Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
Mary Myers (1849-1932) was a Boston-born professional balloonist (best known as Carlotta, the Lady Aeronaut) and female aviation pioneer. She was married to aeronautical engineer Carl Edgar Myers, and together they devoted a great deal of their energies and expertise to the design and use of passenger balloons. On Independence Day in 1880, Mary became... Continue Reading →
Luella Bates of Wisconsin played an influential role in the history of trucks during a time when those vehicles – still in an early stage of development and use in the United States – were widely seen as contraptions that should be operated only by men. “Be careful what you say about truck-drivers in general,... Continue Reading →
On January 1, 1915, Wilma K. Russey became a high-profile transportation pioneer by launching her career as New York City’s first female taxi driver. “New York’s First Feminine Chauffeur Starts Business on New Year’s Day,” proclaimed a headline in the next day’s edition of the New York Times. Russey, who had been employed for more... Continue Reading →
Mary Ann Brown Patten – through highly unexpected and unique circumstances – became the first female commander of a U.S. merchant vessel. Her husband Joshua Patten was a sea captain who, in 1856, was given command of the clipper ship Neptune’s Car for a voyage from New York to San Francisco to transport cargo. Mary,... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 