Murray C. Bernays, a name perhaps not known to most, was responsible for constructing the legal framework and procedures for the Nuremberg War Crime Trials after World War II. His work was of utmost importance as it helped bring justice to those found guilty of heinous crimes during WWII. For his work at Nuremberg, Bernays was awarded the Legion of Merit.
Jacob M. Schwoob with license plate no. 1. Photo from Box 5, Folder title “Schwoob, Jacob M. (and others)-Snapshots.” of the Jacob M. Scwhoob papers.
Schwoob on horseback. Photo from Box 5, Jacob M. Schwoob papers.
The State of Wyoming began issuing motor vehicle license plates in 1913. Who got plate number 1? The man who wrote the motor vehicle licensing law, state senator Jacob M. Schwoob of Park County. Schwoob continued to apply for, and receive, plate 1 annually until 1929, when he was awarded the number for the term of his life. The honor recognized not only his authorship of the licensing bill but also his continuing advocacy of good roads for the sake of economic development.
Jacob M. Schwoob was born in Ontario in 1874. At the age of 18 he immigrated to the United States, arriving first in Buffalo, New York, then moving to Cody, Wyoming, in 1898. He was business manager of the Cody Trading Company until 1916, when he purchased the store and became its owner. A Republican, he served in the state senate from 1905 until 1913. He pushed through a law to permit counties to issue bonds for road-building, as well as pressing for the introduction of automobiles into Yellowstone National Park. Automobiles were officially allowed inside the Park in 1915.
Schwoob sitting on an automobile, with his no. 1 license plate. From Box 5 of the Jacob Schwoob papers.
Schwoob’s only child, Thornton W. Schwoob, died as a young man in 1928. Jacob Schwoob died just four years later in 1932. In 1948 Schwoob’s papers and photographs were in the possession of his grandson, Thornton. The younger Thornton W. Schwoob donated the materials to the University of Wyoming, where they comprise a valuable record of a time when automobile travel was a new experience for most citizens of the state. To learn more about Jacob Schwoob and his collection at the American Heritage Center, please see the inventory for the Jacob M. Schwoob papers, available here.
Did you perhaps wonder as you sipped your coffee this morning about how Wyoming Equality Day originated? Cheyenne native and Wyoming state legislator Harriett Elizabeth “Liz” Byrd was the guiding individual behind it. Byrd was the first black woman to serve in Wyoming’s House beginning in 1980. A few years later, she was elected to Wyoming’s Senate, and was the first black legislator to serve there.
Byrd’s parents, Robert “Buck” and Sudie Rhone, supplied her with an “outsider/within” legacy as described by Evelyn Haskell in a 2006 Annals of Wyoming article about Liz Byrd. Haskell explains that the outsider/within perspective is that of an individual who is outside the dominant culture, and yet has access to and intimate knowledge of the workings of the dominant culture. Buck Rhone’s family had settled in Wyoming in the 1870s, and Buck was the first African American child born in Albany County. Liz was born in 1926 with deep family roots already established in Wyoming.
This is not to say that she didn’t experience her share of racism. According to an interview with Byrd pasted into a scrapbook housed at the AHC, as a high school student, she was refused service in a Cheyenne drugstore. Her white classmates threw the ice from their drinks over the counter and walked out. When she applied to the University of Wyoming in 1944, Liz was told that, because she was African American, she would not be allowed to live in campus housing. In the end, she attended West Virginia State Teachers College, a historically black college, graduating in 1949 with a degree in education.
During Liz’s college years, she married James Byrd and the couple made Cheyenne their home, Liz teaching school and Jim working in law enforcement. The couple was soon raising a family of three children, two sons and one daughter. Liz was happy teaching school and didn’t originally have political ambitions. It was the tragic death in 1979 of her younger brother, Robert, that led her into politics. Buck Rhone had high ambitions for his son Robert to gain public office and, after Robert’s death, this ambition was shifted to daughter Liz. Despite running a low-cost campaign, Liz was elected to the Wyoming House of Representatives in 1980.
In oral history interviews with Evelyn Haskell, Byrd described an atmosphere in the statehouse that was hostile to women, and to her in particular because she was a black woman. Of a total of 90 seats in both Wyoming’s House and Senate, only 14 were held by women. She found that some of her efforts to present and pass bills were hampered by the fact that a significant number of her female colleagues refused to support her bills; they were afraid of losing good committee assignments by supporting bills sponsored by Liz Byrd. Another complicating factor was Byrd often sponsored unpopular “special” legislation relating to human interests instead of those involving the state’s economic interests.
Her most important bill of national prominence, and the one that presented her with the most difficulty, was ratification of a Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. The nine years she worked on the bill were marked by strife and animosity. Wyoming state newspapers were filled with letters pro and con from the public and from her fellow legislators. Even one of Liz’s fellow teachers spoke out publicly against the bill. To finally gain passage of the bill, Byrd had to agree to add “Wyoming Equality Day” to the holiday’s name, which became Martin Luther King, Jr./Wyoming Equality Day in 1990. Byrd went on to become the recipient of a number of awards and honors, one of the most notable is sharing the pages with Oprah Winfrey, Rosa Parks and other African American women of accomplishment in the book I Dream a World, published in 1989.
Byrd with Governor Sullivan at the signing of the legislation establishing Martin Luther King Jr. Day/Wyoming Equality Day, March 1990. Harriett Elizabeth Byrd Family Papers, 10443, box 3, folder 6.
– Leslie Waggener, Associate Archivist
Much of the text is courtesy of Evelyn Haskell’s article, “Harriett Elizabeth ‘Liz’ Byrd: Wyoming Trail Blazer in Education and Politics,” published in Annals of Wyoming, Vol. 78, No. 1 (Winter 2006).
The Ames Monument, located about 20 miles east of Laramie off Interstate 80, is one of 10 newly-designated national historic landmarks announced November 2, 2016 by U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis.
In the press release, the National Park Service wrote:
The Ames Monument is a pivotal and highly significant work in the career of Henry Hobson Richardson. The simple massing and naturalistic materials of the Ames Monument, designed midway through his career, are a pure manifestation of a critical shift in his architectural design away from a reliance on references to historical stylistic motifs.
Ames monument, undated. Photo file, American Heritage Center.
At an elevation of 8,247 feet, this monument stands at what once was the highest point on the route of the Union Pacific Railroad. The tracks were rerouted a few miles to the south in 1901, but the monument still looms over the surrounding plains and can be easily accessed from I-80.
Completed in 1882 at a cost of $64,000, the 300 x 32-foot structure honors Oakes and Oliver Ames, financiers and politicians whose business skills were largely responsible for the completion of the transcontinental railroad. The Ames brothers took control of the management and financing of the Union Pacific portion of the railroad at President Abraham Lincoln’s request. Prior to their involvement with the railroad, only 12 miles of track had been completed. Not long after the railroad’s completion in 1869, however, Oakes Ames found himself at the center of a massive scandal concerning the railroad’s financing.
Quarrying rock for the monument. Photo file, American Heritage Center.
The monument was designed by Henry Hobson Richardson, famed architect of Trinity Church in Boston, and was Richardson’s only commission west of St. Louis. The monument also features two bas-relief sculptures of the Ames brothers—Oakes on the east side, Oliver on the west—crafted by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, renowned sculptor whose creations include the Robert Gould Shaw memorial on Boston Common, the Parnell Memorial in Dublin, and a $20 double eagle gold piece for the U.S. Mint.
The Norcross Brothers of Worcester, Massachusetts built the monument, employing some 85 workers who lived on site. Workers cut the stone for the pyramid from a granite outcropping common in the area. They then used oxen teams to skid the stone a half-mile to the work site. The rough-faced granite blocks used to construct the monument in many cases weigh several tons. Workers constructed the pyramid near the remote railroad town of town of Sherman, where passengers were encouraged to get off (and look at the pyramid) while the engines were changed. Sherman became a ghost town once the railroad tracks were moved, with nothing left today but crumbling foundations, including those of the roundhouse and turntable.
Ames monument with sightseers and a car. Photo file, American Heritage Center.
Blogger Phil Patton wrote after a visit to the monument in 2009:
“Oliver and Oakes Ames are now largely forgotten by the public, but those few who come across the pyramid are forced to consider their identity. The monument is testimony to the frailty of historical memory—and its power.”
– Leslie Waggener, associate archivist
Courtesy of WyoHistory.org, the National Registry of Historical Places Inventory Nomination form, and Phil Patton
“Jean took the best pictures of me I’ve ever had,” said Marilyn Monroe at one of Gloria Vanderbilt’s celebrity-studded party in the 1950s. Everyone turned to look at the photographer in question, Jean Howard. Former Ziegfeld girl and MGM contract player, Jean Howard had transitioned into photography as a way to capture Hollywood glamor of the 1940s and 1950s. Her superagent husband, Charles Feldman, founder of Famous Artists talent agency, offered her entrée into the homes and private parties of the movie industry’s elite. Jean Howard knew Marilyn Monroe through Feldman, who was Monroe’s agent from 1951 to 1955.
On the 54th anniversary of Marilyn Monroe’s death on August 5, 1962, the AHC commemorates Monroe through the words of Jean Howard, excerpted from the book, Jean Howard’s Hollywood: A Photo Memoir. The AHC houses the papers and photographs of Jean Howard.
“The first time I saw Marilyn Monroe was in my own garden in 1950. She had come to our house with Elia Kazan, who had a business meeting with Charlie Feldman. I was leaving for a lunch date when I spotted her, a lonely little girl sitting by the pool doing nothing. I asked her if she would like something to drink. She softly refused and I went about my business. We met again in 1953 at the Fox studios, where she was making Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and How to Marry a Millionaire.
Several years later in New York, around 1957 or 1958, I asked her if she would come by my East Seventy-Seventh Street studio to sit for photographs. Marilyn willingly accepted. She arrived about an hour and a half late. I had just about given up and started to take down the lights when she rushed in, breathless. Once we got going, Marilyn was as cooperative as any person I have ever photographed.
First she eyed the birdcage that Tony Duquette had given me and simply found her own pose.
American Heritage Center. Jean Howard collection. Box 22, folder 13.
But this was not exactly what I had wanted. Although Marilyn had brought along that little tight-fitting, almost strapless black dress she called her “lucky dress,” I wanted to get away from the stereotyped, sexy shot that I had seen so often. We looked in my closet and came out with my favorite Hattie Carnegie black taffeta jacket. In the photograph that followed, I found the true spirit and soul of that beautiful, gifted girl.
American Heritage Center. Jean Howard collection. Box 22, folder 13.
Sometime later, at a party at Gloria Vanderbilt’s, Marilyn appeared. In her sweet, soft way, she said something that startled me and I’m certain the others: ‘Jean took the best pictures of me I’ve ever had.’”
The personal and professional archive of Jean Howard housed at the AHC is a valuable resource for those who wish to learn about Hollywood celebrity and culture from the 1930 through the 1960s. The major part of the collection consists of Howard’s celebrated photographs, which portray celebrity events and portraits. Also included are biographical materials relating to Howard and her husband, Charles Feldman.
American Heritage Center. Jean Howard collection. Box 22, folder 13.
Excerpted from Jean Howard’s Hollywood: A Photo Memoir, New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1989, p. 226-227.
Discover more about Jean Howard’s remarkable journey from Ziegfeld Girl to Hollywood’s most trusted celebrity photographer in our Virmuze exhibit, “Jean Howard’s Hollywood: ‘The excitement, the glamour, and the good times.’” Through her unique social connections and natural talent, Jean captured intimate moments of stars like Monroe, Greta Garbo, and Grace Kelly during Hollywood’s golden age.
– Leslie Waggener, Associate Archivist
Wyoming’s entry into the Union occurred on July 10, 1890, but not all of our territorial predecessors were enthusiastic in the years leading up to that historic event. Political machinations and ambitions were at play.
Leading the charge for statehood were “Me and FE,” as the Wyoming Territory’s top Republican leaders Joseph M. Carey and Francis E. Warren were collectively named. Carey was a newly minted lawyer when he arrived during Cheyenne’s track-laying days. Before long he became the territory’s U.S. Attorney (1869–1871), associate justice of the Wyoming Territorial Supreme Court (1871–1876), and territorial delegate to the U.S. Congress (1885–1890). Warren’s career was equally stellar. Arriving in Cheyenne at about the same time as Carey, Warren became the city’s merchant prince and went on to serve the Wyoming Territory as governor (1885–1886, 1889–1890). Statehood for these two high-fliers meant the almost sure prospect of national prominence as U.S. Senators, the logical next step in their political careers.
A young Frances E. Warren (image courtesy Wyoming State Archives) (WSA Sub Neg 4101)
Democrats in the territory weren’t blind to the trajectories of Republicans Carey and Warren and responded rather truculently to the push for statehood. The platform of the territorial Democratic Party in October 1888, coolly stated: “On the question of statehood the Democrats, when the proper time arrives, will be found working enthusiastically in the front of the battle, but we do not believe in indulging in any spread eagle blatherskitism.” Wyoming historian T.A. Larson notes that Democratic opposition was not really to statehood itself; rather, their opposition was to a statehood movement led by Me and FE.
A young Joseph Carey (image courtesy Wyoming State Archives) (Sub Neg 15797)
During the 1888 territorial campaign, the noisiest issue was statehood—at least for politicians. The Democratic Cheyenne Leader credibly maintained that the statehood question had not influenced 100 votes either way. With a Republican win, now Governor Francis E. Warren steamrolled statehood forward. In 1888 the Territorial Assembly had sent to the U.S. Congress a petition for admission in the Union. Bills were introduced in both houses of Congress, but did not pass. Undeterred, Governor Warren and others took action as if the “enabling act” had passed. Warren convened a constitutional convention in September 1889, composed of 49 men. As observed by historian Larson, it seems rather odd to have no women appointees at the convention in a territory where much was said about equality of the sexes, but he adds that it’s consistent with Wyoming’s failure to elect any woman to a territorial legislature. The convention quickly pulled together a state constitution, borrowing from the texts of other state constitutions.
Voters approved the constitution November 5, 1889, by a vote of 6,272 to 1,923. Bills for Wyoming statehood were introduced in both the U.S. Senate and House in December 1889. The House passed the bill March 27, 1890. President Benjamin Harrison signed the bill in July, thus making Wyoming the 44th state to enter the Union, with all the benefits (and some said headaches) that this act entailed. Celebrations sprang up in the new state of Wyoming with a plethora of parades, speeches, and music. But there were discouraging words were from the grumpy Cheyenne Leader, which responded to the new status of statehood with “Don’t expect too much.”
Pioneers who came to Wyoming prior to statehood, assembled on the Capitol steps in Cheyenne, July 1940. (WSGA Records, 00014, Box 288, Folder 6)
Material for this post is from the chapter on statehood in T.A. Larson’s History of Wyoming.
– Leslie Waggener, Associate Archivist
“My first flight was in a glider Nov. 1 1911 off a hill south of Twin Peaks in San Francisco which was built by about ten students calling themselves ‘The [Polytechnic] High School Aero Club.’
– extract from “Brief Biography” written by Allan F. Bonnalie, Rear Admiral, USNR (ret.)
San Francisco Polytechnic High School Aero Club, with glider in flight, c. 1911. Cyanotype (Box 77, A.F. Bonnalie papers, Coll. 5859)
Allan Francis Bonnalie was born in Denver in 1893 and grew up in San Francisco. While attending Polytechnic High School in San Francisco, he joined a group of students who built and flew gliders and airplanes. Bonnalie put his experience as a pilot to use in World War I. He joined the U.S. Signal Corps and served with the British Royal Air Force in 1917-1918. He maintained his connection with the military for most of his life. In 1925 he joined the United States Naval Reserve, retiring in 1953 with the rank of rear admiral.
Boeing School of Aeronautics, 1930s (Box 76, A.F. Bonnalie papers, Coll. 5859)
The glider, a Farman type with box tail had a rudimentary undercarriage aelerons, elevator but no rudder. The control surfaces were not adequate so shifting of the weight of the pilot was necessary as well. The glider was somewhat larger and heavier than the ordinary shifting weight control type and was towed aloft by ropes, manned by about 8 of the members…Most flights were made on Saturdays, sometimes Sundays but usually the glider was damaged before the first day was over and it took hours after school the next week to get it ready for use on the following Saturday.”
– extract from “Brief Biography” written by Allan F. Bonnalie, Rear Admiral, USNR (ret.)
Experimental glider constructed at Boeing School of Aeronautics, c. 1931 (Box 76, A.F. Bonnalie papers, Coll. 5859)
Since the commercial aviation industry did not exist when Bonnalie left the Signal Corps, he worked as a mechanical engineer for the Southern Pacific Railroad. He returned to aviation in 1929, when he began work at the Boeing School of Aeronautics. The school, based out of Oakland, California, Airport, designed and built experimental aircraft.
Polytechnic High School Aero Club, San Francisco, with glider on ground. c. 1911, cyanotype (Box 77, A.F. Bonnalie papers, Coll. 5859)
In 1938, Bonnalie joined United Air Lines Flight Operations, Western Division. During World War II he served with the U.S. Navy’s Bureau of Aeronautics. When he rejoined United Airlines in 1945, he became president and general manager of United of Mexico, Lineas Aereas Mexicanas, S.A. (LAMSA). LAMSA was sold by United in 1953 and Bonnalie became director of United’s flight training program in Denver, Colorado, until his retirement in 1958.
Bonnalie as president and general manager fo LAMSA, c. 1950 (Box 74, A.F. Bonnalie papers, Coll. 5859)
Post-retirement, he made several trips overseas for the U.S. Foreign Operations Administration (FOA) to advise foreign governments on aviation matters. Bonnalie also served on United Airlines Pilot System Board of Adjustment to resolve grievances arising from pilot contracts.
Bonnalie in charge of the ground school at the Boeing School of Aeronautics, 1930s (Box 74, A.F. Bonnalie papers, Coll. 5859)
The American heritage Center serves as a research institution for researchers of all kinds. Any given week the reading room is filled with historians writing books to young students working on class projects. For international American Studies graduate student, Constantin Jas, the AHC has become a valuable resource to his studies. Jas took AHC’s Interim Director, Rick Ewig’s, archival methods course this spring. Jas quickly came across the Tim McCoy papers in the Center’s holdings and decided they would make an excellent topic for his research project in Ewig’s class.
“I have loved the genre of Western movies for a long time and when I was studying cultural myths and popular culture of America I even took a whole class on Western movies,” said Jas. “Yet, I have never consciously encountered Tim McCoy or his movies so far. Learning that he had a reputation as being an ‘authentic’ cowboy appeared like the perfect task for a research project as this particular genre, as well the historical era of the Frontier have been highly mystified aspects of American culture. Western movies have created iconic perceptions of how the era of westward expansion has been, but usually these perceptions and images don’t reflect the reality. Tim McCoy, on the other hand, had really experienced the actual conditions in the West as he had been living and working in Wyoming, where he did the actual work of a cowboy.”
Photograph of Tim McCoy on a horse overlooking his ranch in Wyoming, 1930s, University of Wyoming, American Heritage Center, Tim McCoy Collection.
Tim McCoy was a Thermopolis, Wyoming resident and an actor in a number of Western feature films in the early to mid-1900s. The McCoy papers contain various photographs, publicity stills, contracts related to his wild west show and TV appearances, manuscripts for “The Tim McCoy Show,” and much more pertaining to McCoy’s personal and professional life. Jas wrote about the Western perception in general and the realistic aspect of McCoy’s Western persona.
“My research paper focuses on Tim McCoy’s Real Wild West and Rough Riders of the World, his 1938 attempt of putting a realistic Wild West Show together and his 1950 – 1952 children’s television program The Tim McCoy Show, in which he presented anecdotes and tales from real Wild West history. Investigating his life experience combined with his personal research for both formats was a challenging, yet very interesting task and my core finding was that, while possibly guilty of mystifying the days of the Old West a little bit himself, McCoy indeed succeeded in making realistic Wild West entertainment.
Tim McCoy in shooting position on horseback. University of Wyoming, American Heritage Center, Tim McCoy Collection.
Unlike many sensationalist and stereotypical Western formats, however, it must be stated that large numbers of audiences, back then as well as today, do not seem to have much interest in how the Wild West really was. They seem to prefer stereotypical sensationalism.”
Jas’ research at the AHC ended up being inspirational to him, and he plans to dive even more into the Tim McCoy papers during work on his master’s thesis next year.
“Atomic batteries to power! Turbines to speed!”
On January 13, 1966, Batman and Robin faced off against the Riddler in the televised premiere of Batman on ABC. The day after the first episode, the New York Times stated “Bob Kane’s heroes of the comic strip came to television last night as real people, and it looks as if the American Broadcasting Company has something going for it.” The Los Angeles Times wrote that Batman and Robin “have become new high priests of Camp.” Many Hollywood actors wanted to become villains for the show. The most well-known and most used villains in the program were Burgess Meredith as The Penguin, Cesar Romero as The Joker, Julie Newmar as Catwoman, and Frank Gorshin as The Riddler.
Catwoman (Julie Newmar) kneeling over Batman (Adam West) tied to a giant mousetrap in the episode “That Darn Catwoman.” William Dozier Papers, American Heritage Center.
The papers of William Dozier, the executive producer of the Batman television series, are held at the American Heritage Center. Born 1908 in Omaha Nebraska, Dozier started out as a writer in Hollywood during the 1930s and 1940s. In the 1950s he worked for CBS and produced shows such as Danger, a dramatic anthology show which ran from 1950 to 1955, and which starred such luminaries as James Dean, Jack Lemmon, Carroll Baker, Grace Kelly, and Paul Newman.
In 1964, Dozier founded Greenway Productions, which went on to produce such shows as The Loner starring Lloyd Bridges and The Tammy Grimes Show. Of course, Dozier’s best known show is Batman, starring Adam West and Burt Ward. The show ran for two-and-one-half years and became a cultural phenomenon.
In November 2014 all 120 episodes of the television series were finally released on remastered Blu-ray and DVD. The long delay was due to the split ownership of the series. Rights were held by the creator and producer of the series William Dozier, DC Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox, and Warner Brothers. It wasn’t until John Stacks, who began selling model kits of the characters in Batman in 1998 and was then told by DC to stop and desist with his efforts, that he began researching the William Dozier Papers here at the American Heritage Center which then led to what wired.com described as the series escaping “legal purgatory.”
Stacks began researching the Dozier papers for own reasons, but the documents he uncovered and passed along to the Dozier family proved “to be pivotal to bring Batman to home video.” Eventually, Fox became sole owner of the series and agreed that Warner Home Video would be the distributor of the DVD and Blu-ray set. Stacks did not benefit in any way from the release of the video.
Catwoman (Julie Newmar) kneeling over Batman (Adam West) tied to a giant mousetrap in the episode “That Darn Catwoman.” William Dozier Papers, American Heritage Center.
William Dozier donated his papers to the AHC during the 1980s. The collection includes materials relating to Dozier’s production of television programs with Greenway Productions and other television studios and companies. There are scripts, budgets, cast lists, fan mail, photographs, posters, production reports, shooting schedules, story outlines, titles and credits for mainly “Batman” and for other television programs. Also included is correspondence with actors and others involved in Dozier’s productions, with Lorenzo Semple (Batman writer) and Erle Stanley Gardner (Perry Mason writer). There are related legal documents, memos, notebooks, speeches and articles by Dozier. The inventory of the collection is available here.
Image of the Boeing 707-349C flown on the Rockwell Polar Flight. From the Anderson Bakewell collection, American Heritage Center.
On November 14, 1965, the Rockwell Polar Flight began what has often been described as the last of the great firsts in polar travel. It was the first round-the-world flight to pass over both the North and South Pole, establishing eight world records for jet transports along the way. The American Heritage Center houses the Anderson Bakewell papers which contain many documents about the Polar Flight.
Image of the Boeing 707-349C flown on the Rockwell Polar Flight. From the Anderson Bakewell collection, American Heritage Center.
Anderson Bakewell (1913-1999) was a Jesuit priest who served communities in India, Maryland, Alaska and New Mexico. During his life, Bakewell gained fame as an explorer. Before joining the Society of Jesus, he lived in South America for several years collecting specimens of rare reptiles, mammals and flora. The “adventure priest” took part in many expeditions, many of them documented in photographs and film in his papers including slides taken during trips to Alaska and Yukon Territory, and a film of “Trek to Everest”. He had advanced degrees in astronomy, mathematics and philosophy, and these studies fed his exploration trips.
He was listed as an official observer on the Polar Flight, saying a prayer at the beginning and end of each flight and a special world prayer as the plane flew over the South Pole and each of these prayers is documented in the papers. Also included are details about the flight including the navigation record, maps of the journey and newspaper clippings about the expedition. The flight began in Honolulu, flying over the North Pole to London. After an unscheduled fueling stop in Lisbon, they flew to Buenos Aires before passing over the South Pole on the way to Christchurch and the final leg back to Honolulu. Total flying time clocked in at 51 hours and 20 minutes.
Map of the Rockwell Polar Flight. From the Anderson Bakewell collection, American Heritage Center.
Upon completion of the trip, Anderson Bakewell sent a crucifix that he had carried with him throughout the trip with a prayer that “truly the world may resound from Pole to Pole with one cry, “Praise to the heart that wrought our salvation.”” An inventory of the Anderson Bakewell Papers can be found here.
-Chido Muchemwa, Graduate Assistant
