Amelia Earhart Christmas Cards
The 1930s was a golden age for aviation. New and
powerful aircraft allowed aviators to set records in distance and speed,
dazzling the American public. The publishing and film industries saw opportunity
to exploit pilots and cash in on their fame.
In 1928, publisher George Palmer Putnam searched to find the first
female pilot who could cross the Atlantic Ocean. Riding on the success
of Charles Lingbergh (another client), Palmer hoped to capture the attention
of the American public. His search led him to Amelia Earhart.
Amelia was born in Atchison, Kansas on July 24th,
1897. The Earhart family later moved to Kansas City, Kansas, and Des
Moines, Iowa. She attended school for a short time on the East Coast,
and later enlisted as a nurse's aid in Toronto, Canada, were she treated
World War I soldiers. After working as social worker in California,
Earhart became interested in aviation. She purchased her first plane
in 1922.
Under Palmer's supervision, Earhart's "Friendship Flight"
across the Atlantic in 1928 gained her international recognition.
That same year, Putnam and Earhart were married. Always considered by
Putnam to be a wild spirit, Earhart had reservations about marriage.
She wrote him before the wedding:
"You must know again my reluctancy to marry, my feeling
that I shatter thereby chances I work which means so much to me. . .
. I may have to keep some place where I can go to be myself now and
then, for I cannot guarantee to endure at all times the confinements
of even an attractive cage."
The partnership flourished. The two divided their time between homes
in New York and California. Earhart continued to set records and Putnam
continued to write about her endeavors. Finally, as her publicist, Putnam
was responsible for issuing the press bulletins after Earhart's disappearance
during her 1937 attempt at an around-the-world flight.
Earhart wrote to family and friends throughout her life. Her letter
writing extended to acquaintances made in Europe after the historic
1928 flight. The Christmas cards pictured here were
sent by Earhart and Putnam to friends in the British Isles (the couple
stayed with the donor's family while visiting Great Britain). As with
Earhart's letters, the cards bear her distinctive signature, "AE."
The cards were donated to the Kansas
Museum of History in 2004.
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