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June 21st, 2011
Over the past few years, the efforts of the Susan Bulkeley Butler Women’s Archives have allowed Archives and Special Collections (ASC) to take in intriguing collections pertaining to female aviators at Purdue. Archives and Special Collections’ newest exhibit, “Soaring to New Heights, Women in Aviation at Purdue” highlights these aviators. The exhibit runs June 11-August 31 at the Virginia Kelly Karnes Archives and Special Collections Research Center, located on the fourth floor of the Humanities, Social Science and Education Library in Stewart Center.
As to be expected, the exhibit contains treasures from the George Palmer Putnam Collection of Amelia Earhart materials, including Earhart’s helmet, ice pick (for opening cans of tomato juice on which she sustained during long flights) and the “Questionnaire for Women Students,” in which Earhart raises provocative questions about men’s roles in the home during that period.
Alongside Earhart, there are many women who share in Purdue’s aviation history, but few know of their accomplishments. These women include:
-Virginia Smith Peck, who’s photo has been on display in other exhibits because of her mountain-climbing abilities. As it turns out, she had a penchant for flying as well.
-Curtiss Wright Cadettes, a group of 83 young women employed by Curtiss Wright Corporation came to Purdue in 1943 to study aeronautical engineering at Purdue in order help fill the depleted ranks of engineers and draftspersons during World War Two.
-Janice Voss, NASA astronaut and Purdue alumna.
-Roberta Gleiter, who’s papers document her life and career. She was one of the few women to graduate from the School of Chemical Engineering in 1960, recipient of an Outstanding Chemical Engineer Award from Purdue and advocate for women in Engineering. After taking some time off to raise her family, she launched her career with the Aerospace Corporation.
-Purdue President France Cordova, former Chief Scientist at NASA.
-Annie Smith Peck, a Latin and elocution professor at Purdue from 1881 until 1883 who was widely known for her mountain climbing abilities, but also as an advocate and spokesperson for aviation in its early days.
Make sure to stop by ASC before August 31, to explore our rich aviation history at Purdue.
Contact: Stephanie Schmitz, (765) 494-2904; sschmit@purdue.edu
Filed under: AVTE, events, general, press_release, SPECJune 14th, 2011
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue Libraries has completed the digitization of Indiana Farmer for the years 1851-1917, which chronicles the state of Hoosier agriculture in the pre- and post-Civil War years.
The Library Services and Technology Act grant from the Indiana State Library and the Institute of Museum and Library Services provided funding for the digitization.
The digitized Indiana Farmer increases access to first-hand accounts of rural life in Indiana during the Civil War era. Students, researchers and enthusiasts now have relatively easy access to articles, editorials and advertisements about the routine life of farmers and their families during a time when the country was experiencing a threat to its existence.
Research conducted during this time answered such questions as: Do rabbits bite? Daniel Fiskel of Logansport concluded that they do after his nose was bitten while holding the research subject.
Three lesson plans are available to help elementary teachers integrate the digitized content into the state history curriculum. Each digitalized issue is full-text searchable so that users can more easily locate the newspaper content. The collection will become part of the Indiana Memory project.
The website also provides users descriptive information about the publication and project background.
The digitized collection can be found at http://e-archives.lib.purdue.edu/collections/indianafarmer/
Contact: Vicki Killion, associate professor of library science, 765-494-1417, vkillion@purdue.edu