Amelia Earhart Letter to Winfield B. "Bert" Kinner

About the Project

Amelia Earhart was the first woman to fly (as a passenger) across the Atlantic, and the first woman (and second person, after Charles Lindbergh) to fly solo and nonstop across that ocean. She flew many record flights, published several books, and accomplished much for women in aviation before disappearing over the Pacific Ocean during an attempted around-the-world flight in 1937. Winfield Bertrum "Bert" Kinner was active in the aviation business and organized various aircraft and engine companies, one of which produced the Kinner Airster, the first aircraft that Earhart purchased.

Amelia Earhart (1897--1937) in 1928 was the first woman to fly (as a passenger) across the Atlantic, and in 1932 the first woman (and second person, after Charles Lindbergh) to fly solo and nonstop across that ocean. She flew many record flights, published several books, and accomplished much for women in aviation before attempting on June 1, 1937, an around-the-world flight from Miami, Florida, in a twin-engine Lockheed Electra. She and navigator Frederick J. Noonan were flying from Lae, New Guinea, to Howland Island when they disappeared over the Pacific Ocean on July 2, 1937. An exhaustive sea and air search, ordered by President Franklin Roosevelt, was unsuccessful in locating Earhart and Noonan. Winfield Bertrum "Bert" Kinner (1882--1957) enlisted in the US Army Air Service during World War I, but the war ended before he was trained to fly. So, in 1919, Kinner moved to Los Angeles, California, where he rented a barn, built his first airplane and taught himself to fly. Until his retirement in 1941, Kinner remained active in the aviation business. Kinner organized the following aircraft and engine companies: Kinner Airplane & Motor Corp; Security Aircraft Corp; American Aircraft Corp; and Security National Aircraft Corp. These companies produced a variety of aircraft, including the Kinner Airster, the first aircraft that Amelia Earhart purchased. Kinner is perhaps most famous for producing the popular Kinner K-5 engine and for designing the first folding wing aircraft, the Security Airster S-1-A and S-1-B. This collection consists of a letter dated November 27, 1927 written and signed by Amelia Earhart to Winfield Bertrum "Bert" Kinner. In the letter, Earhart expresses her satisfaction with her Kinner Airster and inquires about the status of engine testing and development. Earhart also voices concern that another manufacturer might use the characteristics of the Airster to capture the market for that type of airplane before Kinner perfects the engine. While this collection is comprised of one relatively brief document, it provides insight into Earhart’s business acumen and transcription of the collection will provide greater access to this interesting example of her thought process.

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Project Progress (details)

1 pages completed

Difficulty

2 out of 5

(details)

About Project Difficulty

Level 1 - BEGINNER

Content: all typed
Language: English
Format: letters, diaries, flyers, pamphlets, and one-page documents
Subject Area Expertise/Special Skills: none required

Level 2

Content: mostly typed, handwritten in print, or otherwise very clearly written/readable
Language: English
Format: memorabilia, advertisements, image captions, telegrams, diaries, letters, notes
Subject Area Expertise/Special Skills: none required

Level 3 - INTERMEDIATE

Content: typed and handwritten materials in cursive or print
Language: English
Format: newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, letters/diaries/notes that may include annotations or margin notes
Subject Area Expertise/Special Skills: experience reading cursive writing may be useful

Level 4

Content: handwritten materials, primarily in cursive or somewhat difficult to read (predominantly from the 19th and 20th centuries) , audio recordings that are relatively easy to hear/decipher, and scientific materials
Language: English and/or other languages that use Roman script but may require the use of diacritics (French, Spanish, German, Italian, etc.)
Format: audio recordings, letters, diaries, notes and other written materials, projects with templated fields and special instructions
Subject Area Expertise/Special Skills: some knowledge of non-English Roman-character/script languages and diacritics may be useful, as well as experience reading cursive handwriting. A general knowledge or familiarity with scientific terminology.

Level 5 - ADVANCED

Content: handwritten materials in cursive (from the 19th century or earlier) or in a non-Roman script language, audio recordings that are difficult to hear or are not in English, specialty materials/projects such as numismatics projects and the Project Phaedra notebooks
Language: foreign languages that use non-Roman characters (Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Greek/Cyrillic, Native American and Indigenous languages, etc.) and English
Format: audio recordings, columned data/tables, manuscripts, letters, diaries, notes, currency sheets, coins
Subject Area Expertise/Special Skills: knowledge of a specific language and access to a keyboard with the characters in that language may be required for certain projects. Experience reading cursive handwriting and familiarity with 19th century (or prior) handwriting and conventions/abbreviations may be useful, as well as knowledge of scientific terminology, astrophysics data, or linguistics.

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