January 18, 2016
Source/AP
Aviator Amelia Earhart lifts herself from the cockpit of her airplane after completing a transcontinental flight in Oakland, California, on June 6, 1931.
A previously unpublished letter purportedly signed by aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart is up for sale in Philadelphia.
In the letter, dated Aug. 14, 1933, Earhart tells 13-year-old Julie Pierson of Detroit that she thinks women will someday have the same opportunities as men in flying, according its seller.
The document is up for sale by The Raab Collection, an Ardmore-based dealer in historical autographs.
Earhart, who was the first female aviator to cross the Atlantic Ocean alone and mysteriously disappeared during a 1937 flight, tells Pierson in the letter that women need to push to do the same things men do, according to the Raab Collection:
“As far as woman’s opportunities in flying go I think they will improve as they have in all industries.”
...
"Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others."
Nathan Raab, a principal with the collection, told CBSPhilly that the letter was in response to Pierson asking Earhart how to follow in her footsteps.
Raab told the news station the letter speaks to how inspirational Earhart was for other women at the time:
“The response is just remarkable. You get a sense that this was a meaningful letter to her and she explains how you would go about doing what she had done, describing in detail some of the steps that a girl and a woman could take to succeed in aviation to become a pilot.”
The letter is valued at $15,000, according to the collection.
