“I am without identity”: Restoring the Names of Pioneering Women Aeronauts

In June of 2021, in support of the Museum’s commitment to Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion (DEAI), the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) Archives began a project to update files within the NASM Technical Reference Files to research and restore the complete identities of women aviation pioneers whose names were incomplete in our system.

The NASM Technical Reference Files (Accession XXXX-1183), or what we refer to as the “Tech Files,” has the distinction of being both the largest and the most used of our physical archival collections.  It holds more than 1,900 cubic feet of aviation and space related materials, organized in 22 subjects, with the Biographical Files constituting a major series. These materials include photographs, clippings, correspondence, and other material and the titles of individual files are used as subject headings across all of our collections.

Upon initial review, we found 38 individuals who were identified by the title “Mrs.” (along with their husband’s name), three identified as “Madame,” two “Mothers,” and one “Miss.” In some cases, the honorific served as something of a cross-reference, as in the case of “Goddard, Esther C. Kisk (Mrs Robert H.).” In other cases, however, a woman’s accomplishments might be found in a file bearing a name such as “Van Deman (Mrs)” or “Hubbard, J. C. (Mrs),” with the contents of those files shedding little light on their subjects’ full identities. As we strive to make our subject headings and files as accurate and accessible as possible, we were delighted to be able to restore the full names of these women in our files, and in the process re-visit their lives and careers. 

For example, Maude Rose Rubens "Lores" Bonney had been previously listed in our files as “Bonney, Lores ‘Harry’ [Mrs].”  Bonney was a South African-born Australian and was the first woman to fly solo from Australia to England and made the first flight from Australia to South Africa.

Sarah McCune Rice Van Deman (previously listed in our files as, “Van Deman [Mrs]), a friend of the Wright brothers through their sister, Katharine, became the first woman to be an airplane passenger in the United States in 1909 when she ascended with Wilbur Wright from College Park, Maryland.

In some cases, an aeronaut might appear using an assumed or incomplete name for professional or other reasons, such as French parachutist Germaine Granveaud.  The photograph presented here of Granveaud bears the caption, “Miss Germaine, a pseudonym under which one of the most elegant young women goes in order to denote herself, unmolested, to aviation."  Another parachutist, the American Lucy Alice Huonker, also performed under a pseudonym, as “Madame Zeno.”

Unfortunately, not all the files found in the Tech Files contain enough information to identify their subject.  In cases where we cannot yet identify these individuals, their folders’ contents have been transferred to files with a broader scope, such as “Women in Aviation, 1930s” or “Women in Aviation, 1940s,” as appropriate.  One such individual is “Mrs. Richard Granger,” who, despite being described as holding a private pilot’s license, a radio telegraph operator’s license, and membership in the Civil Air Patrol, remains something of a mystery.  A clipping in her file ironically detailed the loss of identification papers by the pilot while visiting New York, “I am without identity,” she is quoted, “Without those credentials I feel as if I’m sitting in a chair somewhere off in space.”

In some cases, a pilot’s accomplishments are so distinctive or important that it behooves us to maintain a file, even under a partial name.  This is the case in the file for “Mrs. Gavin,” who became one of the first English women to fly when she took instruction and took off at Charles Lane’s Gliding School in 1910.  We hope to soon find out more about Mrs. Gavin’s life and career and to expand her holdings in the collection; until then, we have a file waiting.

Kate Igoe is a Museum Archivist in the National Air and Space Museum's Archives department.