Amelia Mary Earhart was born in Atchison, Kansas, on July 24, 1897. Amelia was the daughter of Edwin and Amy Earhart. The Earhart family moved to Des Moines, Iowa in 1909 because of her father's job transfer. When they moved, Amelia saw her first airplane at a state fair. A few years later, in 1917, Amelia visited an aviation expo and a plane flew very close to her, which inspired her to fly. In December 1920, she went to a plane show in Long Beach, CA, and was further inspired to pursue flying after seeing what could be possible. ​​​​​​​

“By the time I had got two or three hundred feet off the ground, I knew I had to fly,” ~Amelia Earhart​​​​​​​

(George Palmer Putnam Collection of Amelia Earhart Papers, 1937)

(Ace Pilots, 2012)

Amelia Earhart first met George Putnam when he interviewed her after her transatlantic flight as the passenger. He also wrote a biography on Amelia following her transatlantic flight. George was Amelia's first manager, and he proposed to her about six times before she agreed to get married. The couple was married on February 7, 1931. 

On July 2, 1937 Earhart disappeared on her attempt to circumnavigate the globe. Earhart and her navigator were suspected to have disappeared in the central Pacific Ocean after taking off from the city of Lae in Papua New Guinea. There are many theories about what actually happened when Earhart disappeared. She was declared dead on January 5, 1939.