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Amelia Earhart exhibit perfect for history buffs

Museum of Flight displays snapshot view of the life of this famous pilot

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The average person knows that Amelia Earhart was a female pilot who disappeared while flying over the Pacific Ocean. A few more people know that she broke many flight records and started the Ninety-Nines, an organization for female pilots.  However, there aren't nearly as many people who know that Earhart designed clothing, wrote several books and articles, endorsed products, and that she served as a career advisor for students at Purdue University.

"Everyone knows Amelia Earhart was a female pilot, but there is so much more to her than that," said Annie Mejia, the exhibit developer at the Museum of Flight in Seattle. "She lectured, and she designed clothing and luggage. After reading about her one realizes that she was not the best female pilot; she is just the most famous."

These facts and others are but a few of the things that visitors will learn about Earhart in an exhibit called "In Search of Amelia Earhart" that is being held at the Museum of Flight in Seattle through May 16.

Designed to coincide with this year's release of the movie "Amelia," starring Hilary Swank, the exhibit is chronological and comprises reproductions of photographs, newsreel footage, and personal Earhart artifacts and reproductions. The personal effects include a suede jacket she wore on a 1932 solo transatlantic flight, two flight suits, a helmet, and a scarf, a nurse's uniform she wore during World War I, and the only remaining piece of her Lockheed Electra 10-E.

Taking about three months to compile, a large portion of the research came from the world's largest collection of Earhart papers, photos, memorabilia, and artifacts that were donated to Purdue University by George Palmer Putnam, Earhart's husband and publisher.  Earhart has a direct connection to Purdue, which funded the purchase of her flying laboratory that she flew on her ill-fated last flight over the Pacific.

The online collection includes more than 3,500 scans of photographs, maps, and personal correspondence, her marriage license, and her prenuptial agreement.  The collection gives a personal look at Earhart that goes well beyond the pilot, Majia said.

Earhart's story typically begins where her life ended - on a flight in which she was attempting to circumnavigate the world.  Although she was an aviator and pioneer - being the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic - what most people know about her is that she disappeared July 2, 1937.

"She was one of those people that people didn't forget about," Mejia said. "She was an icon of the 1930s."

The exhibit also gives a snapshot view of Earhart's personal life, including her marriage to Putnam.  Although the movie depicted Earhart and Putnam as a romantic couple, they were not, Mejia said.

"One of the many books I read said that Amelia turned down about six proposals from her husband before she finally said yes," Mejia said. "The movie depicts the couple as romantic, and they really were not like that at all. He was her publicist first and her husband second."

For more information on the exhibit, visit www.museumofflight.org.

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