American Female Pilots: Topics in Chronicling America
In the early 20th century, American Women soared the skies. This guide provides access to materials related to the "American Female Pilots" in the Chronicling America digital collection of historic newspapers.
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About Chronicling America
Chronicling America is a searchable digital collection of historic newspaper pages through 1963 sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.
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Introduction
Any field that men entered, women were soon to follow and aviation was no different. Women like Mathilde Moisant, Blanche Scott, Ruth Law, Katherine Stinson, and Laura Bromwell pioneered the field for so many women to come. Exciting, record-breaking, and notably beautiful, these women competed to be the best of the best, right alongside their male counterparts. Read more about it!
The information in this guide focuses on primary source materials found in the digitized historic newspapers from the digital collection Chronicling America.
The timeline below highlights important dates related to this topic and a section of this guide provides some suggested search strategies for further research in the collection.
Timeline
July 24, 1911
Mathilde Moisant begins working toward her pilot’s license, even after the death of her brother by flying. She later becomes the second woman in America to earn a license after Harriet Quimby.
July 26, 1911
Blanche Scott is the first woman in America to fly cross-country.
January 19, 1912
Blanche Scott calls Harriet Quimby and Mathilda Moisant “grass-cutters”, a harsh insult in early flying.
December 1, 1912
Mathilde Moisant is accredited for being the first to evade police in an airplane.
June 13, 1915
Katherine Stinson plans trip from New York to the Panama Exposition in San Francisco.
September 1, 1915
Still a teenager, Ruth Law is a stunt pilot.
November 21, 1916
Ruth Law makes three new records in a flight from Chicago to New York.
December 12, 1917
Establishing a new non-stop distance record, Katherine Stinson flies from San Diego to San Francisco.
November 14, 1919
Laura Bromwell is the first female to earn her license after the First World War.
May 30, 1921
Breaking her own record, Laura Bromwell loops the loop 199 times.