Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
During the 1880s, Elsa von Blumen firmly established herself as a formidable contender in both walking and cycling competitions throughout the United States. Von Blumen, who was originally known as Caroline “Carrie” Kiner, was born to Prussian immigrants on October 6, 1859, and grew up in Oswego County, New York. As a child, Carrie was... Continue Reading →
Annie Belle Andrews, who was born in 1959, has served as a high-level and even trailblazing leader in both military and civilian capacities. She highlighted her approach to leadership in 2016 when she addressed the graduating class of the Women’s College of Brenau University of Georgia. “Not only as women do you have a voice... Continue Reading →
Elizabeth Whitney Williams was one of the longest-serving lighthouse keepers in American history. In 1904, the Detroit Free Press underscored both the challenges and significance of Williams’ lifesaving role on behalf of maritime transportation. This article stated, “For more than three decades she has been in charge of one of Uncle Sam’s lighthouses on the... Continue Reading →
JoAnn Hardin Morgan made history as the first female engineer at NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC) on Merritt Island in Florida. She was also the first woman to serve as a senior executive at KSC. Morgan was born on December 4, 1940, in the city of Huntsville, Alabama. Her father, Don Hardin, was... Continue Reading →
Kathryn Dwyer Sullivan was born in Paterson, New Jersey, in 1951. She earned a B.S. degree in earth sciences from the University of California, Santa Cruz, in 1973 and a Ph.D. in geology from Dalhousie University in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia in 1978. It was also in 1978 that Sullivan formally became one... Continue Reading →
On October 8, 1922, Lillian Gatlin became the first woman to travel across the continental United States in a plane when she arrived at the U.S. air mail service station at Long Island’s Curtiss Field at 5:45 p.m. and three days after departing from San Francisco. Wearing a “special delivery” tag on her flying suit,... Continue Reading →
On January 15, 2009, New York Waterway ferry captain and U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) reservist Brittany Catanzaro and her crew played a crucial lifesaving role for the passengers of an Airbus A320 after that plane had made an emergency landing on the Hudson River. This landing was made necessary because the aircraft (US Airways Flight... Continue Reading →
Blanche Stuart Scott, who made notable contributions involving two modes of transportation, was born in Rochester, New York, in1885. She developed a strong interest in automobiles early on in life. In 1910, Scott became only the second woman -- after Alice Huyler Ramsey -- to drive one of those vehicles from one coast to another within... Continue Reading →
In 1900, Anne Rainsford French became the first licensed woman driver in Washington, D.C. The epitaph on her tombstone goes even further by stating that she was the “first woman licensed to drive an automobile in America.” This claim has been widely disputed, however; many have claimed, for example that Mrs. John Howell Phillips achieved that... Continue Reading →
Joan Newton Cuneo, who played a trailblazing role for female race car drivers, was born in Holyoke, Massachusetts, in 1876. She was the last of four daughters born to Leila Vulte and John Carter Newton. Joan’s strong interest in transportation took root early on in her life. As a child – and under her indulgent... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 