Sep 28, 2026 · 21 min · 8 segments
In the third episode of “Finding Amelia,” we’re talking to Katey Watson, the France A. Córdova Archivist of Purdue Archives and Special Collections. Katey manages Purdue Libraries’ Amelia Earhart…
I think some of her most iconic items that we have are the artifacts, particularly those that are related to her flying career.
They're from about the 1930s, and we have a couple, uh, photographs of her wearing them.
They are also one of the most fragile artifacts that we have in the collection.
We also have two of her pilot's licenses, one from 1928 and one from 1930, though she actually got her pilot's license back in 1923.
In a couple sources, you'll see her credited as being the first US woman pilot to receive a pilot's license from the National Aeronautic Association, though she was definitely not the first woman pilot in the US to earn a pilot's license.
Some of my favorite, but also the materials a lot of people are most interested in, are some of those artifacts from her 1932 solo Atlantic flight.
So we have her leather flight helmet [laughs] that she wore on that flight as well.
We have smelling salts, which she would use to keep herself awake during the flight.
The flight started in Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, and she landed in Londonderry, Ireland, uh, in 1932.
The flight took just under 15 hours, so she had to stay awake for that entire time since she was doing it by herself.
We also have a passport that she had signed when she arrived in London, England, and then we also have her suede jacket and pants as well, which she wore on that flight.
She would take notes throughout the flight, and as you know, there were a couple issues that she ran into during that flight.
I think some of her most iconic items that we have are the artifacts, particularly those that are related to her flying career.
They're from about the 1930s, and we have a couple, uh, photographs of her wearing them.
They are also one of the most fragile artifacts that we have in the collection.
We also have two of her pilot's licenses, one from 1928 and one from 1930, though she actually got her pilot's license back in 1923.
In a couple sources, you'll see her credited as being the first US woman pilot to receive a pilot's license from the National Aeronautic Association, though she was definitely not the first woman pilot in the US to earn a pilot's license.
Some of my favorite, but also the materials a lot of people are most interested in, are some of those artifacts from her 1932 solo Atlantic flight.
So we have her leather flight helmet [laughs] that she wore on that flight as well.
We have smelling salts, which she would use to keep herself awake during the flight.
The flight started in Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, and she landed in Londonderry, Ireland, uh, in 1932.
The flight took just under 15 hours, so she had to stay awake for that entire time since she was doing it by herself.
We also have a passport that she had signed when she arrived in London, England, and then we also have her suede jacket and pants as well, which she wore on that flight.
She would take notes throughout the flight, and as you know, there were a couple issues that she ran into during that flight.
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