LETTER: TLS on Cosmopolitan letterhead; with oversized photo of female engineers.
Earhart on the Engineering Classes for Women
with a Photo of Earhart’s Class
Earhart, Amelia. Typed letter signed to John Charlebois, September 9, 1929, one leaf of Cosmopolitan letterhead, one page; well-worn.
Together with:
Earhart, Amelia, present. Photograph: Class of college girls in 1918.
19.5” x 11.5”; black and white; corners rounded.
While working as a nurse ministering to wounded soldiers during the First World War, Earhart was stricken with pneumonia in the influenza pandemic of 1918. She moved to Northampton, Massachusetts to convalesce with her sister who attended Smith College. While recuperating, Amelia studied mechanics at Charlebois’s auto repair shop on Walnut Street. She was one of ten women who studied with Charlebois that year.
In this 1929 letter, Earhart thanks Charlebois for sending her a picture of the “Class of 1918” and expresses her gratitude for his instruction: “It has stood me in good stead since, for it was a stepping stone for more thorough investigation of motors.” She notes, “Government requirements for securing transport licenses are becoming more severe as time goes on, and mechanical knowledge of the power plant is essential to pass the examination.” She ends the letter, “I hope you have not discontinued your classes for I am sure there are more girls today than ten years ago who wish to investigate ‘what makes the wheels go round.’”
With the letter is an oversized photo of the “Class of college girls in 1918” with Charlebois seated on a bumper and Earhart directly behind him.
Charlebois’s grandson, David Charlebois was the co-pilot of the hijacked plane that crashed into the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.
(#13379)
Print Inquire
