TIGHAR
Amelia Earhart Search Forum => General discussion => Topic started by: Ric Gillespie on February 27, 2016, 08:28:25 AM
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Forum research for the Electra book has been fantastic but the wealth of information we've uncovered and documented is scattered all over the place. "Topic-creep" is inevitable and we all tend to color outside the lines. We lose track of what we've learned and we forget where we put stuff. We need a Master Timeline that tracks the airplane and the major players literally day-to-day from the aircraft's inception to it's disappearance. The timeline will, of course, need to include sources (official documents, letters, newspaper articles, photos, original photo captions, etc.). Everyone working on this project will need to have access to the Master Timeline and be able to offer updates, corrections, and additions. I'm not sure what format or medium is best to accomplish this but a Master Timeline is essential for designing and writing the book.
Suggestions?
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I was just thinking about this last night.
Perhaps some kind of Calendar utility program where each day can be opened and events, photos, etc. could be added by interested parties. Click on the day and you get to see, in chronological order the what, where and when for that day. Maybe a diary format where each day can be opened.
It would be hard to keep multiple entries on the same event from appearing in the same day so someone would have to review the entries before they get pasted permanently to the 'day' block. Guess that means you Ric :)
Another option would be just a straight line graph divided into days. Click on the day and you see the what, where and when etc. It might be easier to track from a linear standpoint but would take more room in any kind of forum display. If I would do it without a computer I'd tack up long strips of butcher paper on a corkboard wall, mark off the days and start tacking stuff up, sort of like a storyboard for a film. The advantage to this, to me anyway, is that you get to see the whole thing at a glance, then decide what you want to zoom-in on to study or modify. Somehow I don't see Pat letting you run butcher paper throughout the house ;D Maybe someone knows of a program like that.
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I'd go looking for a useful software product for timelines. Key to such a search is to know exactly how your requirements for collecting and displaying historical information differ from the requirements of other applications (such as project management, Gantt charts, genealogy, etc.).
Some software will be marketed as one-stop products that can do it all -- I'd beware of these. Your needs are different from (although related to) those of an author of a book on royal genealogy, and quite different from those of a project manager laying out a construction project for a hands-on customer like a certain real-estate mogul in the national news these days. Other timeline software seems to be tailored to being integrated with specific publishing products (like PowerPoint) -- I'd beware of these, since such coupling can box you into a combination that lacks versatility in meeting your needs.
After entering in "timeline software" into the dialog box for a search engine, the various suggestions of other search terms to flesh out your search can be quite enlightening and helpful. I won't name the products in this post, but when I did such a search this morning, out popped quite a list of products -- some freeware, and some with a pricetag.
Delving into the marketing/sales literature for a set of likely products can assist in your coming up with what the actual requirements are for your specific application. After compiling such a list of your requirements (with some metric as to how important each requirement is), and ranking these for a list of potential software products, it should be a straight-forward task of homing in on a product that best suits your needs.
Certain requirements come to my mind: ease of entering textual info, graphical info, and links to online resources, and scanning of source documents, along with ways to tag each entry with relevant dates and subjects -- exact dates or approximate timespan or yet-unknown; finding heretofore unrecognized ties between various items entered via the subject tags; display of a timeline in a variety of formats -- from a text-oriented summary that aids in refining the placement of items with yet-unknown positions in time, up to a rich variety of final timeline forms that lead to visually compelling output for final publication.
Certainly there should be publishers of historical books and periodicals who can suggest candidate tools to you, or hook you up with authors who have already been down that road.
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I suggest using Excel, unless or until you reach a point where Excel is inadequate.
Here's a possible setup: an Excel workbook with a sheet for each person or item being tracked. The first tab could be for the Electra, another for Amelia, one for Paul Mantz, for George Putnam, etc.
Each column is a day. So the sheet for the Electra would have a column for August 2, 1936, and you would note there that on that day Earhart and McLeod flew to Mills Field. The column for August 18 would show that the Bureau of Air Commerce issued the aircraft a license as R16020.
The sheets for Earhart, Bo McNeely, and everyone else would contain all that you know about their whereabouts and activities each day, along with photos, maps, and links.
Excel can store text, graphics, and hyperlinks. You can also link to another location in the workbook.
One big advantage of using Excel: you can start today. (I'm presuming TIGHAR has a copy of MS Office.) You don't need to evaluate, purchase, and install specialty software to get started.
If you use Excel and eventually decide that you need some functionality that Excel doesn't have, you'll be in a better position to choose a product. You'll know exactly what you need to do that Excel won't do, and you can evaluate products with that in mind.
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I'd go looking for a useful software product for timelines.
I played around with Timeline (http://thetimelineproj.sourceforge.net/screenshots.html) back in 2012.
I don't have a working demo from what I was working on then.
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I agree with Brian on the use of EXCEL. I have also used the GOOGLE clone (https://www.google.com/sheets/about/)in tandem on line with great success (free use too). The spreadsheets are interchangeable between EXCEL & GOOGLE and the GOOGLE version is on-line and can be controlled for access by email address for 'read only' or 'Edit' functions. I have setup a basic project timeline on GOOGLE, allowed supervisors to update status and done a COPY / PASTE (save as) to my personal master schedule in EXCEL on my PC where I can make corrections, edit and update and then, when appropriate, upload back to a MASTER GOOGLE sheet so that it is 'read only' and visible to those I have given access.
That would give you the ability to allow people of your choosing to provide the information independent of the FORUM and the security to preserve the integrity of your manuscript.
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I agree with Brian on the use of EXCEL. I have also used the GOOGLE clone (https://www.google.com/sheets/about/)in tandem on line with great success (free use too).
Yes, spreadsheets are very powerful.
They are great at sorting by date and time.
Large blobs of text can be held in them.
If you use a spreadsheet and force yourself to be consistent in categorizing data by using new fields, what is in the spreadsheet can be parsed and translated into any other kind of database.
And it is familiar "technology." No need to climb the whole learning curve of a different database system.
"How to make a timeline in Excel." (https://www.officetimeline.com/excel-timeline)
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A spreadsheet does seem to be the way to go. We're presently working up a prototype. We'll test fly it here (with an "X" registration number) when we have something that looks ready to fly.
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Here's a first cut at how the MASTER TIMELINE spreadsheet will look.
• There will be a row for each day starting on July 19 1936 - the day the airplane was first inspected by the Bureau of Air Commerce - and ending on July 2, 1937 - the day the airplane disappeared.
• There will be three sheets. One for the airplane structure, one for the radios, and one for Earhart.
• For each day and each sheet there will be a field for:
- Location
- Event (this will be a brief notation that is a link to a full description of the event in Word)
- Photo (links to a photo or photos that show the airplane on that day)
- Document (links to documents, letters, or newspaper clippings relative to that day)
- By (the initials of the person who made the entry)
- Date (the day the entry was made or amended)
- Remarks (for example: photo credits or researcher acknowledgement)
The event descriptions, photos and documents have to be somewhere we can link to, so they will be archived on the TIGHAR website. Links to newspaper clippings will go directly to the on-line source if the on-line archive seems to be durable.
We're not yet sure where and how the spreadsheet will be stored. We'd like it to be viewable by everyone so that any TIGHAR member who is registered to post to the Forum can do needed research and post suggested additions or changes to the spreadsheet. To avoid chaos, only a few selected researchers will have the ability to make changes and additions to the spreadsheet.
Thoughts? Recommendations?
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There should be enough time allowed for radio transmissions and other known events, connected to the flight, after the flight went down.
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There should be enough time allowed for radio transmissions and other known events, connected to the flight, after the flight went down.
Different subject. This is a mechanism for organizing research for the new TIGHAR book "Finding Amelia - The True Story of the Earhart Electra."
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I'm not an expert (some of the people I worked with are), but I believe Google Drive has the functionality you're looking for, as regards to being able to share with only certain people, and to allow only certain people to make changes.
LTM,
Monty Fowler, TIGHAR No. 2189 EC
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Thoughts? Recommendations?
The date/time data is critical.
It must be reduced to the same format so that you can pull the information from all three
worksheets into a common timeline.
Pick a style, any style, and be very rigid in forcing all date/time information to fit the style. Then you can convert to any other time/date system you want relatively easily.
Every entry in the spreadsheets should have date/time information, even if 10 or 20 lines all have the same date and time. You are entering the data so that a totally obedient moron (TOM, a.k.a. "a computer") can extract the information and display it in its proper chronological sequence. We can see that everything is from the same day by reading headlines or seeing things in bold, but the computer cannot. Each piece of information has to be individually marked so that it gets slotted into its proper place on the timelines that you construct from the spreadsheets.
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Different subject. This is a mechanism for organizing research for the new TIGHAR book "Finding Amelia - The True Story of the Earhart Electra."
The book is certainly a highly worthy first priority. I hope by working the bugs out of it for the book there will eventually come time and effort available to expand it to include the entire Fred and Amelia project.
Diane
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Pick a style, any style, and be very rigid in forcing all date/time information to fit the style. Then you can convert to any other time/date system you want relatively easily.
Okay. Got that. In most cases we'll have date information. In some cases we'll only have a range of dates (for example: this piece of equipment was installed some time between this date and that date). Time of day information is largely unavailable or irrelevant. We don't really need to know whether Earhart gave her talk at a luncheon or a dinner.
Every entry in the spreadsheets should have date/time information, even if 10 or 20 lines all have the same date and time.
... Each piece of information has to be individually marked so that it gets slotted into its proper place on the timelines that you construct from the spreadsheets.
Maybe I'm missing something but I've been thinking that the spreadsheet IS the timeline. In writing the book I plan to use it my primary guide to:
- what was done
- when it was done
- and, if possible, why it was done
I'm hoping that by tracking Earhart's movements during the year, in parallel to the evolution of the airplane, we'll get a better feel for how much of her time was devoted to planning, preparing, and training for the world flight versus time spent in other activities (lecture tours, press events, political events, etc.). As far as I know, nobody has ever looked at the last year of Earhart's life from this perspective.
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I hope by working the bugs out of it for the book there will eventually come time and effort available to expand it to include the entire Fred and Amelia project.
This should be a good project for testing and developing this way of organizing Forum research. The subject is narrowly focused on the airplane so we're not trying to weave multiple threads as I had to do in Finding Amelia -The True Story of the Earhart Disappearance. The next book in the trilogy, Finding Amelia -The Castaway of Gardner Island will have to tell both Amelia's story and TIGHAR's story, two chronologies separated by more than half a century that will have to be woven together into a coherent narrative. I'm going to need all the help I can get.
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Ric,
Looks like you have 3 timelines for data entry/collection, the ‘Plane’, the ‘Radio’ and ‘Earhart’ with the date format defined (forced) in each cell.
If you want to see all 3 sheets combined you can color code each one, then copy/paste into one spreadsheet and sort the data (ie: date) in ascending or descending order.
I am no expert either but I have used this program to track training & qualification records for several thousand people with relative ease over a 9 year period. You should end up with about 1150 combined date entries, assuming one date for each of the 3 spreadsheets. If you need help, let me know, email or phone works.
Just keep a backup copy of your Master entries in case something goes haywire.
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Okay. Got that. In most cases we'll have date information. In some cases we'll only have a range of dates (for example: this piece of equipment was installed some time between this date and that date). Time of day information is largely unavailable or irrelevant. We don't really need to know whether Earhart gave her talk at a luncheon or a dinner.
OK. So keep two columns: start-date and end-date.
If they are identical, they will appear in your timeline as lasting for just one day.
Maybe I'm missing something but I've been thinking that the spreadsheet IS the timeline.
Yes it is, from the standpoint of being a precise record associating events with dates.
But you can "graph" the information contained in the workbook so that you see a graphic timeline.
"How to Make a Timeline in Excel Using a Template" (https://www.smartsheet.com/blog/how-make-excel-timeline-template)
I'm hoping that by tracking Earhart's movements during the year, in parallel to the evolution of the airplane, we'll get a better feel for how much of her time was devoted to planning, preparing, and training for the world flight versus time spent in other activities (lecture tours, press events, political events, etc.). As far as I know, nobody has ever looked at the last year of Earhart's life from this perspective.
I'm looking forward to reading the book!
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Starting the timeline on July 2, 1936, would provide a nice symmetry. Around the first of July '36 GP's mother had just died and the funeral was being arranged. Soon after that the Mantz divorce proceedings were in the news. So, plenty of other preoccupations during July before delivery of the plane.
On July 2nd and 3rd a photo of AE atop the partially-assembled (partially skinned, no wings or engines) Electra was published in several newspapers, it could be a good image to anchor the beginning of the timeline. Resolution and contrast of the image varies among papers but is generally poor. (If TIGHAR has a better print, it includes a good look at the "patch" area ...).
Delivery of the plane on July 21st at United Airport and first hop to Las Vegas and back that day with E.C. McLeod was reported in several papers.
Dan Brown, #2408
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Since this is about timelines, I think it's important to keep another timeline in mind - the one leading towards completion.
I know - and totally get - the argument that it's tough to know when to quit gathering data and info and pictures and documents, and declare that part done, now on to the writing, but as Ric just said, this book is much more narrowly focused and so deciding when "enough" is in fact enough should be much more straightforward. We also have to be aware that this is a group effort, with a lot of people coming forward with their own time, money, and research findings, in expectation that the finished project they are working towards will be delivered in a timely manner.
And that's all I've got to say about that.
LTM,
Monty Fowler, TIGHAR No. 2189 EC
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Starting the timeline on July 2, 1936, would provide a nice symmetry.
Good point well made. We will make it so.
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We also have to be aware that this is a group effort, with a lot of people coming forward with their own time, money, and research findings, in expectation that the finished project they are working towards will be delivered in a timely manner.
That is true of everything TIGHAR does. The concept of "timely" depends entirely upon the resources we're able to devote. I love this stuff. If I had the option I would spend all day every day working on this book. Instead, I have to devote time to promoting the Literary Guild, seeking sponsors for Niku IX, building the membership base, and organizing other TIGHAR initiatives.
And that's all I've got to say about that.
Good.
By the way, Pat's responsibilities with regard to the book are every bit as arduous and time consuming as the research and the writing. She handles all of the layout and artwork. For every major iteration of the aircraft she'll produce full color illustrations just as she did for the Harney Drawings. In that case she started with Bill Harney's line drawings which he donated to TIGHAR when his model of the Electra was completed. We had the drawings digitized and Pat converted them into full color illustrations - a huge project that took two years. Bill's drawings rendered the airplane as it was in its final iteration. Pat will build on her previous work to create new illustrations that depict the aircraft as it was when it was delivered and at subsequent stages in its evolution.
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We also have to be aware that this is a group effort, with a lot of people coming forward with their own time, money, and research findings, in expectation that the finished project they are working towards will be delivered in a timely manner.
That is true of everything TIGHAR does. The concept of "timely" depends entirely upon the resources we're able to devote. I love this stuff. If I had the option I would spend all day every day working on this book. Instead, I have to devote time to promoting the Literary Guild, seeking sponsors for Niku IX, building the membership base, and organizing other TIGHAR initiatives.
And that's all I've got to say about that.
We had the drawings digitized and Pat converted them into full color illustrations - a huge project that took two years. Bill's drawings rendered the airplane as it was in its final iteration. Pat will build on her previous work to create new illustrations that depict the aircraft as it was when it was delivered and at subsequent stages in its evolution.
Pat’s illustrations are very well done. I look forward to the book.
My father wrote a series of 3 history books (originally intended to be one text book). His students, including myself, did some of the field research and it took decades.
I’m reminded of a quote my father used to repeat.
“When will you make it end?" "When I'm finished." Pope Julius II, and Michelangelo - The Agony and the Esctasy
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We're going to use Google Docs for the Master Timeline and we're ready for the first test.
We want everyone to be able to read and use the interactive timeline. The link below should take you to the blank prototype. The timeline does not yet have any entries or internal links to photos or documents. We'll get to that, but first we want to be sure you can get to the document. You'll probably need to have a Google Account but it's free and easy if you don't already have one. Let me know how you make out.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/19Sc5pG3ag7tRJLWI7axnoNrkIxJvjCMoM3VPDazaJY0/edit?usp=sharing
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Success, I'm in the Master Timeline. Looks good.
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I'm in. Looks good. Can't wait to see it filled-in.
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Displayed immediately. Now to populate the blanks...!
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Yes. Loads right away. No issues.
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So far so good. Next test.
I've loaded a link in the "aircraft" sheet entry for May 19, 1937. See if it works.
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Logged in. Don't see anything for that date (or any other).
Is it possible to make the link to get into the timeline a button on the Forum page that only show-up when you're logged-in?
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I didn't get link either.
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The link is under June 19, not May 19.
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The link is under June 19, not May 19.
Gaaah! Sorry. My bad. I've now moved it to May 19.
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Got it. May 19.
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Yep, it's there.
Have fun with the rest :D
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Works for me. They fixed something in Burbank on that day. :)
Diane
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Okay, I think we're in business. Let's get started. Taking the advice of Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, "It's always best to start at the beginning. And all you do is follow the Yellow Brick Road."
Our Yellow Brick Road starts on July 2, 1936. Dan Brown's post (http://tighar.org/smf/index.php/topic,1847.msg40271.html#msg40271) has good suggestions for July 2 and 3, 1936.
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Okay, I think we're in business. Let's get started. Taking the advice of Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, "It's always best to start at the beginning. And all you do is follow the Yellow Brick Road."
Our Yellow Brick Road starts on July 2, 1936. Dan Brown's post (http://tighar.org/smf/index.php/topic,1847.msg40271.html#msg40271) has good suggestions for July 2 and 3, 1936.
Note for timeline editors:
If you need to insert a new line in order to capture more than one event on the same date, please use the date function to do so.
So, for example, if there are extra events to add for 2 July 1936, insert a new line in the spreadsheet.
Then put this in the date column:
=DATE(1936,7,2)
The order of parameters is year, month, day.
You may, of course copy the date function from the existing line.
Please do not type something like "Friday, July 3, 1936."
Although it is perfectly readable to a human being, it is not in the best format for the computer to understand it as a date.
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We're now working out the logistics of how to organize and store photos and documents on the TIGHAR website so that they can be linked to the timeline. I'm hoping we'll have a complete entry for July 2, 1936 ready for everyone to test later today.
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New plan. As we got into implementing the links in Google Docs spreadsheet we discovered that it was unnecessarily complicated, labor intensive, and clugey for what we want to accomplish. At Marty's suggestion we went back to the drawing board and came up with a new format that is simple, flexible, and easy to use. Basically it's a Microsoft Word document in Google docs with embedded photos and links. Take a look at July 2, 1936 and let us know what you think.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EWWg4KlVwc0s07Fv6MLoiWORRe-pAJI1ZPBpQ_raux0/edit?usp=sharing
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Got it fine. Only suggestion I'd make is to somehow put each days date in the contents so you don't have to scroll down through everything to get to a specific date. Links all work great.
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Only suggestion I'd make is to somehow put each days date in the contents so you don't have to scroll down through everything to get to a specific date.
You can hit Command F and search for any date, word or phrase.
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Looks good and Links work great. Thanks for including us in the process.
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Got it fine. Only suggestion I'd make is to somehow put each days date in the contents so you don't have to scroll down through everything to get to a specific date. Links all work great.
A Table of Contents with 365 entries in it would be pretty unpleasant, to my taste.
What I suggest is that, as time goes on, when someone sees useful groupings, they might be named and dated in the table of
contents. Eventually, the meaningful chapter titles would supplant the month headings.
"In the East, 2 July to 11 August 1936"
"First around the world attempt ..."
"Back to Burbank"
"Second around the world attempt ..."
Which reminds me: I've already got a "Timeline of the second round-the-world attempt" (http://tighar.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_second_round-the-world_attempt)already roughed out on the wiki. I guess I could break that up into pieces for the Google doc.
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What I suggest is that, as time goes on, when someone sees useful groupings, they might be named and dated in the table of
contents. Eventually, the meaningful chapter titles would supplant the month headings.
"In the East, 2 July to 11 August 1936"
"First around the world attempt ..."
"Back to Burbank"
"Second around the world attempt ..."
Good idea.
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I like it much better that the spreadsheet. It's almost like the book is writing itself. . . .!
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It's almost like the book is writing itself. . . .!
Think of the timeline as scripture. I still have to write the sermon.
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I don't think that's an appropriate analogy, Ric. This is not a cult, and you are not a religious figure.
LTM,
Monty Fowler, TIGHAR No. 2189 EC
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I don't think that's an appropriate analogy, Ric. This is not a cult, and you are not a religious figure.
Lighten up.
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I don't think that's an appropriate analogy, Ric. This is not a cult, and you are not a religious figure.
I am a Roman Catholic priest.
I have a BA in English, a Master's in Philosophy, and a Ph.D. in Systematic Theology.
I am a full Professor in a Jesuit College.
I can read Biblical Hebrew, New Testament Greek, French, Spanish, German, Italian, and Russian (OK, very slowly, and with lots of help, but I know the grammar and syntax of the languages well enough to see what is going on).
Ric used an analogy.
If anyone ever said, "My love is like a red, red rose," the intelligent listener ought to think of the woman's beauty which, like the rose, flourishes in due season and then fades. The intelligent audience would never suppose that the love in question had green leaves, red flower petals, and thorns.
It's not hard to follow Ric's analogy. Although I am a religious believer who honors Sacred Scripture and who preaches regularly, I do not feel offended in any way by the comparison.
Of course other analogies are possible. Ric could compare what he is doing to a lawyer preparing for a trial.
Timeline: information to be processed. One might call these "the facts."
Book: expression of insights into the meaning of the information. One might call this "the case."
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We have added Dan Brown as an editor to the timeline. Dan and I have been making some additions in July 1936 you may want to check out.
We're still just getting started with building this timeline but we're already learning things we never knew and confirming things we have only suspected.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EWWg4KlVwc0s07Fv6MLoiWORRe-pAJI1ZPBpQ_raux0/edit#
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I made bunch of entries on the timeline today. So far we have information entered for:
2 July 1936
15 July 1936
19 July 1936
20 July 1936
21 July 1936
22 July 1936
23 July 1936
24 July 1936
27 July 1936
2 August 1936
3 August 1936
5 August 1936
7 August 1936
8 August 1936
9 August 1936
19 August 1936
20 August 1936
29 August 1936
30 August 1936
31 August 1936
18 September 1936
19 September 1936
29 September 1936
7 November 1936
10 November 1936
12 November 1936
14 November 1936
19 November 1936
22 November 1936
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I made bunch of entries on the timeline today. So far we have information entered for:
2 July 1936
15 July 1936
19 July 1936
20 July 1936
21 July 1936
22 July 1936
23 July 1936
24 July 1936
27 July 1936
2 August 1936
3 August 1936
5 August 1936
7 August 1936
8 August 1936
9 August 1936
19 August 1936
20 August 1936
29 August 1936
30 August 1936
31 August 1936
18 September 1936
19 September 1936
29 September 1936
7 November 1936
10 November 1936
12 November 1936
14 November 1936
19 November 1936
22 November 1936
I worked on the other end: Second Round-the-World Attempt, 20 May to July 1937
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Jimmie Mattern with Amelia, inspecting some component.....did he test fly the Electra? Timeline?
http://www.yesteryearessentials.com/products/j-h-washburn-amelia-earhart-picture
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Jimmie Mattern with Amelia, inspecting some component.....did he test fly the Electra? Timeline?
That's an interesting photo but it is misrepresented. Can you spot the problem?
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If that is the top hatch into the cockpit , then it is it's later position,..... hinge on centerline, instead of over the port window. I can't see enough of plane to tell if it is the Electra.
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If it is the top hatch into the cockpit, then it is the later position, hinge on centerline, instead of over the port window. I can't see enough of plane to tell if it is the Electra.
That's right. As far as I know, the Electra was the only aircraft that had a hatch like that and Earhart's was the only Electra to have a reversed hatch.
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Although a much later aircraft, the A-26 Invader had a similar arrangement -- opening outwards.
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Ric, are you familiar with this photo? (I almost assume you are, just checking to be sure).
Apparently taken during lunch on an airfield in Venezuela.
Guido
Tighar# 4814R
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Ric, are you familiar with this photo? (I almost assume you are, just checking to be sure).
Apparently taken during lunch on an airfield in Venezuela.
Yes, I've seen. Not terribly flattering of Fed.
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I put these maps together as a way of keeping straight the three trips Earhart made to the East Coast with the Electra.
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Almost 4 years ago TIGHAR researchers started a project to determine the locations of AE and NR16020, including its equipment and modifications, daily over the period from 2 July 1936 to 2 July 1937. The evidence came mainly from newspaper archival databases, especially ProQuest.com and NewspaperArchive.com, and from thousands of photographs discoverable through Google image searches.
The current (January 2020) working version is here as a read-only Google Document:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EWWg4KlVwc0s07Fv6MLoiWORRe-pAJI1ZPBpQ_raux0/edit?usp=sharing
This is still a work in progress. Most of the images are believed to be placed correctly. A very small number are best guesses based on clues in the image (someone’s personal appearance, clothes, hair). A few are intentionally shown out of chronological order to provide supplemental context for other images or events.
It was surprising how all but a few weeks of AE’s daily life could be reconstructed from the public record, and how a visually coherent account emerged when all of those random photographs were placed in chronological order.
Gaps remain to be filled. We are especially interested in additional documentation of daily events during December 1936 through February 1937, and more details are needed regarding Harry Manning’s presence February-March 1937. I’d really like to know exactly when and where the airframe exterior photo posted 19 July 1936 was taken.
Notes: The document scrolls smoothly in Firefox, other browsers may differ. This is not intended to be a comprehensive collection of all images of AE so those that are not informative regarding the locations of AE or NR16020 or its equipment and modifications are excluded. “Online Newspaper Archives” indicates that multiple local newspapers reprinted articles as members of the Associated Press, United Press, Independent News Service, etc. syndicates. This TIGHAR document is for research purposes only, all images may be subject to copyright.
Dan Brown, #2408
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I wonder if AE attended FDR’s second inauguration which was on Jan 20, 1937, that might account for some of the open January period. She attended the previous one in 1933, that is pretty well documented and she did help campaign for him in the fall of 1936 . I have done a quick search and have not found any thing but I don’t have access to any newspaper archives.
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I wonder if AE attended FDR’s second inauguration which was on Jan 20, 1937, that might account for some of the open January period.
Earhart seems to have been in California throughout January. From newspaper clippings it looks like she was doing speaking engagements in the first week of January. On January 4 she and Mantz had the airplane at Mills Field in San Francisco when an engine back-fire started a fire the could have been serious, but Mantz and others got it put out before any serious damage was done. On January 8 AE gave a talk at Claremont College. In late January she was in Los Angeles coyly denying rumors that she would undertake a world flight. I've added newspaper clippings to the timeline.
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In the Purdue archive there are navigation aids drawn by Clarence Williams (who also helped her plan the navigation for her 1935 flight to Hawaii) dated between January 12 1937 and mid February for the first world flight plan. I have not been able to find a date when she visited him (I believe he was based in California), but there is one photo ( below) of AE with Williams and Manning which would likely date from late January to mid February 1937. Edit: Looking at the pictures on the wall and some other photos in the Purdue archive and I think that this photo was taken at the Earhart/Putnam home, so it is more likely Williams visited them there during this time period.
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What’s with Amelia's right hand? Shadows?
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About the airframe exterior photo from July 16, 1936.
The photo you show of the Turkey Crossing plant is very similar to one ( see below) I found on this page (http://www.airfields-freeman.com/CA/Airfields_CA_SanFernan.htm#lockheedb1) which it dates to 1930. This page also shows picture of the plant in 1939 after much expansion which has some buildings that might match those in the airframe exterior photo. It just depends if the plant was expanded by 1936.
Not related to AE but the plant was camouflaged very effectively during WWII using canvas with help from Disney