equipment. If the plane sank into those depths, it may never be recovered.

• “ Amelia Earhart .”  American Heritage.
• Burke, John.  Winged Legend: The Story of Amelia Earhart . Ballantine Books, 1971.
• Loomis, Vincent V.  Amelia Earhart, the Final Story . Random House, 1985.
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Why does Amelia Earhart still fascinate us?

The missing aviator embraced the modern world—in technology, women's rights, and celebrity culture.

Certified as an aviator only two decades after the Wright brothers' first flight, Earhart used her fame to promote air travel and equal opportunities for women.

Alex Mandel first encountered Amelia Earhart on a summer afternoon while reading his father’s old magazines in the backyard of his childhood home in Odessa, Ukraine. “It was just a brief biography of her and a story of how she disappeared,” he said. That was enough.

For more than 30 years, Mandel has described himself as “an admirer of Amelia Earhart.” He met a fellow admirer and soulmate through what he calls the “Amelia community.” With her, he made a pilgrimage to all the important sites in Earhart’s life. These days he plans vacations around the Amelia Earhart Festival in Atchison, Kansas—where aficionados gather to savor all things Earhart in the town where she was born and locals come to enjoy the airshow and fireworks.

During the event last July, the mustached Ukrainian in suspenders could be found sharing his considerable knowledge with visitors to Earhart’s birthplace museum . When asked why the aviator has held his attention for so long, his answer is simple: “She was an inspiration.”

Fireworks explode during the Amelia Earhart Festival in Atchison, Kansas, while spectators watch from the lawn in front of Earhart's childhood home.

Although the distance that Mandel has traveled to feed his fandom is unusual, his fascination with Earhart is not. The aviator has managed to hold our collective attention for nearly a century—from 1928 when she was the first woman to fly across the Atlantic as a passenger (a death-defying feat at the time) through last August when Robert Ballard led a high-tech search for her lost plane . (That expedition is the subject of a documentary airing Sunday, October 20, at 8/7c on National Geographic .)

Yet Earhart wasn’t the only daredevil female pilot breaking records during the early days of aviation. Ruth Nichols flew faster. Louise Thaden flew higher. Why is Earhart the one who still captures our imagination?

In some ways, she was groomed for it. That first flight across the Atlantic—on a plane dubbed the Friendship —was funded by Amy Phipps Guest, a wealthy woman whose family begged her not to make the flight herself. Instead, Guest hired publisher George Putnam to find a suitable female passenger. “There were other female pilots at the time, probably some that were better pilots than Amelia,” says Cynthia Putnam, George’s granddaughter. “But she fit the bill. She looked the part.” (George Putnam and Amelia Earhart married in 1931.)

For Hungry Minds

Tall, lanky, and Midwestern, Earhart resembled Charles Lindbergh, the first aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic. “She is photographed before that first flight with lighting and from an angle that was very self-consciously stylized to resemble the way Charles Lindbergh had been photographed,” says Tracey Jean Boisseau, a historian at Purdue University . “They developed the name Lady Lindy, which she did not appreciate.”

When the Friendship landed in the United Kingdom in 1928, Amelia Earhart (center) captured the public's attention, although she'd only been a passenger on the trans-Atlantic flight. From left to right: Amy Guest sponsored the journey, Lou Gordon was the plane's mechanic, Wilmer Stultz piloted the plane, and Mrs. Foster Welch was the mayor of Southampton.

When the Friendship landed in London, the plane’s pilot and navigator were ignored by the crowds. Although Earhart had been merely a passenger or, as she put it, “a sack of potatoes,” she received all the accolades. She capitalized on the experience by writing a book and going on to become a public face for the new field of aviation.

But Earhart was determined to earn her adulation and prove—to men and women—that women could accomplish what men could. The more aviation feats performed by women, she wrote, “the more forcefully it is demonstrated that they can and do fly.” Four years after the flight of the Friendship , she flew solo across the Atlantic, becoming only the second person to do so.

Earhart landed near Derry, Northern Ireland, where her arrival left a mark that was felt beyond aviation, according to the city’s Amelia Earhart Legacy Association. “Women didn’t drive then, but Amelia arrived in a plane,” explained Nicole McElhinney, a group member who spoke at last summer’s Amelia Earhart Festival. “Women didn’t wear trousers, yet she was wearing a flying suit.” (Indeed, the farmers who first encountered her thought she was a boy.) Instead, at a time when women’s suffrage was still new, she demonstrated what women could do.

In 1932, Amelia Earhart made a solo flight across the Atlantic, becoming only the second person to do so after Charles Lindbergh. She landed in a field near the city of Derry in Northern Ireland.

“She wanted equal marriages and she wanted equal opportunity in all occupations and she wanted equal pay for equal work,” says Amy Kleppner, who accepted an award at the festival on behalf of her mother Muriel, Earhart’s younger sister.

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That may be why she seems so modern. She was a pioneer—in the fight for women’s equality, in the world-changing development of aviation, and in crafting a public image during a new era of celebrity culture. And she did it all with an aw-shucks modesty that suggested that anyone could accomplish what she did, as long as they were doing it for “the fun of it.” ( Follow how Earhart navigated both the skies and society in this book excerpt. )

“She embodied many good values for people in general and Americans in particular,” says Mandel.

But perhaps the reason Amelia Earhart is still with us as an icon is that she vanished without a trace just short of a historic achievement. “She doesn’t die of old age, she doesn’t die of disease, she doesn’t die in front of our eyes even in an explosion,” says Boisseau. “She dies in the way most conducive to legend building—out of sight and somewhat mysteriously.”

On July 2, 1937, Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared while attempting to become the first aviators to circumnavigate the globe at the equator. They were aiming for Howland Island, a speck in the Pacific, and couldn’t find it. They only had two more legs of their record-breaking journey to go.

A painting of the plane that Amelia Earhart called the "little red bus"—the Lockheed Vega 5B that carried her across the Atlantic—is displayed at the aviator's birthplace museum in Atchison, Kansas.

Generations have puzzled over what really happened to her. Did she crash the plane and sink to the bottom of the ocean? Did she land on a deserted island and die a castaway ? Was she captured by the Japanese? They’ve searched underwater and on deserted islands, in colonial archives and the New Jersey suburbs, and even in the basement of her childhood home for clues to the fate of the missing aviator—so far without any definitive answers.

“The mystery is part of why, anytime you talk about important women, she’s always in the conversation,” says Jacque Pregont, who coordinates the festival in Atchison. “I hope they never find her.”

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Amelia Earhart: Contributing to the Aviation Development Essay (Biography)

The aviation industry was formed during the 1920s because many new developments and types of aircraft were created and tested at that time. One of the pioneers that help advance aviation is Amelia Earhart. Her contributions include the first solo cross-Atlantic flight completed by a woman, the books she wrote on the topic of aviation, and the establishment of “The Ninety-Nines” group. This paper will detail Earhart’s journey to becoming a pilot and explain her contribution to the development of aviation.

Earnhart’s journey towards becoming a pilot was unusual for the era she lived in. She was born in 1897 in Kansas in a wealthy family and received a good education. Her first encounter with aviation happened upon her visit to an airfare that exhibited aircraft from World War I (Goldstein, 1997). After this, Earhart visited another airfare in 1919, where she met Frank Hawks, a well-renounced air racer. Hawks took Earhart on a flight, which is considered to be an event that changed her life as she gained a passion for aviation after this (Goldstein, 1997). Next, Earhart worked several jobs to save up for flying lessons and eventually enrolled in lessons led by Anita Snook, another female aviation pioneer. Earnhart gained a passion for aviation gradually, but a significant turning point that determined her choice to become a pilot was the flight with Frank Hawks, which lasted for several minutes.

Notably, early aviation training was much more difficult and required one to show resilience to brutal conditions. For example, aviators had to do a lot of manual work to ensure that their equipment worked properly (Goldstein, 1997). Despite this, after six months of training, she purchased her first aircraft, a second-hand Kinner Airster (Goldstein, 1997). She used this plane to set her first world record in 1922. On October 22, she flew her aircraft to an altitude of 4300 meters (Goldstein, 1997). This notable event shows that Earnhart was brave and set out for achievement from the beginning of her journey as a pilot.

The next year, she became the sixteenth female in the United States to receive a pilot license issued by FAI. However, in the following years, Earnhart experienced financial difficulties, which prompter her to sell her plane and halt flying (Goldstein, 1997). She made several attempts at other occupations, such as photography, business, and even returned to the University, but was forced to stop her studies for the same reason.

The most notable contribution of Earnhart is her cross-Atlantic flight. She is the first woman who flew across the Atlantic Ocean on her own. Notably, she was not the first person to complete a non-stop cross Atlantic flight, since Charles Lindbergh has done this in 1927 (Goldstein, 1997). She first flew across the ocean as a passenger to the pilot Wilmer Stultz (‘Amelia Earhart biographical sketch,’ n.d.). In England, she purchased Avro Avian 594 Avian III and learned how to fly this airplane. After some time, in 1932 Earnhart set out to complete her solo transatlantic flight. On May 20th she set off from Harbour Grace and landed in Culmore, which is in Northern Ireland. This flight lasted for fourteen hours and fifty-six minutes, during which she encountered bad weather conditions and mechanical problems (Goldstein, 1997). Despite some issues, she completed this flight and was given the ‘Distinguished Flying Cross.’ After this flight, she completed several other non-stop trips, for example, from Honolulu to Oakland. With her first transatlantic flight, Earnhart’s popularity grew, and she used public attention to promote aviation. In 1935 she began planning her first trip around the globe. Unfortunately, Earhart disappeared in July 1937 during her expedition (Goldstein, 1997). She was declared dead as the remains of her plane were not recovered.

Overall, Amelia Earnhart made a notable contribution to the development of aviation. She is best known for her cross-Atlantic flight, but she also has set a record for the highest altitude flown in 1922. Her final endeavor was a flight across the globe, which unfortunately Earhart was unable to finish as her plane disappeared and was not recovered. Earnhart contributed to the promotion of aviation in general, and in particular to the promotion of female pilots.

Amelia Earhart biographical sketch. (n.d.). 2020. Web.

Goldstein, D. M. (1997). Amelia: The centennial biography of an aviation pioneer. Brassey’s.

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Amelia Earhart

• Occupation: Aviator
• Born: July 24, 1897 in Atchison, Kansas
• Died: She disappeared on July 2, 1937 over the Pacific Ocean. She was declared dead on January 5, 1939
• Best known for: Being the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean

• Amelia went by the nicknames Meeley and Millie. Her sister Muriel was called Pidge.
• She married her book publisher, George Putnam, in 1931.
• When Amelia landed in Ireland after her solo Atlantic flight, the farmer asked her where she was from. When she answered that she was from America, he wasn't quite sure he believed her.
• Howland Island is a mile and a half wide and one mile long. It is located in the Pacific Ocean 2,556 miles from New Guinea. A lighthouse was built to the memory of Amelia Earhart on Howland Island.
• In 1935 she became the first person to fly solo from Los Angeles to Mexico City and from Mexico City to Newark, New Jersey.
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Amelia Earhart The Roaring 20s

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Amelia Earhart was an airplane pilot who participated in numerous air races and held a variety of speed records and "firsts": she was the first woman to fly across the Atlantic solo (1932) and first person to fly solo from Honolulu, Hawaii, to Oakland, California (January 1935), and from Los Angeles to Mexico City (April 1935). Earhart was a mentor of other women pilots and worked to improve their acceptance in the heavily male field of aviation. In 1929 she helped organize the Ninety-Nines, an international organization of licensed women pilots, and she served as its president until 1933. Earhart conducted grueling nationwide lecture tours, which largely financed her flying, and wrote books and articles on women and aviation. An outspoken advocate of women's equality, Earhart also designed sportswear for women, luggage suitable for air travel, and travel stationery.

Earhart made two attempts to fly around the world in 1937. The first, in March, ended when her airplane was badly damaged on take-off in California. On June 1 she took off from Miami with navigator Fred Noonan, intending to fly around the equator from west to east. On July 2, having completed 22,000 miles of the trip, Earhart and Fred Noonan took off from Lae, New Guinea, for Howland Island. They never reached the island. Despite an intensive search by the United States Navy and others, following radio distress calls, no trace of the fliers or their plane has ever been found.

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• Amelia Earhart (1897-1937) This collection includes correspondence and numerous photos of Earhart. The bulk of this collection consists of papers about Amelia Earhart saved by her sister, Muriel Earhart Morrissey. This collection has been digitized and can be accessed online through the finding aid .
• Amelia Earhart videotape collection This collection includes two videotapes: 1) black and white footage of Earhart in flight, with aerial views, ca. 1932, and 2) biographies of Earhart with historical footage.
• Amy Otis Earhart (1869-1962) Most of the papers in this collection are letters to Amy Otis Earhart (Amelia Earhart's mother) from relatives, friends, and Amelia Earhart fans, while the rest of the collection consists of clippings, a few photographs, and some memorabilia. This collection has been digitized and can be accessed online through the finding aid .
• Denison House (Boston, MA) Starting in October 1926, Amelia Earhart was a social worker and resident at Denison House, a settlement house in Boston’s South End that offered camps, clubs, sports for girls and boys, classes, a library and clinic, union organization, and other services for the neighborhood's mixed nationalities. This collection includes clippings and correspondence regarding Amelia Earhart.
• Janet Mabie (1893-1961) Mabie was a journalist and writer who worked on a biography of Earhart that was never published. The collection consists mostly of photographs and clippings about Amelia Earhart collected by Mabie, as well as drafts of her biography of Earhart.
• Kenneth Griggs Merrill Kenneth Griggs Merrill, a business executive and writer, was a friend of Amelia Earhart. This collection contains two autograph letters from Earhart to Merrill concerning her influenza and the end of World War I, as well as two photographs of Earhart and Merrill. This collection has been digitized and can be accessed online through the finding aid .
• United States Federal Bureau of Investigation Files This collection includes records of the FBI investigation of the disappearance of Amelia Earhart.
• Clarence Strong Williams (1890-1971) Williams was an aviation instructor and navigational consultant to Amelia Earhart. The collection consists of a dismantled scrapbook containing correspondence, course plots and flight analyses, poems, photographs, and clippings, most concerning Earhart. See also the Additional Papers of Clarence Strong Williams , which include clippings about and photographs of Williams and his work with Earhart, poems in memory of Earhart, and letters to Williams's daughter Enid from Muriel Morrissey, Earhart's sister.
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Amelia Earhart Personality

This essay about Amelia Earhart’s childhood explores the formative experiences that shaped the pioneering aviator’s character and ambitions. Born into a household that valued independence and defied traditional gender roles, Earhart, known as “Meeley,” demonstrated an adventurous spirit and resilience from an early age. Despite the instability caused by her father’s employment and alcoholism issues, Earhart’s education and development were prioritized, fostering her innate curiosity and adaptability. A pivotal moment in her youth was her indifferent first encounter with an aircraft at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, which contrasted sharply with the exhilaration she felt witnessing a stunt-flying exhibition years later, awakening her passion for aviation. The essay highlights how Earhart’s nurturing environment, combined with personal challenges and key experiences, ignited her interest in flying and set the foundation for her legendary career in aviation and her role as an inspiration to women aspiring to break barriers.

How it works

Amelia Earhart’s formative years were a mosaic of encounters and influences that sculpted her into the pioneering aviatrix and enduring emblem of bravery and exploration she is commemorated as today. Born on July 24, 1897, in Atchison, Kansas, Earhart’s nascent existence bore the imprint of an independent spirit and a proclivity for challenging the traditional gender roles prescribed to women in her epoch.

Since her early days, Amelia, affectionately dubbed “Meeley” by her kin, displayed an adventurous disposition and a defiance against conforming to the societal expectations of femininity prevailing at the time.

Nurtured in a household alongside her younger sibling, Muriel, Amelia found encouragement from their mother, Amy Otis Earhart, who advocated against confining her daughters within societal confines. This nurturing atmosphere granted Amelia the liberty to explore her inclinations, from entomology to arboreal escapades and participation in pursuits conventionally reserved for males during her youth.

The trajectory of Earhart’s education played a pivotal role in her maturation. Her scholastic journey traversed various institutions owing to her family’s frequent relocations, prompted by her father’s struggles with alcoholism and his intermittent employability. Despite the turbulence these circumstances wrought upon her life, they also imbued Earhart with a tenacity and adaptability that would emerge as defining traits of her character. Despite the financial constraints plaguing the family, Amelia’s mother safeguarded her educational pursuits, instilling in her a fervor for knowledge and a probing intellect.

A seminal juncture in Earhart’s juvenile years materialized during a sojourn to the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, where she encountered her inaugural aircraft. Though this encounter failed to immediately kindle her ardor for aviation—it registered as a rather unremarkable incident at the time—it sowed the seeds for her subsequent fascination with flight. It was not until a decade later, at a daredevil airshow, that Earhart’s passion for aviation was genuinely ignited. As a plane careened past in a daring maneuver, she was seized by a surge of exhilaration that propelled her onto the trajectory of becoming one of history’s most celebrated aviators.

Amelia Earhart’s juvenile years were characterized by a nurturing milieu that prized autonomy and erudition, adversities that fortified her resilience, and pivotal episodes that ignited her passion for aviation. These components coalesced to mold a woman who shattered numerous records, defied gender stereotypes, and galvanized generations of women to pursue their aspirations, irrespective of societal constraints. Her formative years stand as a testament to the proposition that a spirit of exploration and a resolve to carve one’s own path can yield extraordinary accomplishments.

In summation, Amelia Earhart’s nascent experiences were pivotal in shaping the persona she would ultimately embody. The support of her family, coupled with the personal trials she confronted, engendered a plucky and venturesome spirit. Earhart’s juvenile escapades, from her tomboyish antics to the watershed moments that beckoned her to aviation, underscore the significance of milieu, education, and early passions in charting one’s trajectory in life. Through her narrative, we are reminded of the potency of nurturing a spirit of inquisitiveness and valor in the face of societal strictures, lessons as pertinent today as they were in the early 20th century.

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