Three years before Amelia Earhart vanished over the Pacific Ocean, she spent a wild weekend in Atlanta recruiting female pilots, flying an Atlanta Constitution reporter over the city and selling a line of designer hats.
The account of the lost 1934 weekend has recently been rediscovered through a series of previously unknown photos of Earhart, found by accident in the Georgia State University Library’s Special Collections and Archives.
Christina Zamon, head of Special Collections and Archives, said Michelle Asci, who manages the archives’ photographic collections, stumbled upon the images while doing another assignment.
Credit: George Cornett
Credit: George Cornett
“She called me and said, ‘I think I found photos of Amelia Earhart. Can you verify?’” Zamon said. “We handle thousands of reference requests every year for our photographs, and to stumble upon a previously unknown set of photographs of someone as famous as Amelia Earhart was thrilling.”
Asci found the 15 photos, taken somewhere between Feb. 2 and Feb. 4, 1934, in an envelope labeled “Women pilots, old” among millions of donated photographs and negatives from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Only three of the photos were known to have been published by the paper.
Although there were several stories about the visit, oddly, none of the published photos included Earhart, who just two years earlier in 1932 became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic.
During her weekend stay, Earhart spoke at a Friday luncheon in her honor thrown by Davison’s of Atlanta, a popular department store chain, where she was promoting her own line of hats. At the luncheon, she met with The Atlanta Constitution vice president and general manager, Clark Howell Jr., and The Atlanta Journal president and editor, John S. Cohen.
Credit: AJC Archive at GSU Library
Credit: AJC Archive at GSU Library
On that Sunday, she gave a lecture at the Capitol titled “Flying for Fun.”
But in the black-and-white photos, taken that Saturday, Earhart is shown in and around Candler Field, now Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
The celebrated pilot is seen showcasing her aircraft, along with members of the Georgia chapter of the Ninety-Nines, an international organization for women pilots of which Earhart was a charter member.
“It is really interesting to see Amelia Earhart in this shack at what is now one of the world’s busiest airports,” Zamon said.
One photo shows Earhart being greeted by Atlanta Constitution reporter Mainer Lee Toler.
“Women should fly,” Earhart told Toler during an interview that the reporter described as “a dream come true.”
After their meeting, Earhart took Toler up for a flight around Atlanta.
In her story about the flight, Toler called Earhart an “aviatrix” and wrote effusively: “It was a thrilling experience to ride over the city of Atlanta with Amelia Earhart at the controls. We could scarcely believe Saturday afternoon that we were actually being piloted by the first woman to fly an airplane alone across the Atlantic Ocean.”
Credit: AJC Archive at GSU Library
Credit: AJC Archive at GSU Library
Earhart came of age during the dawn of commercial aviation and while America was quick to promote heroes. Earhart, with her pixie cut and bright smile, fit the bill.
In 1928, she became the first female passenger to cross the Atlantic by airplane. But she did herself better in 1932. Piloting a Lockheed Vega 5B, she became the first woman to fly nonstop solo across the Atlantic, flying from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, to Derry, Northern Ireland, in 15 hours.
“These are more than just lost photos,” Zamon said. “A lot of what you hear about her is her disappearance, not what she did prior to that. I had no idea that she had this line of hats. She was flying all over the country.”
Earhart disappeared on July 2, 1937, when she attempted to be the first female to complete a circumnavigational flight around the world. She was declared dead in 1939.
Credit: George Cornett
Credit: George Cornett
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