Lucielle Belmont, Balloonist and Parachutist Scrapbook

Lucielle Belmont Baldwin Rutshaw (1887--1961) was a balloonist and parachutist who performed solo balloon ascensions and parachute drops as an entertainer at county fairs and exhibitions all over the United States and Canada in the years from 1912 to the early 1920s. This collection consists mainly of a scrapbook documenting her career.

Lucielle Belmont Baldwin Rutshaw (1887--1961) was a balloonist and parachutist who performed solo balloon ascensions and parachute drops as an entertainer at county fairs and exhibitions all over the United States and Canada in the years from 1912 to the early 1920s. Belmont was sometimes billed as part of the "Famous Belmont Sisters" with sisters Mabel and Cleo, and was managed for at least part of her career by Robinson Attractions in Chicago, Illinois. Belmont was known for triple and sometimes quadruple jumps where she cut loose from one parachute then opened another one multiple times. After her marriage to C. C. Baldwin, Belmont sometimes appeared as Lucielle Belmont Baldwin and under this name she was granted License for Flying Civilian Aircraft no. 375 (to operate a hot air balloon) on April 9, 1918 by the Joint Army and Navy Board on Aeronautic Cognizance. Since she made her first solo balloon ascent, including a parachute jump, on August 14, 1912, Lucielle qualified for membership in the Early Birds of Aviation and she joined that organization with her married name from her second marriage, Lucielle Rutshaw.