From Typewriter to Takeoff

Before Amelia Earhart, there was Harriet Quimby—the daring journalist turned aviatrix who conquered the skies. Harriet Quimby was once one of the best-known women of the early twentieth century. An international celebrity, she achieved many firsts during her life—a San Francisco columnist first captivated with the new artists of Monterey; the first New York journalist to capture the world with a camera; an early woman driver capable of being mechanic for her 1905 Cadillac Runabout; one of the first silent-film actresses, who authored screenplays for director D.W. Griffith; the nation’s first woman to earn a pilot’s license; the first woman to fly solo over Mexico and across the English Channel; and a celebrity paid a handsome fee of $100,000 to be the featured flier in the 1912 Boston Air Show. In 1932, Amelia Earhart said of her predecessor, “To cross the English Channel in 1912 required more bravery and skill than to cross the Atlantic today. . . . we must remember that, in thinking of America’s first great woman flier’s accomplishment.” Harriet was clearly a risk-taker in all aspects of her life and career: a gutsy, passionate, beautiful woman with fire in her eyes and unwavering resolve, living in a man’s world and loving every minute of it while keeping her striking femininity smartly intact. The tragedy of her all-too-brief life encompasses much of historical interest and mirrors one of the most interesting eras of American history.