by Susan Butler
page 125: Miss Amelia M. Earhart is ...: WEIU files, SLRC.
page 125: “Holds a sky pilots license?” ...: Ibid.
page 125: “My God,” he said to Eleanor ...: Doris Kearns Goodwin, No Ordinary Time, p. 96.
page 126: “Hull house was soberly opened ...”: Jane Addams, Twenty Years at Hull House, p. 90.
page 126: Information about Vida Scudder, Katherine Coman, and Emily Balch.: Barbara Sicherman and Carol Hurd Green, Notable American Women, The Modern Period: A Biographical Dictionary, pp. 41-45, 636-638. Who Was Who, in America, vol. I, 1897-1942, p. 247.
page 127: “Not philanthropy but...”: Denison House records, 1891-1961, SLRC.
page 127: “and a part-time one would do, ...”: Marion Perkins, introduction to AE, 20H.
page 128: When the popular “mayor” ...: Boston Herald, Aug. 22, 1927, SLRC.
page 128: Chinese restaurant on one side ...: Boston Atlas, 1928, Rare Books Room, Boston Library.
page 128: in charge of adult education ...: DH report, Oct. 1927-28, SLRC.
page 128: “The House is no longer a power outside, ...”: Ibid.
page 129: One of Amelia’s tasks ...: AE, FOI, p. 15.
page 129: “I can still see her, ...”: Boston Sunday Advertiser, Mar. 23, 1975, SLRC.
page 129: This remarkable institution, ...: Annual Report 1926, Perkins Institution and Massachusetts School for the Blind.
page 129: she thereupon spent several hours a week ...: John Burke, Winged Legend, p. 70.
page 129: “She never had any favorites, ...: ”Notes from the Field,” Neighborhood: A Settlement Quarterly, no date.
page 129: Under her guidance ...: Neighborhood: A Settlement Quarterly, Jan. 1928.
page 130: “under racial traditions that cut them off ...”: Cosmopolitan, Nov. 1928.
page 130: simply furnished, but it had windows ...: Barbara Washburn (who lived in the room after Amelia), letter to author, Sept. 11, 1989.
page 130: She prevailed on George Ludlam ...: JM, LITHW, VII p. 15, SLRC.
page 130: The punctilious housekeeper ...: JM, LITHW, VIII p. 14, SLRC.
page 130: Amelia fitted in a visit from Nancy Balis, ...: Morse interview.
page 130: Six hundred boys and girls ...: DH report, Oct. 1927-28, SLRC.
page 131: It is from this period ...: AE, 20H, pp. 16-17.
page 131: “as one of the most thoughtful and promising ...”: “New Settlement Leadership,” Neighborhood: A Settlement Quarterly, July 1928.
page 132: Cleveland Amory remarking on ...: Cleveland Amory, Proper Bostonians, p. 98.
page 133: Amelia had planned to do the stunt incognito, ...: Marion Perkins, introduction to AE, 20H, p. 13.
page 133: the newspapers wrote it up: ...: Boston Herald, May 26, 1927.
page 133: “Flies over ...”: Undated clipping, DH file, SLRC.
page 133: Two paragraphs were devoted to her; ...: Boston Herald, July 3, 1927.
page 134: “The field opens on Tuesday...”: AE, letter to Marian Stabler, Aug. 1, 1927, IWASML.
page 134: “New England has some of the best ...”: Boston Herald, July 3, 1927.
page 134: It was at that time ...: Marion Perkins, introduction to AE, 20H, p. 14.
page 134: had spent her residency ...: JM, LITHW, VIII p. 9, SLRC.
page 135: “and spend next summer ...”: AE, letter to Bert Kinner, Nov. 27, 1927, in Muriel Morrissey and Carol Osborne, Amelia, My Courageous Sister, p. 77.
page 135: Amy would lay on a breakfast ...: JM, LITHW, VIII pp. 8-9, SLRC.
page 136: a photo of Ruth Nichols, ...: Boston Herald, Aug. 27, 1927.
page 136: “May I introduce myself...”: Ruth Nichols, Wings for Life, p. 94.
page 137: stated her mission to the waiting reporter....: Boston Herald, Oct. 2, 1927.
page 137: Amelia was perfect ...: Amory, Proper Bostonians, p. 281.
page 137: “a curly headed girl ...”: Bostonian, May 1928.
page 138: “While women are hopelessly adventurous, ...”: AE, Bostonian, May 1928.
page 138: asked her to fill out a biography ...: BET, June 4, 1928.
page 139: “The cause of the following ...”: Julia Railey, in BET, June 23, 1928.
page 139: “with her unusual interest ...”: Boston chapter, National Aeronautic Association (NAA); NAA file in NASM.
page 139: serve with Commander Richard Byrd ...: Aeronautic Review, June 1928.
page 139: “as strong a dose ...”: AE, 20H, p. 90.
Dreams of Glory
page 143: “I woke that afternoon, ...: Charles Lindbergh, The Spirit of St. Louis, p. 501.
page 144: “An epoch in air history ...”: Augustus Post, reprinted in Aviation for Boys.
page 144: “Our publicity machine ...”: Walter Lippman, 1927, quoted in Vanity Fair: A Cavalcade of the 1920s and 1930s, p. 121.
page 144: “marked the end ...”: Harry F. Guggenheim, The Seven Skies, p. 216.
page 144: In the twelve months following ...: Edward Jablonski, Atlantic Fever.
page 145: famous for her gowns ...: Boston Herald, Aug. 31, 1927.
page 145: Front-page headlines ...: NYT, Mar. 14, 1928
page 146: “I have no wish ...”: NYT, Oct. 17, 1927.
page 147: On March 5, ...: NYT, Mar. 6, 1928.
page 147: “there was an understanding ...”: NYT, Mar. 28, 1928.
page 148: “launched the family ...”: Peggy Phipps Boegner and Richard Gachot, Halcyon Days.
page 148: By the end of the safari, ...: Bror Blixen, The Africa Letters, p. 34.
page 148: To her cousin Peggy Phipps Boegner, ...: Peggy Phipps Boegner and Richard Gachot, Halcyon Days, p. 192.
page 149: “Brave as a lion ...”: Mrs. Pope Guest, interview with author.
page 149: regularly flew off ...: Judy Lomax, Women of the Air, p. 50.
page 149: It “just wouldn’t do ...”: Diana Guest Manning, interview with author.
page 149: summoned David T. Layman, ...: The plane cost $62,000; the buyer of record was the Mechanical Science Corporation. Richard S. Allen manuscript, NASM.
page 150: By that time ...: Manning interview.
page 150: “When the Gods fashioned Dick Byrd ...”: Hilton Railey, Touch’d with Madness, p. 110.
page 150: according to Phipps family history, ...: Manning interview.
page 151: “Keep my ship, ...”: JM, LITHW, IX p. 4, SLRC.
page 151: on his way by ferry to Miller field ...: GPP, WM, p. 292. George had snared for Putnam’s, Charles Lindbergh’s We, Billy Mitchell’s Skyways, Richard Byrd’s Skyward, Sir Arthur Whitten Brown’s Flying the Atlantic in Sixteen Hours, and Captain George Wilkins’s Flying the Arctic.
page 151: “instantly” saw the possibilities....: GPP, WM, p. 293.
page 151: “Pull your chair over....”: Railey, Touch’d with Madness, p. 100.
page 152: “Pretty much at the moment ...”: GPP, WM, p. 293.
page 152: “visibly relieved,” ...: GPP, WM, p. 293; JM, LITHW, IX p. 77, SLRC.
page 152: “All I have to say ...”: JM, LITHW, IX p. 7, SLRC.
page 152: Undeterred, Putnam pressed on ...: Hilton Railey, Touch’d With Madness, p. 100; GPP, Soaring Wings, p. 52. Putnam and Railey give different versions of how this came about; this is Putnam’s. According to Railey, Putnam knew only that there was a plane in East Boston; Putnam told Railey to find it, pumping the pilot until he gave him Layman’s name, at which point they went to Layman.
page 153: “Why, yes,” Admiral Belknap said ...: Railey, Touch’d with Madness, p. 101.
page 153: “She never ...”: JM, LITHW, SLRC. MEM writes in CITP that Nichols’s health was the reason, but there was nothing the matter with her, by Nichols’s own account.
page 153: “I had to come out with it ...”: Railey, Touch’d with Madness, p. 103.
page 153: Amelia asked him for references ...: AE, 20H, p. 97.
page 153: She was wearing a bro
wn wool suit ...: Kathleen Moore Kennedy, interview with author.
page 153: “I felt that I had discovered ...”: Railey, Touch’d with Madness, p. 102.
page 154: On April 24 Amelia wrote to Ruth Nichols, ...: Ruth Nichols, Wings for Life, pp. 94-95.
page 154: On May 2 she wrote to Hilton Railey: ...: Railey, Touch’d with Madness, p. 104.
page 155: Why aren’t we doing something notable ...: Mary Lovell, The Sound of Wings, pp. 51-52.
page 155: “Today the Boston Chapter of the NAA ...”: BET, June 6, 1928.
page 155: Zonta, a service organization for businesswomen ...: Zonta history, from Zonta Souvenir Book, 1980.
page 156: Amelia’s application for membership ...: Files of Boston Zonta.
page 156: “a social worker who flies for sport ...”: Nichols, Wings for Life, p. 24.
page 156: “making one telephone call ...”: AE, LF, p. 9.
page 157: Nevertheless he took her over to 787 ...: JM, LITHW, SLRC; AE, 20H, p. 100.
page 157: “Why do you want ...”: JM, LITHW, IX, SLRC.
page 158: “The Phippses had gotten her ...”: JM, LITHW, SLRC.
page 158: So when John Phipps appeared ...: JM, LITHW, IX p. 8, SLRC. There are very slight variations in the manuscript. This seems the earliest and therefore most reliable version.
page 158: Next, they told her the details: ...: JM, LITHW, IX p. 8, SLRC.
page 158: “You may make this flight ...”: JM, LITHW, IX p. 10, SLRC.
page 158: On June 1 ...: AE, letter to Marian Stabler, IWASML.
page 159: “strong and exquisitely fashioned.”: AE, 20H, p. 101.
page 160: Both had gone the classic flying route ...: AE, 20H, pp. 311-14.
page 161: The crowds surging to greet him ...: Boston Herald, July 23, 1927.
page 161: merely asked Marion Perkins ...: JM, LITHW, SLRC.
Vortex
page 162: Hereeountstheflrstinstancehimself...: CommanderRichardE.Byrd, Skyward, pp. 27-28.
page 163: “I should have refused, ...”: Bennett repeated it to Bernt Balchen, who related it in Come North With Me.
page 163: “I knew we were heading toward Paris, ...”: Byrd, Skyward, p. 267.
page 164: “really wanted to go ...”: Byrd, Alone, p. 3.
page 165: “I deprecate the use ...”: NYT, June 28, 1928.
page 165: “I believe that the flight ...”: Byrd, in Boston Herald, Sept. 3, 1927.
page 166: “because pontoons stick to water ...”: NYT, June 5, 1928.
page 166: “I had decided ...”: Charles Lindbergh, We, p. 202.
page 166: By the time Byrd and Elmer ...: NYT, June 6, 1928.
page 167: “everything.”: NYT, June 19, 1928.
page 167: The Cardwell, all by itself....: Ibid.
page 167: “the safest and best equipped ..”: NYT, June 19, 1928.
page 167: music of Meyer Davis.: BET, June 4, 1928.
page 168: In the interests of secrecy all of his shots of Amelia ...: JM, LITHW, IX p. 13, SLRC.
page 168: “It wasn’t so much ...”: JM, LITHW, IX p. 13, SLRC.
page 168: “She couldn’t have resembled ...”: GPP, SW, p. 176.
page 169: “People got out of the way...” BET, June 23, 1928.
page 169: hers borrowed from a friend, ...: Aeronautic Review, Jan. 1928.
page 169: a will of sorts....: AOE papers, SLRC.
page 170: “popping off” letters ...: GPP, SW, p. 57.
page 170: I have tried to play ...”: NYT, June 5, 1928.
page 171: The fog comes on ...: AE, FOI, p. 66.
page 171: According to Phil Coolidge, ...: JM, LITHW, X p. 12a, SLRC.
page 171: On Saturday ...: BG, June 2, 1928.
page 172: “It’s like being ...”: JM, LITHW, IX p. 16, SLRC.
page 172: “But you got the feeling, ...”: Ibid.
page 172: The sun, she noticed, ...: AE, 20H, p. 120.
page 172: Just before they closed the door, ...: JM, LITHW, IX p. 33, SLRC.
page 173: Exultantly, Amelia wrote ...: AE, Flight Log, Seaver Center in Western History Research, Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History.
page 173: a few minutes into the flight, ...: AE, Flight Log, Seaver Center.
page 174: the Friendship dove through the clouds ...: NYHT, June 4, 1928.
page 174: There had been rumors ...: BET, June 4, 1928.
page 174: little to her liking: ...: AE, Flight Log, Seaver Center.
page 175: “Girl and Stultz ...”: NYHT, June 5, 1928.
page 175: “The sea,” Amelia wrote ...: Ibid. (The evening edition of The Boston Globe would proudly report that their stringer was the first reporter to talk to the fliers.)
Trepassey
page 178: “Good trip from Halifax....”: NYT, June 5, 1928.
page 178: twenty-one out of thirty days ...: Weather for Cape Race, June 1928, from Stu Porter, Canadian Scientific Services Meteorologist.
page 179: Those planes had had problems ...: Richard K. Smith, First Across.
page 179: “But soon after our arrival ...”: Commander Richard E. Byrd, Skyward, pp. 91-92.
page 179: “a howling gale.”: AE, 20H, p. 147.
page 179: Amelia cabled George Putnam: ...: NYT, June 4, 1928.
page 181: “get out of this trap ...”: AE, 20H.
page 181: Her last entry ...: AE, Flight Log, Seaver Center for Western History Research.
page 181: In London Amy Guest, horrified at the turn ...: NYT, June 7, 1928.
page 182: “We shoved off...”: AE, in Cosmopolitan, May 1929.
page 182: Slim went out to check ...: AE, Flight Log, Seaver Center.
page 183: encouraging news awaited them: ...: NYHT, June 8, 1928.
page 183: “and within the next ...”: Evening Telegram, June 7, 1928.
page 183: Amelia appeared cheerful, ...: NYT, June 9, 1928.
page 183: “Rasche is the one to fear....”: AE, Flight Log, Seaver Center.
page 184: “I could choke Frazer....”: Ibid.
page 185: Before the last attempt, ...: JM, LITHW, SLRC.
page 186: “the desperate straits ...”: NYHT, June 13, 1928.
page 187: “the real fault ...”: NYHT, June 13, 1928.
page 188: Amelia later told George Putnam ...: GPP, SW, p. 61.
page 190: “so could we....”: AE, 20H, p. 169.
page 190: “Two are required ...: Ibid., p. 168.
page 190: spent the day drinking ...: GPP, SW, p. 60.
page 191: Burnham watched Amelia ...: F. Burnham Gill, “First Woman to Cross the Atlantic in a Flying Boat,” Newfoundland Quarterly, vol. 60, no. 4 (1961-62).
page 191: “We have a dandy breeze ...”: ET, June 18, 1928.
page 191: “precariously nervous” ...: JM, LITHW, X p. 7, SLRC.
page 192: “I was crowded in the cabin ...: AE, FOI, p. 73.
page 192: Observers watched the plane ...: ET, June 18, 1928.
page 192: only seven hundred gallons of fuel.: AE, 20H, p. 170.
page 192: To plot their course, ...: Cosmopolitan, May 1929.
page 193: “wonderful greens and blues”: AE, in NYT, June 19, 1928.
page 194: “Bill sits up alone....”: AE, 20H, p. 187.
page 195: “Well, that’s out,” ...: NYT, June 21, 1928. In spite of the uncertainty of their position, Amelia had the presence of mind to take a picture of the ship before closing the hatch in the bottom of the fuselage; it was probably at this time that, inspired by the oranges, she dropped Bill Stultz’s bottle into the sea.
page 196: The sandwich flew out ...: AE, 20H, p. 196.
page 197: called up Cyril Jefferies, junior clerk ...: Cyril Jefferies, I Was There, reprinted in the Golden Jubilee Program, June 18, 1978; reprinted in The Mansion, June 1983, Blair County Historical Society bulletin, Blair County, Pennsylvania.
page 198: “I came ashore ...”: NYT, June 19, 1928.
Golden Girl
page 200: There on the dock ...: NYT, June 19, 1928.
page 201: “I am caught ...”: NYT, June 21, 1928.
page 201: managed to gain entrance ...: NYHT, June 21, 1928.
page 202: kept hiring secretaries ...: NYT, June 28, 1928.
page 202: “I don’t want to be known ...”: London Times, June 20, 1928.
page 203: “She spoke calmly ...”: NYT, June 26, 1928.
page 204: “It was wonderful,” ...: NYT, July 8, 1928.
page 204: tried her hand at flying ...: Nathan Browne, Columbia OH.
page 204: “What did she say? ...”: BG, July 7, 1937.
page 205: As the train rolled out of Pittsburgh, ...: NYT, July 25, 1928; AE, 20H, p. 289.
page 206: “I fell from literary ... : GPP, WM, p. 27.
page 207: He was, he said, “an easterner ...”: GPP, WM, p. 49.
page 207: cut such a wide swath ...: Mary Lovell, Sound of Wings, p. 372.
page 209: Just that past winter ...: Bradford Washburn, interview with author.
page 209: was astonished in later years ...: Ibid.
page 210: “My book goes to press ...”: AE, letter to Marian Stabler, postmarked Aug. 16, 1928, IWASML.
page 210: In re-reading the manuscript ...: AE, 20H, p. 9.
page 211: received more press coverage ...: NYT, July 31, 1928.
page 211: wrote her a “stiff” letter ...: JM, LITHW, SLRC.
page 211: “the popular phases of aviation.”: GPP, SW, p. 196.
page 211: “The night’s activities....”: AE, letter to AOE, Aug. 12, 1928, SLRC.
page 212: “Please throw away rags ...”: AE, letter to AOE, Aug. 26, 1928, SLRC.
page 212: Lady Heath had rushed home ...: Mary Lovell, Sound of Wings, p. 127.
page 212: a leap of faith ...: Cosmopolitan, Jan. 1929.
page 212: they would earn $12,460; ...: GPP, SW, p. 190.
page 212: “To Amelia Earhart ...”: AE, FOI, p. 88. “Always think with your stick forward” is a reminder that if the mind wanders and the nose goes up, the plane goes into a stall.
page 212: was almost as small,...: C. A. Sims, British Aircraft.
page 213: ... opt for licensing the Avian ...: Porter Adams, letter to Major Clarence Young, July 31, 1928; Major Young, letter to Porter Adams, Aug. 3, 1928; NASM files.
page 214: On the last Friday in August, ...: NYT, Sept. 1, 1928.