essay about amelia earhart

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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

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

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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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The Enduring Mystery of Amelia Earhart’s Final Flight

This essay about the disappearance of Amelia Earhart in 1937 explores the various theories surrounding the final location of her crash. Earhart, a pioneering aviator, vanished while attempting to circumnavigate the globe with her navigator Fred Noonan, leading to one of the 20th century’s greatest mysteries. The main theories discussed include a crash landing or ditching in the ocean near Howland Island, their intended destination, and the possibility of landing on Nikumaroro Island, where some evidence suggests they might have survived temporarily. Despite extensive searches and technological advances, the exact crash site remains undiscovered. The essay underscores Earhart’s enduring legacy, not defined by her disappearance but by her contributions to aviation and her role as an inspirational figure. It highlights the ongoing fascination with her story, reflecting the human spirit of adventure and exploration.

How it works

Amelia Earhart’s vanishing act in 1937 persists as one of the enigmas of the 20th century, enrapturing historians, aviation aficionados, and the populace at large. As the inaugural woman to solo pilot across the Atlantic expanse, Earhart epitomized intrepid aerial navigation and emerged as an emblem of valor and resolve. Her audacious endeavor to circumnavigate the orb metamorphosed into a calamitous saga when she and her navigator, Fred Noonan, evaporated without a vestige. The query of Amelia Earhart’s crash locale has spawned a plethora of conjectures and expeditions, yet the precise coordinates remain elusive, enshrouded in conjecture and fascination.

Earhart’s swan song embarked from Lae, New Guinea, on July 2, 1937, en route to Howland Island, a diminutive speck adrift in the vast Pacific expanse. Despite being equipped with cutting-edge navigation apparatuses of the era, Earhart and Noonan grappled with radio transmissions and course plotting. The ultimate message intercepted from Earhart hinted at their fuel depletion and inability to discern the island. Subsequently ensued a void. What ensued was an exhaustive search operation that yielded no trace of Earhart, Noonan, or their Lockheed Electra aircraft.

Across the epochs, myriad conjectures have surfaced concerning their destiny. One prevailing conjecture intimates that Earhart and Noonan, unable to pinpoint Howland Island, executed an emergency landing or ditched in the adjacent oceanic expanse. Albeit substantiated by prompt search endeavors in the vicinity, no wreckage was ever unearthed. Another supposition proffers the notion that they might have deviated from their course and found themselves on Nikumaroro Island (formerly Gardner Island), where sporadic evidence, inclusive of unearthed artifacts and anecdotal narrations, insinuates their potential survival ere succumbing to environmental adversities.

Despite the allure of these conjectures, none have proffered irrefutable evidence of Earhart’s ultimate repose. The ocean’s immensity and the passage of epochs have compounded the conundrum of attaining definitive resolutions. Contemporary technological advancements have instigated novel quests utilizing sophisticated subaqueous apparatuses to scrutinize the seabed for wreckage, yet the enigma perseveres.

The allure of Earhart’s vanishing act resides not only in the conundrum per se but also in her symbolic significance—an adventurous ethos undeterred by the hazards entailed in transcending limits. Her legacy transcends her disappearance to encompass her contributions to aeronautics and the inspiration she continues to disseminate to those who dare to envision. Earhart’s tale serves as a poignant commemoration of the nascent epoch of aviation, an era characterized by remarkable ingenuity and audacious undertakings, and the innate human propensity to probe the unknown.

In summation, the quandary of Amelia Earhart’s crash locus intertwines with her legacy as one of history’s preeminent aviators. The enigma of her final odyssey persists in engendering investigations and conjectures, a testimonial to her enduring sway. While the pinpoint coordinates of her crash may forever remain an enigma, Earhart’s intrepid spirit and the enigma of her disappearance will eternally enthrall the psyche of denizens across the globe. Her legacy endures, not merely in the annals of aviation chronicles, but in the ethos of enterprise and exploration that epitomizes humanity’s pursuit of enlightenment and comprehension.

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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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Papers of Amelia Earhart, 1835-1977

Correspondence, photographs, baby books, etc., of Amelia Earhart, aviator.

• Creation: 1835-1977

Language of Materials

Materials in English.

Access Restrictions:

Access. Originals are closed; use microfilm M-129. An appointment is necessary to use any audiovisual material.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright. Copyright in the papers created by Amelia Earhart as well as copyright in other papers in the collection may be held by their authors, or the authors' heirs or assigns. Copying. Papers may be copied in accordance with the library's usual procedures.

Scope and Contents

The bulk of this collection consists of papers about Earhart saved by her sister, Muriel Earhart Morrissey. It is arranged in five series: Series I, Family papers (#1-6), includes the 1835 passport of Earhart's great-grandfather, Gebhard Harres; genealogical papers relating to the Otis and Earhart families; a few letters and other items of Edwin Stanton Earhart; and miscellaneous correspondence and other items of Amy Otis Earhart. Series II, Amelia Earhart, 1897-1937 (#7-18f), consists of papers generated during Earhart's lifetime, and include baby books; a few school-related papers; a small amount of correspondence; some writings, most of which concern women and aviation; and programs and awards. Of particular interest is a 1936 letter by Earhart to a young woman who had inquired about career opportunities for women in aviation (see #14). Series III, Photographs and graphics (#19-46), is divided into two groups: #19-34, which were previously inventoried and cataloged as part of the Schlesinger Library's Microfilm of Photograph Collections (M-54), and #35-46, which were received as addenda and not previously cataloged. This artificial division is maintained in an effort to minimize the confusion which could ensue from the renumbering of the photographs in #19-34, which have been so frequently used and cited by researchers. The two groups together consist of numerous photographs of Earhart, her planes and associates, her family, George Palmer Putnam, and memorial sites. In addition, there is a painting of Earhart's great-grandmother, a drawing of Earhart, and a black-and-white etching of Earhart and Fred Noonan on their sinking plane. Series IV, Muriel Earhart Morrissey (#47-68), documents some of Muriel Earhart Morrissey's extensive involvement with Earhart's history, memory, and admirers after her disappearance. It includes correspondence re: the disappearance; tributes, biographies, memorials, poems, and sheet music, etc. honoring Earhart; commemorative stamps; and a philatelic catalog. Series V, Newsclippings, tearsheets, and memorabilia (#69-83), consists of printed material and a variety of artifacts, including a recording of Earhart's voice, medals, buttons, plaques, book inscriptions, leis, a leaf and a rose. Most of the newsclippings have been transferred to the Amy Otis Earhart Papers (MC 398) and integrated with the clippings in that collection for microfilming in one chronological sequence. Muriel Earhart Morrissey's scrapbook of clippings about Earhart and George Palmer Putnam's serialized biography of Earhart remain in this series.

Additional Description

Amelia Mary Earhart was born on July 24, 1897, in Atchison, Kansas, the first daughter of Amy (Otis) Earhart and Edwin Stanton Earhart. Her sister, Grace Muriel, was born three years later. The family moved several times (to Kansas City, Kansas; Des Moines; St. Paul; Chicago) during Earhart's childhood as her father tried unsuccessfully to establish a profitable legal career. Earhart graduated from Chicago's Hyde Park High School in 1916. Edwin Stanton Earhart's increasing reliance on alcohol and his inability to hold a job led eventually to a divorce, in 1924. In addition to attending a variety of schools (Ogontz School in Greenfield, Pennsylvania, Columbia University, Harvard University), and experimenting with numerous areas of study (e.g., pre-med, French poetry, physics) and types of jobs (e.g., wartime nurses' aide in Toronto, telephone company worker, photographer), Earhart developed an interest in the relatively new field of aviation. While living in Los Angeles she took flying lessons from Neta Snook, pioneer woman pilot, and in 1921 made her first solo flight and bought her first airplane. After her parents' divorce Earhart moved with her mother to Medford, Massachusetts, where Muriel was teaching. She taught English to immigrant factory workers and in 1926 became a social worker and resident at Denison House, a Boston settlement. During these years she continued to fly at local airfields and in 1927 was offered, and accepted, the opportunity to accompany Wilmer Stultz and Louis Gordon on their 1928 flight to England. She thereby became the first woman to make the transatlantic crossing by air, and an instant celebrity. Intensely competitive, Earhart 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 (with 99 charter members) and served as its president until 1933. Married in 1931 to publisher and publicist George Palmer Putnam, Earhart still maintained her grueling nationwide lecture tours, which largely financed her flying, served as women's career counselor at Purdue University, 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. The numerous Earhart biographies include Mary S. Lovell's The Sound of Wings: The Life of Amelia Earhart (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1989), Doris L. Rich's Amelia Earhart: A Biography (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989), and two by her sister, Muriel Earhart Morrissey ( Courage is the Price: The Biography of Amelia Earhart , Wichita, Kan.: McCormick-Armstrong Publishing Division, 1963; and, with Carol L. Osborne, Amelia, My Courageous Sister: Biography of Amelia Earhart , Santa Clara, Calif.: Osborne Publisher, 1987). Jean Backus has edited a collection of Earhart's letters, based on the Amy Otis Earhart Papers, also in the Schlesinger Library ( Letters from Amelia: An Intimate Portrait of Amelia Earhart , Boston: Beacon Press, 1982). For other biographical sketches, see Notable American Women: 1607-1950 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1971), and Dictionary of American Biography , Vol. XXII, Supplement Two (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1958).

ARRANGEMENT

The collection is arranged in number series:

• Series I. Family papers
• Series II. Amelia Earhart, 1897-1937
• Series III. Photographs and graphics
• Series IV. Muriel Earhart Morrissey
• Series V. Newsclippings, tearsheets, memorabilia

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Accession numbers: 463, 519, 521, 545, 671, 700, 916, 1060, 78-M147, 80-M194, 82-M142, 89-M210 These papers of or about Amelia Earhart were given to the Schlesinger Library by Muriel (Earhart) Morrissey between August 1962 and November 1989, and by Alma Lutz in January 1963.

MICROFILM OF COLLECTION

The papers of Amelia Earhart and related collections were selected for microfilming in order to provide copies to the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum, and because they are frequently requested by researchers.

• Dates and/or other information have been written on some items by a number of people. In organizing the material, the processor left undated material that was grouped with dated items where it was. All dates and other information added by the processor are in square brackets. Undated items are filed at the end of their respective folders.
• The pages of some items were numbered to aid the filmer, the proofreaders, and researchers. These numbers are in square brackets.
• The film was proofread by the processor and corrections made where necessary. These corrections may disrupt the sequence of frame numbers.
• Some of the material in the collection was difficult to film due to such problems as flimsy paper with text showing through, faded or smudged writing, faint pencil notations, folded clippings, clippings discolored from glue or adhesive tape, or blurred photocopies from tightly bound volumes. The film was carefully produced to insure that these items are as legible as possible.
• In some letters the text on the two inside pages was written in two different directions, and in some the final lines of text and the signature are on page one. In these cases letters were filmed as they appear; pages were not turned and first pages were not refilmed.
• In some cases, enclosures referred to in letters are missing.
• Letters of one or more pages with either the salutation or the signature missing, as well as portions of letters, articles, or clippings, have been marked as fragments [frag.].
• Both sides of postcards were filmed.
• The versos of envelopes were filmed only if they contained a return address or notes.
• Some scrapbook pages had to be filmed more than once because of folded and/or multiple-paged items, such as Christmas cards, clippings, or programs.
• Many loose clippings were mounted by the processor. Clippings from newspapers already on microfilm (according to Newspapers in Microform, United States , Library of Congress, 1973), were discarded after filming.
• All photographs were microfilmed with the collection. They are also available on the microfilm of the Schlesinger Library photograph collection (M-54).
• Some magazines, books, and other multiple-paged items were not filmed in their entirety, but only the pertinent page(s), with the title page where necessary to establish name and date of publication.
• After filming, periodicals were removed to the Schlesinger Library periodical file.
• Copies of this microfilm edition of the Amelia Earhart collections (M-129) may be borrowed on interlibrary loan from the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe College, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138.

For a list of the contents of the Amelia Earhart Microfilm, see the inventory that follows. When requesting microfilmed material, please use the microfilm number (M-129) and the reel number.

• Folders #1f+-32: M-129, Reel 1
• Folders #33-69: M-129, Reel 2
• Folders #70f-83: M-129, Reel 3

Related Material:

There is related material at the Schlesinger Library; see Amelia Earhart videotapes, 1932-1977 ( Vt-54 ), Amy Otis Earhart Papers, 1884-1987 ( MC 398 ), Amy Otis Earhart Papers, 1944, Undated ( A/E11 ), and Clarence Strong Williams Papers,1907-1971 ( A/W722 ). The Purdue University Library also has a large collection of Earhart papers. Additional Otis family papers are in the possession of the family and will eventually be given to the Minnesota Historical Society.

Container list

• Box 1: folders 2-17
• Box 2: folders 47-67
• Box 3: folders 69-75, 83
• Folio+ Box 4: folders 76m-82m

INDEX OF SELECTED CORRESPONDENTS

This index contains names of letter writers represented in various correspondence folders but not specifically listed in the folder descriptions.

• Cochran, Jacqueline 47
• Connally, John B. 50
• De Carie, Margot 48
• de Schweinitz, Louise 48
• Devine, Thomas E. 47
• French, Edein 48
• Gervais, Joseph 53
• Goerner, Frederick 47, 50
• Holley, Clyde E. 53
• International Women's Air and Space Museum 48
• Kleppner, Amy 53
• Lynn, Evelyne 54
• Mantz, Paul 47
• May, Loma 54
• Mowbray, Eva 54
• National Portrait Gallery 48
• Ninety-Nines 47
• Noyes, Blanche 48
• Palmer, Gordon H. 55
• Pellegreno, Ann H. 47
• Reischauer, Edwin O. 53
• Roosevelt, Eleanor 47
• Royer, Lloyd 48
• Rueckert, Ruth 47
• Safford, Laurance Frye 47
• Saltonstall, Leverett 50
• Stanton, Frank 50
• Sylvester, Arthur 50
• Theil College 47
• Vaeth, J. Gordon 47, 48
• Walker, Agnes 54
• Women's Hall of Fame 48
• Wright, Lucile M. 47, 48

Processing Information

Reprocessed: April 1990 By: Katherine Kraft

Genre / Form

• Aeronautics
• Women in aeronautics

Related Names

• Reischauer, Edwin O. (Edwin Oldfather), 1910-1990 (Person)

Administrative Information

Repository details.

Part of the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute Repository

The preeminent research library on the history of women in the United States, the Schlesinger Library documents women's lives from the past and present for the future. In addition to its traditional strengths in the history of feminisms, women’s health, and women’s activism, the Schlesinger collections document the intersectional workings of race and ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and class in American history.

Collection organization

Amelia Earhart Papers, 1835-1977; item description, dates. A-129, folder #. Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.

Cite Item Description

Amelia Earhart Papers, 1835-1977; item description, dates. A-129, folder #. Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. https://id.lib.harvard.edu/ead/sch00107/catalog Accessed April 13, 2024.

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“When I go, I would like to go in my plane. Quickly.” Amelia Earhart disappeared almost 82 years ago. Did she get her wish or was she whisked away from her joy and kept hidden from the rest of the world? Many speculations of [...]

Amelia Mary Earhart (1897-1937) was a pioneer American aviator and author who made enormous contribution to the field of female aviation and created numerous records as a pilot. Her most famous achievement was her solo flight [...]

The definition of a courageous person is to face danger or stand up against the odds without flinching, meaning that a courageous person is very brave. Amelia Earhart was a one courageous woman who broke down barriers and became [...]

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