Plainsong (also plainchant; ) is a body of chants used in the liturgies of the Catholic Church. Though the Eastern Orthodox churches and the Catholic Church did not split until long after the origin of plainchant, Byzantine chants are generally not classified as plainsong.

Plainsong is monophonic, consisting of a single, unaccompanied melodic line. It generally has a more free rhythm than the metered rhythm of later Western music.

History

Plainchant is believed to originate from the 3rd century A.D. Gregorian chant is a variety of plainsong named after Pope Gregory I (6th century A.D.), although Gregory himself did not invent the chant. The tradition linking Gregory I to the development of the chant seems to rest on a possibly mistaken identification of a certain "Gregorius", probably Pope Gregory II, with his more famous predecessor.

For several centuries, different plainchant styles existed concurrently. Standardization on Gregorian chant was not completed, even in Italy, until the 12th century. Plainchant represents the first revival of musical notation after knowledge of the ancient Greek system was lost. Plainsong notation differs from the modern system in having only four lines to the staff and a system of note shapes called neumes.

In the late 9th century, plainsong began to evolve into organum, which led to the development of polyphony.

There was a significant plainsong revival in the 19th century, when much work was done to restore the correct notation and performance-style of the old plainsong collections, notably by the monks of Solesmes Abbey, in Northern France. After the Second Vatican Council and the introduction of the New Rite Mass, use of plainsong in the Catholic Church declined and was mostly confined to the Monastic Orders and to ecclesiastical Societies celebrating the traditional Latin Mass (also called ''Tridentine Mass''). But, since Pope Benedict XVI's ''motu proprio'', ''Summorum Pontificum'', use of the Tridentine rite has increased; this, along with other Papal comments on the use of appropriate liturgical music, is promoting a new plainsong revival.

Interest in plainsong picked up in 1950s Britain, particularly in the left-wing religious and musical groups associated with Gustav Holst and the writer George B. Chambers. In the late 1980s, plainchant achieved a certain vogue as music for relaxation, and several recordings of plainchant became "classical-chart hits".

Chant types

The following is a classification of Gregorian chants into types. Other chant traditions, such as the Ambrosian or Visigothic, may lack some of the types listed, and may have other types not listed.

Prayer

Reading or Lection

Psalm

Canticle

Hymn

Prose

Antiphon

Responsory

Introit

Gradual

Tract

Alleluia

Sequence

Offertory

Communion

Example

References

External links

Gregorian Chant - CDs, MP3 files, videos, free scores. Sacra Musica

GLOBAL CHANT DATABASE – Index of Gregorian Chant - The largest searchable database of plainchant and sacred song melodies

Category:Song forms Category:Chants Category:Christian liturgy, rites, and worship services Category:Christian music genres

es:Canto llano eo:Plejnkanto fr:Plain-chant it:Canto piano he:קנטוס פלאנוס pt:Cantochão

name	The Cure
background	group_or_band
origin	Crawley, England
genre	Alternative rock, gothic rock, New Wave, post-punk
years active	1976–present
label	Fiction, Suretone, Geffen, Polydor, Elektra, Asylum, Sire|, Warner
associated acts	Malice, Easy Cure, The Glove, Siouxsie and the Banshees
website
current members	Robert SmithSimon Gallup Porl Thompson Jason Cooper
past members	Michael DempseyMatthieu HartleyPhil ThornalleyAndy AndersonBoris WilliamsPerry Bamonte Lol Tolhurst Roger O'Donnell }}

The Cure are an English rock band formed in Crawley, West Sussex in 1976. The band has experienced several line-up changes, with frontman, vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter Robert Smith being the only constant member. The Cure first began releasing music in the late 1970s with its debut album ''Three Imaginary Boys'' (1979); this, along with several early singles, placed the band as part of the post-punk and New Wave movements that had sprung up in the wake of the punk rock revolution in the United Kingdom. During the early 1980s, the band's increasingly dark and tormented music helped form the gothic rock genre.

After the release of ''Pornography'' (1982), the band's future was uncertain and Smith was keen to move past the gloomy reputation his band had acquired. With the 1982 single "Let's Go to Bed" Smith began to place a pop sensibility into the band's music (as well as a unique stage look). The Cure's popularity increased as the decade wore on, especially in the United States where the songs "Just Like Heaven", "Lovesong" and "Friday I'm in Love" entered the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. By the start of the 1990s, The Cure were one of the most popular alternative rock bands in the world. The band is estimated to have sold 27 million albums as of 2004. The Cure have released thirteen studio albums and over thirty singles during the course of their career.

History

Formation and early years (1973–1979)

The first incarnation of what became The Cure was The Obelisk, a band formed by students at Notre Dame Middle School in Crawley, Sussex. The band made their public debut in a one-off performance in April 1973, and featured Robert Smith (piano), Michael "Mick" Dempsey (guitar), Laurence "Lol" Tolhurst (percussion), Marc Ceccagno (lead guitar) and Alan Hill (bass guitar). The first real incarnation though came in January 1976 when Ceccagno formed Malice with Smith and Dempsey along with two other classmates from St. Wilfrid's Catholic Comprehensive School, with Ceccagno on lead, Smith on guitar, and Dempsey switching to bass. Ceccagno soon left, however, to form a jazz-rock fusion band called Amulet. Increasingly influenced by the emergence of punk rock, Malice's remaining members became known as Easy Cure in January 1977. By this time, Smith and Dempsey had been joined by Lol Tolhurst from The Obelisk on drums, and new lead guitarist Porl Thompson. Both Malice and Easy Cure also trialled several unsuccessful vocalists before Smith finally assumed the role of Easy Cure's frontman in September 1977.

That year, Easy Cure won a talent competition with German label Hansa Records, and received a recording contract. Although the band recorded tracks for the company, none were ever released. Following disagreements in March 1978 over the direction the band should take, the contract with Hansa was dissolved. Smith later recalled, "We were very young. They just thought they could turn us into a teen group. They actually wanted us to do cover versions and we always refused." Thompson was dropped from the band in May, and the remaining trio (Smith/Tolhurst/Dempsey) were soon renamed The Cure by Smith. Later that month the band recorded their first sessions as a trio at Chestnut Studios in Sussex, which were distributed as a demo tape to a dozen major record labels. The demo found its way to Polydor Records scout Chris Parry, who signed The Cure to his newly formed Fiction label—distributed by Polydor—in September 1978. However, as a stopgap while Fiction finalised distribution arrangements with Polydor, in December 1978 The Cure released their debut single "Killing an Arab" on the Small Wonder label. "Killing an Arab" garnered both acclaim and controversy: while the single's provocative title led to accusations of racism, the song is actually based on French existentialist Albert Camus' novel ''The Stranger''. The band placed a sticker label that denied the racist connotations on the single's 1979 reissue on Fiction. An early ''NME'' article on the band wrote that The Cure "are like a breath of fresh suburban air on the capital's smog-ridden pub and club circuit" and noted "With a John Peel session and more extensive London gigging on their immediate agenda, it remains to be seen whether or not The Cure can retain their refreshing ''joie de vivre''."

The Cure released their debut album ''Three Imaginary Boys'' in May 1979. Due to the band's inexperience in the studio, Parry and engineer Mike Hedges took control of the recording. The band, particularly Smith, were unhappy with their debut; in a 1987 interview, he admitted, "a lot of it was very superficial – I didn't even like it at the time. There were criticisms made that it was very lightweight, and I thought they were justified. Even when we'd made it, I wanted to do something that I thought had more substance to it". The band's second single "Boys Don't Cry" was released in June. The Cure then embarked as the support band for Siouxsie & The Banshees' ''Join Hands'' promotional tour of England, Northern Ireland, and Wales between August and October. The tour saw Smith and Tolhurst pull double duty each night by performing with The Cure and as the guitarist / drummer with The Banshees when their guitarist John McKay and drummer Kenny Morris both walked out on the group just two days into the tour. That musical experience had a strong impact on him: "On stage that first night with the Banshees, I was blown away by how powerful I felt playing that kind of music. It was so different to what we were doing with The Cure. Before that, I'd wanted us to be like The Buzzcocks or Elvis Costello, the punk Beatles. Being a Banshee really changed my attitude to what I was doing."

The Cure's third single "Jumping Someone Else's Train" was released in early October 1979. Soon afterwards, Dempsey was dropped from the band due to his cold reception to material Smith had written for the upcoming album. Dempsey joined the Associates, while Simon Gallup (bass) and Matthieu Hartley (keyboards) from The Magspies joined The Cure. The Associates toured as support band for The Cure and The Passions on the ''Future Pastimes Tour'' of England between November and December—all three bands were on the Fiction Records roster—with the new Cure line-up already performing a number of new songs for the projected second album. Meanwhile, a spin-off band comprising Smith, Tolhurst, Dempsey, Gallup, Hartley and Thompson, with backing vocals from assorted family and friends, and lead vocals provided by their local postman Frankie Bell released a 7-inch single in December under the assumed name of Cult Hero.

Gothic phase (1980–1982)

Wary, due to the band's lack of creative control on the first album, Smith exerted a greater influence on the recording of The Cure's second album ''Seventeen Seconds'', which he co-produced with Mike Hedges. The album was released in 1980 and reached number 20 on the UK charts. A single from the album, "A Forest", became the band's first UK hit single, reaching number 31 on the singles chart. The album was a departure from The Cure's sound up to that point, with Hedges describing it as "morose, atmospheric, very different to ''Three Imaginary Boys''." In its review of ''Seventeen Seconds'' the ''NME'' said, "For a group as young as The Cure, it seems amazing that they have covered so much territory in such a brief time." At the same time, Smith was pressed concerning the concept of an alleged "anti-image". Smith told the press he was fed up with the anti-image association that some considered to be "elaborately disguising their plainness", stating, "We had to get away from that anti-image thing, which we didn't even create in the first place. And it seemed like we were trying to be more obscure. We just didn't like the standard rock thing. The whole thing really got out of hand." That same year ''Three Imaginary Boys'' was repackaged for the American market as ''Boys Don't Cry'', with new artwork and a modified tracklist. The Cure set out on their first world tour to promote both releases. At the end of the tour, Matthieu Hartley left the band. Hartley said, "I realised that the group was heading towards suicidal, sombre music—the sort of thing that didn't interest me at all."

The band reconvened with Hedges to produce their third album ''Faith'' (1981), which furthered the mood of misery present on ''Seventeen Seconds''. The album peaked at number 14 on the UK charts. Included with cassette copies of ''Faith'' was an instrumental soundtrack for ''Carnage Visors'', an animated film shown in place of an opening act for the band's 1981 Picture Tour. In late 1981, The Cure released the non-album single "Charlotte Sometimes". By this point, the sombre mood of the music had a profound effect on the attitude of the band. The band would refuse requests for older songs in concert, and sometimes Smith would be so absorbed by the persona he projected onstage he would leave at the end in tears.

In 1982, The Cure recorded and released ''Pornography'', the third and final album of an "oppressively dispirited" trio that cemented the Cure's stature as purveyors of the emerging gothic rock genre. Smith has said that during the recording of ''Pornography'' he was "undergoing a lot of mental stress. But it had nothing to do with the group, it just had to do with what I was like, my age and things. I think I got to my worst round about ''Pornography''. Looking back and getting other people's opinions of what went on, I was a pretty monstrous sort of person at that time". Gallup described the album by saying, "Nihilism took over [. . .] We sang 'It doesn't matter if we all die' and that is exactly what we thought at the time." Parry was concerned that the album did not have a hit song for radio play and instructed Smith and producer Phil Thornalley to polish the track "The Hanging Garden" for release as a single. Despite the concerns about the album's uncommercial sound, ''Pornography'' became the band's first UK Top 10 album, charting at number eight. The release of ''Pornography'' was followed by the Fourteen Explicit Moments tour, where the band finally dropped the anti-image angle and first adopted their signature look of big, towering hair and smeared lipstick on their faces. The tour also saw a series of incidents that prompted Simon Gallup to leave The Cure at the tour's conclusion. Gallup and Smith did not talk to each other for eighteen months following his departure.

Increasing commercial success (1983–1986)

With Gallup's departure from The Cure and with Smith's work with Siouxsie & the Banshees, rumours spread that The Cure had broken up. In December 1982, Smith remarked to ''Melody Maker'', "Do The Cure really exist any more? I've been pondering that question myself [. . .] it has got to a point where I don't fancy working in that format again." He added, "Whatever happens, it won't be me, Laurence, and Simon together any more. I know that."

Parry was concerned at the state of his label's top band, and became convinced that the solution was for The Cure to reinvent its musical style. Parry managed to convince Smith and Tolhurst of the idea; Parry said, "It appealed to Robert because he wanted to destroy The Cure anyway." With Tolhurst now playing keyboards instead of drums, the duo released the single "Let's Go to Bed" in late 1982. While Smith wrote the single off as a throwaway, "stupid" pop song to the press, it became a minor hit in the UK, reaching number 44 on the singles chart. It was followed in 1983 by two more successful songs: the synthesiser-based "The Walk" (number 12), and the jazz-influenced "The Lovecats", which became the band's first British Top 10 hit, reaching number seven. The group released these studio singles and their B-sides as the compilation album ''Japanese Whispers'', designed by Smith for the Japanese market only, but released worldwide on the decision of the record company. The same year, Smith also recorded and toured with Siouxsie & the Banshees, contributing as guitarist on their ''Nocturne'' live video and their ''Hyaena'' studio album. Meanwhile, he recorded the ''Blue Sunshine'' album with Banshees bassist Steven Severin as The Glove, while Lol Tolhurst produced the first two singles and debut album of the English band And Also The Trees.

In 1984, The Cure released ''The Top'', a generally psychedelic album on which Smith played all the instruments except the drums—played by Andy Anderson—and the saxophone—played by returnee Porl Thompson. The album was a Top 10 hit in the UK, and was their first studio album to break the ''Billboard'' 200 in the U.S., reaching number 180. ''Melody Maker'' praised the album as "psychedelia that can't be dated", while pondering, "I've yet to meet anyone who can tell me why The Cure are having hits now of all times." The Cure then embarked on their worldwide "Top Tour" with Thompson, Anderson, and producer-turned-bassist Phil Thornalley on board. Released in late 1984, The Cure's first live album, ''Concert'' consisted of performances from this tour. Near the tour's end, Anderson was fired for destroying a hotel room and was replaced by Boris Williams. Thornalley also left due to the rigors of the road. However, the bassist slot was not vacant long, for a Cure roadie named Gary Biddles had brokered a reunion between Smith and former bassist Simon Gallup, who had been playing in the band Fools Dance. Soon after reconciling, Smith asked Gallup to rejoin the band. Smith was ecstatic about Gallup's return and declared to ''Melody Maker'', "It's a group again."

In 1985, the new line-up of Smith, Tolhurst, Gallup, Thompson, and Williams released ''The Head on the Door'', an album which managed to bind together the optimistic and pessimistic aspects of the band's music that they had previously shifted between. ''The Head on the Door'' reached number seven in the UK and was the band's first entry into American Top 75 at number 59, a success partly due to the international impact of the LP's two singles, "In Between Days" and "Close to Me". Following the album and world tour, the band released the singles compilation ''Standing on a Beach'' in three formats (each with a different track listing and a specific name) in 1986. This compilation made the US Top 50, and saw the re-issue of three previous singles: "Boys Don't Cry" (in a new form), "Let's Go To Bed" and later "Charlotte Sometimes". This release was accompanied by a VHS or LaserDisc called ''Staring at the Sea'', which featured videos for each track on the compilation. The Cure toured to support the compilation and released a live concert VHS of the show, filmed in the south of France called ''The Cure in Orange''. During this time, The Cure became a very popular band in Europe (particularly in France, Germany and the Benelux countries) and increasingly popular in the U.S.

''Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me'' and worldwide success (1987–1993)

In 1987, The Cure released the double LP ''Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me'', which reached number six in the UK, the Top 10 in several countries and was the band's first entry into the U.S. Top 40 at number 35 (where it was certified platinum), due to the combination of the band's rising popularity and the success of lead single, "Why Can't I Be You?". The album's third single, "Just Like Heaven" was the band's most successful single to date in the US, being their first to enter the ''Billboard'' Top 40. After the album's release, the band embarked on the successful Kissing Tour. During the European leg of the tour, Lol Tolhurst's alcohol consumption was interfering with his ability to perform so The Psychedelic Furs keyboardist Roger O'Donnell was frequently called upon to stand in for him. In 1989, The Cure released the album ''Disintegration'', which saw a return to the gothic atmospheres of earlier releases like ''Faith'' and ''Pornography''. It became their highest charting album in the UK to date, entering at number three and featuring three Top 30 singles in the UK and Germany ("Lullaby", "Lovesong" and "Pictures of You"). ''Disintegration'' also reached number twelve on the US charts. The first single stateside, "Fascination Street", reached number one on the American Modern Rock chart, but was quickly overshadowed when its third US single, "Lovesong", reached number two on the American pop charts (the only Cure single to reach the US Top 10). By 1992, ''Disintegration'' had sold over three million copies worldwide.

During the ''Disintegration'' sessions, the band gave Smith an ultimatum that either Tolhurst would have to leave the band or they would. In February 1989, Tolhurst's exit was made official and announced to the press; this resulted in Roger O'Donnell becoming a full-fledged member of the band and left Smith as The Cure's only remaining founder member. Smith attributed Tolhurst's dismissal to an inability to exert himself and issues with alcohol, concluding, "He was out of step with everything. It had just become detrimental to everything we'd do." Because Tolhurst was still on the payroll during the recording of ''Disintegration'', he was credited in the album's liner notes as playing "other instruments", however it has since been revealed that he contributed nothing to the album in either performance or song writing. The Cure then embarked on the Prayer Tour, which saw the band playing stadiums in America.

In May 1990, Roger O'Donnell quit and was replaced with the band's guitar technician Perry Bamonte. That November, The Cure released a collection of remixes called ''Mixed Up''. The album was not well received and quickly slid down the charts. The one new song on the collection, "Never Enough", was released as a single. In 1991 The Cure were awarded the BRIT Award for Best British Band. That same year Tolhurst filed a lawsuit against Smith and Fiction Records in 1991 over royalties payments, and claimed joint ownership of the name "The Cure" with Smith; the verdict was handed out in September 1994 in favour of Smith. In respite from the lawsuit, the band returned to the studio to record their next album. ''Wish'' reached number one in the UK and number two in the US and yielded the international hits "High" and "Friday I'm in Love". The Cure also embarked on the "Wish Tour" with Cranes, and released the live albums ''Show'' (September 1993) and ''Paris'' (October 1993). As a promotional exercise with the Our Price music chain in the UK, a limited edition EP was released consisting of instrumental outtakes from the ''Wish'' sessions. Entitled ''Lost Wishes'', the proceeds from the four-track cassette tape went to charity.

In the years between the release of ''Wish'' and the start of sessions for The Cure's next album, the band's line-up shifted again. Thompson left the band once more during 1993 to play with Robert Plant and Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, and Bamonte took over as lead guitarist. Boris Williams also left the band, and was replaced by Jason Cooper (formerly of My Life Story).

Period of transition (1994–1999)

The album sessions began in 1994 with only Smith and Bamonte present; the pair were later joined by Gallup (who was recovering from physical problems), and Roger O'Donnell, who had been asked to rejoin the band at the end of 1994. The Cure performed "Burn" in the movie The Crow and "Dredd Song," the theme song of the 1995 movie ''Judge Dredd'' starring Sylvester Stallone. It was not released on a Cure album until 2004 on ''Join the Dots: B-Sides & Rarities 1978–2001 (The Fiction Years)''.''Wild Mood Swings'', finally released in 1996, was poorly received compared with previous albums and marked the end of the band's commercial peak. Early in 1996, the Cure played festivals in South America, followed by a world tour in support of the album ''Galore''. ''Galore'' contained all of the Cure's singles released between 1987 and 1997, as well as the new single "Wrong Number", which featured longtime David Bowie guitarist Reeves Gabrels. Gabrels also accompanied the Cure on a brief American radio festival tour as an onstage guest guitarist for "Wrong Number". In 1998 The Cure contributed to the soundtrack album for ''The X-Files'' feature film as well as the Depeche Mode tribute album ''For the Masses'', with their cover of "World in My Eyes".

Recent years (2000–present)

With only one album left in their record contract and with commercial response to ''Wild Mood Swings'' and the ''Galore'' compilation lacklustre, Smith once again considered that the end of The Cure might be near and thus wanted to make an album that reflected the more serious side of the band. The Grammy-nominated album ''Bloodflowers'' was released in 2000 after being delayed since 1998. According to Smith, The album was the third of a trilogy along with ''Pornography'' and ''Disintegration''. The band also embarked on the nine-month Dream Tour, attended by over one million people worldwide. In 2001, The Cure left Fiction and released their ''Greatest Hits'' album and DVD, which featured the music videos for a number of classic Cure songs. In 2002, the band headlined twelve major summer music festivals, and played three extended concerts (one in Brussels, two in Berlin) in which they performed the albums ''Pornography'', ''Disintegration'' and ''Bloodflowers'' in their respective entireties each night. The Berlin performances were released on DVD as ''The Cure: Trilogy'' in 2003.

In 2003, The Cure signed with Geffen Records. In 2004, they released a new four-disc boxed set on Fiction Records titled ''Join the Dots: B-Sides and Rarities, 1978-2001 (The Fiction Years)''. The compilation includes seventy Cure songs, some previously unreleased, and a 76-page full-colour book of photographs, history and quotes, packaged in a hard cover. The album peaked at number 106 on the ''Billboard'' 200 album charts. The band released their twelfth album ''The Cure'' on Geffen in 2004, which was produced by Ross Robinson. It made a top ten debut on both sides of the Atlantic in July 2004. To promote the album, the band headlined the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival that May. From 24 July to 29 August, The Cure headlined the Curiosa concert tour of North America. While attendances were lower than expected, Curiosa was still one of the more successful American summer festivals of 2004. The same year the band was honoured with an MTV Icon television special.

In May 2005, Roger O'Donnell and Perry Bamonte were fired from the band. O'Donnell claims Smith informed him he was reducing the band to a three-piece. Previously O'Donnell said he had only found out about the band's upcoming tour dates via a fan site and added, "It was sad to find out after nearly 20 years the way I did but then I should have expected no less or more." The remaining members of the band—Smith, Gallup and Cooper—made several appearances as a trio before it was announced in June that Porl Thompson would be returning for the band's 2005 Festival summer shows, as well as their set at Live 8 in Paris on 2 July. Later that year, the band recorded a cover of John Lennon's "Love" for Amnesty International's charity album ''Make Some Noise''. It is available for download on the Amnesty website, while the album was released on CD in 2006. On 1 April 2006, The Cure appeared at the Royal Albert Hall on behalf of the Teenage Cancer Trust. It was their only show through to the end the year. In December a live DVD, entitled ''The Cure: Festival 2005'' including 30 songs of their 2005 Festival tour was released.

The Cure began writing and recording material for their thirteenth album in 2006. Smith initially stated it would be a double album. The Cure announced a last-minute postponement of their autumn 2007 North American 4Tour in August in order to continue working on the album, rescheduling the dates for spring 2008. Titled ''4:13 Dream'', the album was released in October 2008. The group released four singles and an EP—"The Only One", "Freakshow", "Sleep When I'm Dead", "The Perfect Boy" and ''Hypnagogic States'' respectively—on or near to the 13th of each month, in the months leading up to the album's release. In February 2009, The Cure received the 2009 Shockwaves NME Award for Godlike Genius.

In 2011, the band played their first 3 studio albums in their entirety during two shows in Sydney, Australia. These "Reflections" shows notably featured Roger O'Donnell and Laurence Tolhurst, both in a keyboard and percussion role. The shows are due to be released on DVD in 2011.

Musical style

The Cure are often identified with the gothic rock subgenre of alternative rock, and are viewed as one of the form's definitive bands. However, the band has routinely rejected classification, particularly as a gothic rock band. Robert Smith said in 2006, "It's so pitiful when 'goth' is still tagged onto the name The Cure", and added, "We're not categorisable. I suppose we were post-punk when we came out, but in total it's impossible [...] I just play Cure music, whatever that is." Smith has also expressed his distaste for gothic rock, describing it as "incredibly dull and monotonous. A dirge really." While typically viewed as producers of dark and gloomy music, The Cure have also yielded a number of upbeat songs. ''Spin'' has said "The Cure have always been an either/or sort of band: either [...] Robert Smith is wallowing in gothic sadness or he's licking sticky-sweet cotton-candy pop off his lipstick-stained fingers."

The Cure's primary musical traits have been listed as "dominant, melodic bass lines; whiny, strangulated vocals; and a lyric obsession with existential, almost literary despair." Most Cure songs start with Smith and Gallup writing the drum parts and bass lines. Both record demos at home and then bring them into the studio for fine-tuning. Smith said in 1992, "I think when people talk about the 'Cure sound,' they mean songs based on 6-string bass, acoustic guitar, and my voice, plus the string sound from the Solina." On top of this foundation is laid "towering layers of guitars and synthesisers". Keyboards have been a component of the band's sound since ''Seventeen Seconds'', and their importance increased with the instrument's extensive use on ''Disintegration''. With the Departure of Roger O'Donnell in 2005, keyboards have not been as prominent in the band's album 4:13 Dream and their live shows.

Music videos

The band's early music videos have been described as "dreadful affairs" and have been maligned for their poor quality, particularly by the band itself. Lol Tolhurst said, "Those videos were unmitigated disasters; we weren't actors and our personalities weren't coming across." It was with the video for "Let's Go to Bed", their first collaboration with director Tim Pope, that The Cure would become noted for their videos. Pope added a playful element to the band's videos; the director insisted in a 1987 ''Spin'' interview, "I think that side of them was always there, but was never brought out." Pope would go on to direct the majority of The Cure's videos, and his videos, which became synonymous with the band, helped expand The Cure's audience during the 1980s. Pope explained the appeal of working with The Cure by saying, "The Cure is the ultimate band for a filmmaker to work with because Robert Smith really understands the camera. His songs are so cinematic. I mean on one level there's this stupidity and humour, right, but beneath that there are all [Smith's] psychological obsessions and claustrophobia."

Legacy

The Cure were one of the first alternative bands to have chart and commercial success in an era before alternative rock had broken into the mainstream. In 1992 the ''NME'' declared The Cure had during the 1980s become "a goth hit machine (19 to date), an international phenomenon and, yep, the most successful alternative band that ever shuffled disconsolately about the earth". Smith has noted he looks at Cure-influenced bands like Interpol and My Chemical Romance with affection, adding, "I also think [Interpol bassist] Carlos D.'s obsession with Simon Gallup is sweet." Interpol lead singer, Paul Banks was quoted as saying ""The Cure is the band that all of us in Interpol can say influenced us. When I was younger I listened to them a lot. Carlos as well. Actually, he took a straight influence from this band on the way he played the bass and the keys. To me, Robert Smith is also one of these examples: you can't be Robert Smith if you're not Robert Smith. It's one of the bands with the deepest influence on Interpol, because we all like them. They're legendary."

Several references to The Cure and their music have been made in popular culture. A number of films have used the title of a Cure song as the film's title, including ''Boys Don't Cry'' (1999) and ''Just Like Heaven'' (2005). The Cure's gloomy image has been the subject of parody at times. In series two of ''The Mighty Boosh'', The Moon sings 'The Lovecats' over the credits. In the same episode, a powerful gothic hairspray, Goth Juice, is said to be "The most powerful hairspray known to man. Made from the tears of Robert Smith." ''The Mary Whitehouse Experience'' often featured brief clips of the stars of the show performing comical songs and nursery rhymes as The Cure in a morose style. Robert Smith appeared in the final episode of the first series of ''The Mary Whitehouse Experience'' singing "The Sun has got his hat on" before punching the character Ray (played by Robert Newman) whilst uttering Ray's catch phrase "Oh no what a personal disaster". Robert Smith was also portrayed on an episode of ''South Park'' (Season 1, Episode 12) where he transforms into the form of Mothra and battles Mecha-Streisand to save the day and Kyle shouts "''Disintegration'' is the best album ever!" In Craig Thompson's graphic novel ''Blankets'' the chapter seven is called "Just Like Heaven". The same chapter shows Raina singing some lyrics from this song to Craig.

Discography

''Three Imaginary Boys'' (1979)

''Seventeen Seconds'' (1980)

''Faith'' (1981)

''Pornography'' (1982)

''The Top'' (1984)

''The Head on the Door'' (1985)

''Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me'' (1987)

''Disintegration'' (1989)

''Wish'' (1992)

''Wild Mood Swings'' (1996)

''Bloodflowers'' (2000)

''The Cure'' (2004)

''4:13 Dream'' (2008)

Members

;Current line-up

Robert Smith – lead vocals, guitars, keyboards (1976–present)

Porl Thompson – guitars, keyboards (1976–1978, 1983–1993, 2005–present)

Simon Gallup – bass guitar, keyboards (1979–1982, 1985–present)

Jason Cooper – drums, percussion (1995–present)

References

Sources

Apter, Jeff. (2006). ''Never Enough: The Story of the Cure''. Omnibus Press. ISBN 1-84449-827-1

Further reading

''Ten Imaginary Years'', by L. Barbarian, Steve Sutherland and Robert Smith (1988) Zomba Books ISBN 0-946391-87-4

''The Cure: A Visual Documentary'', by Dave Thompson and Jo-Ann Greene(1988) Omnibus Press ISBN 0-7119-1387-0

''The Cure: Songwords 1978–1989'' S. Hopkins, Robert Smith and T. Foo (1989) Omnibus Press ISBN 0-7119-1951-8

''In Between Days: An Armchair Guide To The Cure'' by Dave Thompson, Helter Skelter Publishing (October 2005) ISBN 1-905139-00-4

''The Cure – Greatest Hits'' (songbook containing 20 of their best, transcribed note-for-note with tab, chord symbols and complete lyrics), Hal Leonard Corporation (May 2002) ISBN 0-634-04667-5

''Robert Smith: "The Cure" and Wishful Thinking'' by Richard Carman (2005) Independent Music Press (UK) ISBN 9-78095-497041-3

''Jeremy Wulc : My dream comes true : Carnet de route avec The Cure. (2009) Editions : Camion Blanc

External links

'Chain of Flowers' – News about The Cure

Category:BRIT Award winners Category:English alternative rock groups Category:British New Wave musical groups Category:Gothic rock groups Category:Musical groups established in 1976 Category:British post-punk music groups Category:People from Crawley

af:The Cure ca:The Cure cs:The Cure da:The Cure de:The Cure et:The Cure el:The Cure eml:The Cure es:The Cure eu:The Cure fa:د کیور fr:The Cure ga:The Cure gl:The Cure hr:The Cure ia:The Cure is:The Cure it:The Cure he:הקיור ka:The Cure lv:The Cure lb:The Cure lt:The Cure hu:The Cure mk:The Cure nah:The Cure nl:The Cure ja:ザ・キュアー no:The Cure uz:The Cure pl:The Cure pt:The Cure ro:The Cure ru:The Cure simple:The Cure sk:The Cure sr:The Cure fi:The Cure sv:The Cure th:เดอะเคียว tr:The Cure uk:The Cure vls:The Cure zh:治疗乐队

name	Iain Matthews
landscape	Yes
background	solo_singer
birth name	Iain Matthew McDonald
alias	Ian McDonald, Ian Matthews, Iain Matthews
born	June 16, 1946Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England
instrument	Vocals, Guitar
genre	Folk rock, rockabilly, Country music, Alternative rock, surf music, jazz, folk
occupation	Musician, Songwriter
years active	1967–present
label	Decca/Deram, Polydor, Vertigo, Elektra, Columbia, Mushroom, Windham Hill, Mooncrest, Brilliant
associated acts	Fairport Convention, Plainsong, Matthews Southern Comfort
website	iainmatthews.com
notable instruments	guitar }}

Iain Matthews (born 16 June 1946) is an English musician and songwriter. He was born Iain Matthew McDonald, in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. He was known in the 1960s first as Ian McDonald, then as the 1960s progressed, as Ian Matthews. In 1989 he reverted to the original spelling of his first name.

Influenced by both rock and roll and folk music, he has performed mainly as a solo act, although he was a member of Fairport Convention during the early period when they were heavily influenced by American West Coast folk rock. He later had a solo career and fronted the bands Plainsong, Hi-Fi, No Grey Faith, More Than A Song and Matthews' own Southern Comfort.

Origins

Matthews grew up in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. He sang with several minor bands during the British pop music explosion of the mid-1960s and moved to London in 1966, taking a job in a Carnaby Street shoe shop. That year he formed a trio, The Pyramid, an English short-lived surf music band, which recorded one single, "Summer Of Last Year" in January 1967, on Deram Records. A remaining song, "Me About You," surfaced on Matthews' ''Orphans & Outcasts Volume 3'' in 1999.

Fairport Convention

In the Spring of 1967, Matthews was recruited by Ashley Hutchings as a male vocalist for Fairport Convention, where he duetted first with Judy Dyble, and then with Sandy Denny. In 1969, as Fairport drew increasingly from a British traditional folk repertoire, Matthews found out he had not been invited to a recording session and, after a short discussion with Ashley Hutchings, departed toward a musical direction of his own.

With Thompson, Simon Nicol, and Hutchings from Fairport Convention, guitarist Mark Griffiths, drummer Gerry Conway (of Fotheringay; later to join first the Cat Stevens, backing band, Jethro Tull and then Fairport Convention from the 1990s on) and pedal steel player Gordon Huntley, and drummer Ray Duffy, Matthews recorded his debut solo album, ''Matthews' Southern Comfort'', whose sound was rooted in American country music and rockabilly. This was his first significant experience as a songwriter, although the band also covered the likes of Neil Young and Ian and Sylvia. He followed it up by forming a working band using the name of his first album and ''Second Spring'' (UK #52) and ''Later That Same Year'' followed. The band went through several different lineups and toured extensively for the next two years, to general critical acclaim. They had one commercial success: a 1970 cover version of "Woodstock" (written by Joni Mitchell) was a number one hit single in the UK Singles Chart. He moved from Los Angeles to then-inexpensive Seattle, where he teamed up with David Surkamp, formerly of the St. Louis band Pavlov's Dog, to form the power pop band Hi-Fi, whose repertoire included Matthews originals, but also covers of Neil Young's "Mr. Soul" and Prince's "When You Were Mine". Neither this nor a return to solo recording in England turned his luck. He worked for a while in an A&R; capacity at Island Records and then New Age Windham Hill Records.

Later career

Since 1974, Fairport Convention had been staging the annual Cropredy Festival; since 1979, this annual reunion had primarily the height of their activity at that period in time as a band, but in the mid-1980s several members became interested in reviving the band, stimulating creativity as a group and in recording new material. Matthews was invited to perform with them as a part of the band, and in their other side-projects, at the 1986 Cropredy Festival. This led to ''Walking a Changing Line'' (1988) on Windham Hill Records, an unlikely album-length tribute to Jules Shear of Jules and the Polar Bears. Matthews found himself moving to Austin, Texas, and recording several albums for a series of German independent labels. It also led to his first truly solo performances: his previous "solo" outings had always been as a frontman for a one-shot band. He appeared with Andy Roberts at the 1992 Cambridge Folk Festival, which led to the first of what became several changed versions of Plainsong.

Since that time, Matthews has had a moderately successful career, releasing records on a number of small labels in Germany, the UK, and the U.S., before moving to Amsterdam in 2000, where he continues to be involved in various indy projects and collaborations, including the Sandy Denny tribute band "No Grey Faith" and another revival of Plainsong. Moving to Horst in the south of Holland, in 2008 he produced a new album, ''Joy Mining'', in collaboration with the Dutch jazz combo Searing Quartet. In this album he could work with his lifelong love for jazz. September sees the first Matthews Southern Comfort album in 40 years, and Matthews return to a major label. Matthews is a season ticket holder at Scunthorpe United.

Discography

The following is a partial discography; a comprehensive discography is available on Matthews' personal website.

Singles

Pyramid, "The Summer of Last Year"/"Summer Evening" (1967) UK Deram Records; his first recording

Albums

Fairport Convention, ''Fairport Convention'' (1968) UK Polydor/ US Cotillion

Fairport Convention, ''What We Did On Our Holidays'' (1968) UK Island/ US A&M;

Fairport Convention, ''Heyday''(1986) BBC - a release of recordings from 1968/1969 UK Island/ US Hannibal

Ian Matthews, ''Matthews' Southern Comfort'' (1969) UK Uni/ US Decca (actually his first solo album)

Matthews Southern Comfort, ''Second Spring'' (1969) UK Uni/ US Decca

Matthews Southern Comfort, ''Later That Same Year'' (1970) UK Uni / US Decca

Matthews' Southern Comfort, ''The Essential Collection'' (1997) Half Moon (a retrospective of 1970s recordings)

Ian Matthews, ''If You Saw Thro' My Eyes'' (1971) UK and US Vertigo (2nd solo album)

Ian Matthews, ''Tigers Will Survive'' (1971) UK and US Vertigo (3rd solo album)

Plainsong, ''In Search of Amelia Earhart'' (1972) UK and US Elektra

Ian Matthews, ''Journeys from Gospel Oak'' (1972) UK [[Mooncrest

Ian Matthews, ''Valley Hi'' (1973) UK and US Elektra Records]]

Ian Matthews, ''Some Days You Eat the Bear...Some Days the Bear Eats You'' (1974) UK and US Elektra

Ian Matthews, ''Go For Broke'' (1975) UK CBS/ US Columbia

Ian Matthews, ''Hit and Run'' (1976) UK CBS/ US Columbia

Ian Matthews, ''Stealin' Home'' (1978) UK Rockburgh/ US Mushroom

Ian Matthews, ''Siamese Friends'' (1979) Rockburgh

Ian Matthews, ''Discreet Repeat'' (1979) Rockburgh

Ian Matthews, ''Spot Of Interference'' (1980) Rockburgh

Hi-Fi, ''Demonstration Record'' (1982) First American Records; live mini-album

Hi-Fi, ''Moods for Mallards'' (1982) First American Records

Ian Matthews, ''Shook'' (1984) Polydor

Ian Matthews, ''Walking a Changing Line'' (1988) Windham Hill Records

Iain Matthews, ''Pure and Crooked'' (1990) Gold Castle Records

Iain Matthews, ''Skeleton Keys'' (1992) Line

Iain Matthews, ''The Dark Ride'' (1994) Watermelon

Iain Matthews, ''God Looked Down'' (1996) Watermelon

Iain Matthews, ''The Seattle Years 1978-1984'' (1996) Varese Sarabande

Iain Matthews, ''Excerpts from Swine Lake'' (1998) Blue Rose

Iain Matthews, ''Orphans & Outcasts Volume 3''

No Grey Faith, ''Secrets All Told — The Songs of Sandy Denny'' (2000) Perfect Pitch / Unique Gravity

Iain Matthews & Elliott Murphy, ''The Official Blue Rose Bootleg'' (2001) Blue Rose

Iain Matthews & Elliott Murphy, ''La Terre Commune'' (2001) Blue Rose / Perfect Pitch / Eminent

Plainsong, ''Pangolins'' (2003) Blue Rose

Iain Matthews, ''Zumbach's coat'' (2005) Blue Rose / Perfect Pitch / Eminent

Iain Matthews, ''Contact in live'' (2008)

Iain Matthews & Searing Quartet, ''Joy Mining'' (2008) Perfect Pitch (an easy listening/jazz oriented album)

Iain Matthews & Nick Vernier Band, ''Woodstock'' (2009) Brinker Media

Iain Matthews & Egbert Derix, ''Afterwords'' (2010) Matrix

Iain Matthews & Nick Vernier Band with Emitt Rhodes, ''Time Will Show The Wiser'' (2010) Brinker Media

Iain Matthews & Ad van der Veen, ''Ride the times'' (2010) Turtle Records

Matthews Southern Comfort, ''Kind of New (album) Brilliant/Genepool BMCD1010 '' (2010)

1996 Songs From The Red Couch - Live ( Iain Matthews & Julian Dawson)

Billboard Hot 100 Singles

"Da Doo Ron Ron" (#96, 1972)

"Shake It" (#13, 1979)

"Give Me an Inch" (#67, 1979)

References

External links

Official site. Much of the biographical and discographical information in this article comes from the biography and discography on that site, accessed December 16, 2004.

Iain Matthews discography from Music City

Biography on music.com

Category:1946 births Category:Living people Category:English songwriters Category:People from Scunthorpe Category:English male singers Category:Folk rock musicians Category:Electric folk musicians Category:Decca Records artists Category:Fairport Convention members Category:Windham Hill Records artists

cs:Iain Matthews de:Ian Matthews nl:Iain Matthews no:Iain Matthews nn:Iain Matthews sv:Iain Matthews

Name	Amelia Earhart
Full name	Amelia Mary Earhart
Birth date	July 24, 1897
Birth place	Atchison, Kansas, U.S.
Disappeared date
Disappeared place	Pacific Ocean, en route to Howland Island
Disappeared status	Declared dead in absentiaJanuary 05, 1939
Nationality	American
Spouse	George P. Putnam
Known for	First woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean and setting many aviation records.
Signature	Amelia_Earheart_Signature.png }}

Amelia Mary Earhart ( ; 1897–disappeared 1937) was a noted American aviation pioneer and author. Earhart was the first woman to receive the U.S. Distinguished Flying Cross, awarded for becoming the first aviatrix to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She set many other records, wrote best-selling books about her flying experiences and was instrumental in the formation of The Ninety-Nines, an organization for female pilots. Earhart joined the faculty of the world-famous Purdue University aviation department in 1935 as a visiting faculty member to counsel women on careers and help inspire others with her love for aviation. She was also a member of the National Woman's Party, and an early supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment.

During an attempt to make a circumnavigational flight of the globe in 1937 in a Purdue-funded Lockheed Model 10 Electra, Earhart disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean near Howland Island. Fascination with her life, career and disappearance continues to this day.

Early life

Childhood

Amelia Mary Earhart, daughter of Samuel "Edwin" Stanton Earhart (March 28, 1867) and Amelia "Amy" Otis Earhart (1869–1962), was born in Atchison, Kansas, in the home of her maternal grandfather, Alfred Gideon Otis (1827–1912), a former federal judge, president of the Atchison Savings Bank and a leading citizen in Atchison. This was the second child in the marriage as an infant was stillborn in August 1896. Alfred Otis had not initially favored the marriage and was not satisfied with Edwin's progress as a lawyer.

Earhart was named, according to family custom, after her two grandmothers (Amelia Josephine Harres and Mary Wells Patton). From an early age Earhart, nicknamed "Meeley" (sometimes "Millie") was the ringleader while younger sister (two years her junior), Grace Muriel Earhart (1899–1998), nicknamed "Pidge," acted the dutiful follower. Both girls continued to answer to their childhood nicknames well into adulthood. Their upbringing was unconventional since Amy Earhart did not believe in molding her children into "nice little girls." Meanwhile their maternal grandmother disapproved of the "bloomers" worn by Amy's children and although Earhart liked the freedom they provided, she was aware other girls in the neighborhood did not wear them.

Early influence

A spirit of adventure seemed to abide in the Earhart children with the pair setting off daily to explore their neighborhood. As a child, Earhart spent long hours playing with Pidge, climbing trees, hunting rats with a rifle and "belly-slamming" her sled downhill. Although this love of the outdoors and "rough-and-tumble" play was common to many youngsters, some biographers have characterized the young Earhart as a tomboy. The girls kept "worms, moths, katydids and a tree toad" in a growing collection gathered in their outings. In 1904, with the help of her uncle, she cobbled together a home-made ramp fashioned after a roller coaster she had seen on a trip to St. Louis and secured the ramp to the roof of the family toolshed. Earhart's well-documented first flight ended dramatically. She emerged from the broken wooden box that had served as a sled with a bruised lip, torn dress and a "sensation of exhilaration." She exclaimed, "Oh, Pidge, it's just like flying!"

Although there had been some missteps in his career up to that point, in 1907 Edwin Earhart's job as a claims officer for the Rock Island Railroad led to a transfer to Des Moines, Iowa. The next year, at the age of 10, Earhart saw her first aircraft at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines. Her father tried to interest her and her sister in taking a flight. One look at the rickety old "flivver" was enough for Earhart, who promptly asked if they could go back to the merry-go-round. She later described the biplane as “a thing of rusty wire and wood and not at all interesting.”

Education

The two sisters, Amelia and Muriel (she went by her middle name from her teens on), remained with their grandparents in Atchison, while their parents moved into new, smaller quarters in Des Moines. During this period, Earhart received a form of home-schooling together with her sister, from her mother and a governess. She later recounted that she was "exceedingly fond of reading" and spent countless hours in the large family library. In 1909, when the family was finally reunited in Des Moines, the Earhart children were enrolled in public school for the first time with Amelia Earhart entering the seventh grade at the age of 12 years.

Family fortunes

While the family's finances seemingly improved with the acquisition of a new house and even the hiring of two servants, it soon became apparent Edwin was an alcoholic. Five years later (in 1914), he was forced to retire and although he attempted to rehabilitate himself through treatment, he was never reinstated at the Rock Island Railroad. At about this time, Earhart's grandmother Amelia Otis died suddenly, leaving a substantial estate that placed her daughter's share in trust, fearing that Edwin's drinking would drain the funds. The Otis house, and all of its contents, was auctioned; Earhart was heart-broken and later described it as the end of her childhood.

In 1915, after a long search, Earhart's father found work as a clerk at the Great Northern Railway in St. Paul, Minnesota, where Earhart entered Central High School as a junior. Edwin applied for a transfer to Springfield, Missouri, in 1915 but the current claims officer reconsidered his retirement and demanded his job back, leaving the elder Earhart with nowhere to go. Facing another calamitous move, Amy Earhart took her children to Chicago where they lived with friends. Earhart made an unusual condition in the choice of her next schooling; she canvassed nearby high schools in Chicago to find the best science program. She rejected the high school nearest her home when she complained that the chemistry lab was "just like a kitchen sink." She eventually was enrolled in Hyde Park High School but spent a miserable semester where a yearbook caption captured the essence of her unhappiness, "A.E. – the girl in brown who walks alone."

Earhart graduated from Hyde Park High School in 1916. Throughout her troubled childhood, she had continued to aspire to a future career; she kept a scrapbook of newspaper clippings about successful women in predominantly male-oriented fields, including film direction and production, law, advertising, management and mechanical engineering. She began junior college at Ogontz School in Rydal, Pennsylvania but did not complete her program.

During Christmas vacation in 1917, Earhart visited her sister in Toronto. World War I had been raging and Earhart saw the returning wounded soldiers. After receiving training as a nurse's aide from the Red Cross, she began work with the Volunteer Aid Detachment at Spadina Military Hospital. Her duties included preparing food in the kitchen for patients with special diets and handing out prescribed medication in the hospital's dispensary.

1918 Spanish flu pandemic

When the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic reached Toronto, Earhart was engaged in arduous nursing duties including night shifts at the Spadina Military Hospital. She became a patient herself, suffering from pneumonia and maxillary sinusitis. She was hospitalized in early November 1918 owing to pneumonia and discharged in December 1918, about two months after the illness had started. Her sinus-related symptoms were pain and pressure around one eye and copious mucus drainage via the nostrils and throat. In the hospital, in the pre-antibiotic era, she had painful minor operations to wash out the affected maxillary sinus, but these procedures were not successful and Earhart subsequently suffered from worsening headache attacks. Her convalescence lasted nearly a year, which she spent at her sister's home in Northampton, Massachusetts. She passed the time by reading poetry, learning to play the banjo and studying mechanics. Chronic sinusitis was to significantly affect Earhart's flying and activities in later life, and sometimes even on the airfield she was forced to wear a bandage on her cheek to cover a small drainage tube.

Early flying experiences

At about that time, with a young woman friend, Earhart visited an air fair held in conjunction with the Canadian National Exposition in Toronto. One of the highlights of the day was a flying exhibition put on by a World War I "ace." The pilot overhead spotted Earhart and her friend, who were watching from an isolated clearing and dived at them. "I am sure he said to himself, 'Watch me make them scamper,'" she said. Earhart stood her ground as the aircraft came close. "I did not understand it at the time," she said, "but I believe that little red airplane said something to me as it swished by."

By 1919 Earhart prepared to enter Smith College but changed her mind and enrolled at Columbia University signing up for a course in medical studies among other programs. She quit a year later to be with her parents who had reunited in California.

In Long Beach, on December 28, 1920, Earhart and her father visited an airfield where Frank Hawks (who later gained fame as an air racer) gave her a ride that would forever change Earhart's life. "By the time I had got two or three hundred feet off the ground," she said, "I knew I had to fly." After that 10-minute flight (that cost her father $10), she immediately became determined to learn to fly. Working at a variety of jobs, including photographer, truck driver, and stenographer at the local telephone company, she managed to save $1,000 for flying lessons. Earhart had her first lessons, beginning on January 3, 1921, at Kinner Field near Long Beach, but to reach the airfield Earhart took a bus to the end of the line, then walked four miles (6 km). Earhart's mother also provided part of the $1,000 "stake" against her "better judgement." Her teacher was Anita "Neta" Snook, a pioneer female aviator who used a surplus Curtiss JN-4 "Canuck" for training. Earhart arrived with her father and a singular request, "I want to fly. Will you teach me?"

Earhart's commitment to flying required her to accept the frequently hard work and rudimentary conditions that accompanied early aviation training. She chose a leather jacket, but aware that other aviators would be judging her, she slept in it for three nights to give the jacket a "worn" look. To complete her image transformation, she also cropped her hair short in the style of other female flyers. Six months later, Earhart purchased a second-hand bright yellow Kinner Airster biplane which she nicknamed "The Canary." On October 22, 1922, Earhart flew the Airster to an altitude of , setting a world record for female pilots. On May 15, 1923, Earhart became the 16th woman to be issued a pilot's license (#''6017'') by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI).

Aviation career and marriage

Boston

According to the ''Boston Globe'', Earhart was "one of the best women pilots in the United States," although this characterization has been disputed by aviation experts and experienced pilots in the decades since. She was an intelligent and competent pilot, One serious miscalculation occurred during a record attempt that had ended with her spinning down through a cloud bank, only to emerge at . Experienced pilots admonished her, "Suppose the clouds had closed in until they touched the ground?" Earhart was chagrined, yet acknowledged her limitations as a pilot and continued to seek out assistance throughout her career from various instructors. By 1927, "Without any serious incident, she had accumulated nearly 500 hours of solo flying – a very respectable achievement."

Throughout this period, her grandmother's inheritance, which was now administered by her mother, was constantly depleted until it finally ran out following a disastrous investment in a failed gypsum mine. Consequently, with no immediate prospects for recouping her investment in flying, Earhart sold the "Canary" as well as a second Kinner and bought a yellow Kissel "Speedster" two-passenger automobile, which she named the "Yellow Peril." Simultaneously, Earhart experienced an exacerbation of her old sinus problem as her pain worsened and in early 1924, she was hospitalized for another sinus operation, which was again unsuccessful. After trying her hand at a number of unusual ventures including setting up a photography company, Earhart set out in a new direction. Following her parents' divorce in 1924, she drove her mother in the "Yellow Peril" on a transcontinental trip from California with stops throughout the West and even a jaunt up to Calgary, Alberta. The meandering tour eventually brought the pair to Boston, Massachusetts where Earhart underwent another sinus procedure, this operation being more successful. After recuperation, she returned for several months to Columbia University but was forced to abandon her studies and any further plans for enrolling at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology because her mother could no longer afford the tuition fees and associated costs. Soon after, she found employment first as a teacher, then as a social worker in 1925 at Denison House, living in Medford, Massachusetts.

When Earhart lived in Medford, she maintained her interest in aviation, becoming a member of the American Aeronautical Society's Boston chapter and was eventually elected its vice president. She flew out of Dennison Airport (later the Naval Air Station Squantum) in Quincy, Massachusetts and helped finance its operation by investing a small sum of money. Earhart also flew the first official flight out of Dennison Airport in 1927. As well as acting as a sales representative for Kinner airplanes in the Boston area, Earhart wrote local newspaper columns promoting flying and as her local celebrity grew, she laid out the plans for an organization devoted to female flyers.

1928 transatlantic flight

After Charles Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic in 1927, Amy Phipps Guest, (1873–1959), expressed interest in being the first woman to fly (or be flown) across the Atlantic Ocean. After deciding the trip was too perilous for her to undertake, she offered to sponsor the project, suggesting they find "another girl with the right image." While at work one afternoon in April 1928, Earhart got a phone call from Capt. Hilton H. Railey, who asked her, "Would you like to fly the Atlantic?"

The project coordinators (including book publisher and publicist George P. Putnam) interviewed Earhart and asked her to accompany pilot Wilmer Stultz and co-pilot/mechanic Louis Gordon on the flight, nominally as a passenger, but with the added duty of keeping the flight log. The team departed Trepassey Harbor, Newfoundland in a Fokker F.VIIb/3m on June 17, 1928, landing at Burry Port (near Llanelli), Wales, United Kingdom, exactly 20 hours and 40 minutes later. Since most of the flight was on "instruments" and Earhart had no training for this type of flying, she did not pilot the aircraft. When interviewed after landing, she said, "Stultz did all the flying—had to. I was just baggage, like a sack of potatoes." She added, "...maybe someday I'll try it alone."

While in England, Earhart is reported as receiving a rousing welcome on June 19, 1928, when landing at Woolston in Southampton, England. She flew the Avro Avian 594 Avian III, SN: R3/AV/101 owned by Lady Mary Heath and later purchased the aircraft and had it shipped back to the United States (where it was assigned “unlicensed aircraft identification mark” 7083).

When the Stultz, Gordon and Earhart flight crew returned to the United States, they were greeted with a ticker-tape parade in New York followed by a reception with President Calvin Coolidge at the White House.

Celebrity image

Trading on her physical resemblance to Lindbergh, whom the press had dubbed "Lucky Lindy," some newspapers and magazines began referring to Earhart as "Lady Lindy." The United Press was more grandiloquent; to them, Earhart was the reigning "Queen of the Air." Immediately after her return to the United States, she undertook an exhausting lecture tour (1928–1929). Meanwhile, Putnam had undertaken to heavily promote her in a campaign including publishing a book she authored, a series of new lecture tours and using pictures of her in mass market endorsements for products including luggage, Lucky Strike cigarettes (this caused image problems for her, with ''McCall's'' magazine retracting an offer) and women's clothing and sportswear. The money that she made with "Lucky Strike" had been earmarked for a $1,500 donation to Commander Richard Byrd's imminent South Pole expedition.

Rather than simply endorsing the products, Earhart actively became involved in the promotions, especially in women's fashions. For a number of years she had sewn her own clothes, but the "active living" lines that were sold in 50 stores such as Macy's in metropolitan areas were an expression of a new Earhart image. Her concept of simple, natural lines matched with wrinkle-proof, washable materials was the embodiment of a sleek, purposeful but feminine "A.E." (the familiar name she went by with family and friends). The luggage line that she promoted (marketed as Modernaire Earhart Luggage) also bore her unmistakable stamp. She ensured that the luggage met the demands of air travel; it is still being produced today. A wide range of promotional items would appear bearing the Earhart "image" and likewise, modern equivalents are still being marketed to this day. The marketing campaign by G.P. Putnam was successful in establishing the Earhart mystique in the public psyche.

Promoting aviation

The celebrity endorsements would help Earhart finance her flying. Accepting a position as associate editor at ''Cosmopolitan'' magazine, she turned this forum into an opportunity to campaign for greater public acceptance of aviation, especially focusing on the role of women entering the field. In 1929, Earhart was among the first aviators to promote commercial air travel through the development of a passenger airline service; along with Charles Lindbergh, she represented Transcontinental Air Transport (TAT) and invested time and money in setting up the first regional shuttle service between New York and Washington, DC. (TAT later became TWA). She was a Vice President of National Airways, which conducted the flying operations of the Boston-Maine Airways and several other airlines in the northeast. By 1940, it had become Northeast Airlines.

Competitive flying

Although Earhart had gained fame for her transatlantic flight, she endeavored to set an "untarnished" record of her own. Shortly after her return, piloting Avian ''7083'', she set off on her first long solo flight which occurred just as her name was coming into the national spotlight. By making the trip in August 1928, Earhart became the first woman to fly solo across the North American continent and back. Gradually her piloting skills and professionalism grew, as acknowledged by experienced professional pilots who flew with her. General Leigh Wade flew with Earhart in 1929: "She was a born flier, with a delicate touch on the stick."

Earhart subsequently made her first attempt at competitive air racing in 1929 during the first Santa Monica-to-Cleveland Women's Air Derby (later nicknamed the "Powder Puff Derby" by Will Rogers). During the race, at the last intermediate stop before the finish in Cleveland, Earhart and her friend Ruth Nichols were tied for first place. Nichols was to take off right before Earhart, but her aircraft hit a tractor at the end of the runway and flipped over. Instead of taking off, Earhart ran to the wrecked aircraft and dragged her friend out. Only when she was sure that Nichols was uninjured did Earhart take off for Cleveland but due to the time lost, she finished third. Her courageous act was symbolic of Earhart's selflessness; typically, she rarely referred to the incident in later years.

In 1930, Earhart became an official of the National Aeronautic Association where she actively promoted the establishment of separate women's records and was instrumental in the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) accepting a similar international standard. While to a reader today it might seem that Earhart was engaged in flying "stunts," she was, with other female flyers, crucial to making the American public "air minded" and convincing them that "aviation was no longer just for daredevils and supermen."

During this period, Earhart became involved with The Ninety-Nines, an organization of female pilots providing moral support and advancing the cause of women in aviation. She had called a meeting of female pilots in 1929 following the Women's Air Derby. She suggested the name based on the number of the charter members; she later became the organization's first president in 1930.

Marriage

For a while Earhart was engaged to Samuel Chapman, a chemical engineer from Boston, breaking off her engagement on November 23, 1928. During the same period, Earhart and Putnam had spent a great deal of time together, leading to intimacy. George P. Putnam, who was known as GP, was divorced in 1929 and sought out Earhart, proposing to her six times before she finally agreed. After substantial hesitation on her part, they married on February 7, 1931, in Putnam's mother's house in Noank, Connecticut. Earhart referred to her marriage as a "partnership" with "dual control." In a letter written to Putnam and hand delivered to him on the day of the wedding, she wrote, "I want you to understand I shall not hold you to any midaevil code of faithfulness to me nor shall I consider myself bound to you similarly."

Earhart's ideas on marriage were liberal for the time as she believed in equal responsibilities for both "breadwinners" and pointedly kept her own name rather than being referred to as Mrs. Putnam. When ''The New York Times'', per the rules of its stylebook, insisted on referring to her as Mrs. Putnam, she laughed it off. GP also learned quite soon that he would be called "Mr. Earhart." There was no honeymoon for the newlyweds as Earhart was involved in a nine-day cross-country tour promoting autogyros and the tour sponsor, Beech-nut Gum. Although Earhart and Putnam had no children, he had two sons by his previous marriage to Dorothy Binney (1888–1982), a chemical heiress whose father's company, Binney & Smith, invented Crayola crayons: the explorer and writer David Binney Putnam (1913–1992) and George Palmer Putnam, Jr. (born 1921). Earhart was especially fond of David who frequently visited his father at their family home in Rye, New York. George had contracted polio shortly after his parents' separation and was unable to visit as often.

A few years later, a fire broke out at the Putnam residence in Rye and before it could be contained, destroyed much of the Putnam family treasures including many of Earhart's personal mementos. Following the fire, Putnam and Earhart decided to move to the West Coast, since Putnam had already sold his interest in the publishing company to his cousin Palmer, setting up in North Hollywood, which brought Putnam close to Paramount Pictures and his new position as head of the editorial board of this motion picture company.

1932 transatlantic solo flight

At the age of 34, on the morning of May 20, 1932, Earhart set off from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland with the latest copy of a local newspaper (the dated copy was intended to confirm the date of the flight). She intended to fly to Paris in her single engine Lockheed Vega 5b to emulate Charles Lindbergh's solo flight. Her technical advisor for the flight was famed Norwegian American aviator Bernt Balchen who helped prepare her aircraft. He also played the role of "decoy" for the press as he was ostensibly preparing Earhart's Vega for his own Arctic flight. After a flight lasting 14 hours, 56 minutes during which she contended with strong northerly winds, icy conditions and mechanical problems, Earhart landed in a pasture at Culmore, north of Derry, Northern Ireland. The landing was witnessed by Cecil King and T. Sawyer. When a farm hand asked, "Have you flown far?" Earhart replied, "From America." The site now is the home of a small museum, the ''Amelia Earhart Centre.''

As the first woman to fly solo non-stop across the Atlantic, Earhart received the Distinguished Flying Cross from Congress, the Cross of Knight of the Legion of Honor from the French Government and the Gold Medal of the National Geographic Society from President Herbert Hoover. As her fame grew, she developed friendships with many people in high offices, most notably Eleanor Roosevelt, the First Lady from 1933–1945. Roosevelt shared many of Earhart's interests and passions, especially women's causes. After flying with Earhart, Roosevelt obtained a student permit but did not pursue her plans to learn to fly. The two friends communicated frequently throughout their lives. Another famous flyer, Jacqueline Cochran, considered Earhart's greatest rival by both media and the public, also became a confidante and friend during this period.

Other solo flights

On January 11, 1935, Earhart became the first person to fly solo from Honolulu, Hawaii to Oakland, California. Although this transoceanic flight had been attempted by many others, most notably by the unfortunate participants in the 1927 Dole Air Race which had reversed the route, her trailblazing flight had been mainly routine, with no mechanical breakdowns. In her final hours, she even relaxed and listened to "the broadcast of the Metropolitan Opera from New York."

That year, once more flying her faithful Vega which Earhart had tagged "old Bessie, the fire horse," she soloed from Los Angeles to Mexico City on April 19. The next record attempt was a nonstop flight from Mexico City to New York. Setting off on May 8, her flight was uneventful although the large crowds that greeted her at Newark, New Jersey were a concern as she had to be careful not to taxi into the throng.

Earhart again participated in long-distance air racing, placing fifth in the 1935 Bendix Trophy Race, the best result she could manage considering that her stock Lockheed Vega topping out at was outclassed by purpose-built air racers which reached more than . The race had been a particularly difficult one as one competitor, Cecil Allen, died in a fiery takeoff mishap and rival Jacqueline Cochran was forced to retire due to mechanical problems, the "blinding fog" and violent thunderstorms that plagued the race.

Between 1930–1935, Earhart had set seven women's speed and distance aviation records in a variety of aircraft including the Kinner Airster, Lockheed Vega and Pitcairn Autogiro. By 1935, recognizing the limitations of her "lovely red Vega" in long, transoceanic flights, Earhart contemplated, in her own words, a new "prize... one flight which I most wanted to attempt – a circumnavigation of the globe as near its waistline as could be." For the new venture, she would need a new aircraft.

1937 world flight

Planning

Earhart joined the faculty of Purdue University in 1935 as a visiting faculty member to counsel women on careers and as a technical advisor to the Department of Aeronautics. In July 1936, she took delivery of a Lockheed Electra 10E financed by Purdue and started planning a round-the-world flight. Not the first to circle the globe, it would be the longest at 29,000 miles (47,000 km), following a grueling equatorial route. Although the Electra was publicized as a "flying laboratory," little useful science was planned and the flight seems to have been arranged around Earhart's intention to circumnavigate the globe along with gathering raw material and public attention for her next book. Her first choice as navigator was Captain Harry Manning, who had been the captain of the , the ship that had brought Amelia back from Europe in 1928.

Through contacts in the Los Angeles aviation community, Fred Noonan was subsequently chosen as a second navigator because there were significant additional factors which had to be dealt with while using celestial navigation for aircraft. He had vast experience in both marine (he was a licensed ship's captain) and flight navigation. Noonan had recently left Pan Am, where he established most of the company's China Clipper seaplane routes across the Pacific. Noonan had also been responsible for training Pan American's navigators for the route between San Francisco and Manila. The original plans were for Noonan to navigate from Hawaii to Howland Island, a particularly difficult portion of the flight; then Manning would continue with Earhart to Australia and she would proceed on her own for the remainder of the project.

First attempt

On St. Patrick's Day, March 17, 1937, Earhart and her crew flew the first leg from Oakland, California to Honolulu, Hawaii. In addition to Earhart and Noonan, Harry Manning and Hollywood stunt pilot Paul Mantz (who was acting as Earhart's technical advisor) were on board. Due to lubrication and galling problems with the propeller hubs' variable pitch mechanisms, the aircraft needed servicing in Hawaii. Ultimately, the Electra ended up at the United States Navy's Luke Field on Ford Island in Pearl Harbor. The flight resumed three days later from Luke Field with Earhart, Noonan and Manning on board and during the takeoff run, Earhart ground-looped. The circumstances of the ground loop remain controversial. Some witnesses at Luke Field including the Associated Press journalist on the scene said they saw a tire blow. Earhart thought either the Electra's right tire had blown and/or the right landing gear had collapsed. Some sources, including Mantz, cited pilot error.

With the aircraft severely damaged, the flight was called off and the aircraft was shipped by sea to the Lockheed facility in Burbank, California for repairs.

Second attempt

While the Electra was being repaired Earhart and Putnam secured additional funds and prepared for a second attempt. This time flying west to east, the second attempt began with an unpublicized flight from Oakland to Miami, Florida and after arriving there Earhart publicly announced her plans to circumnavigate the globe. The flight's opposite direction was partly the result of changes in global wind and weather patterns along the planned route since the earlier attempt. Fred Noonan was Earhart's only crew member for the second flight. They departed Miami on June 1 and after numerous stops in South America, Africa, the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, arrived at Lae, New Guinea on June 29, 1937. At this stage about 22,000 miles (35,000 km) of the journey had been completed. The remaining 7,000 miles (11,000 km) would all be over the Pacific.

Departure from Lae

On July 2, 1937 (midnight GMT) Earhart and Noonan took off from Lae in the heavily loaded Electra. Their intended destination was Howland Island, a flat sliver of land 6,500 ft (2,000 m) long and 1,600 ft (500 m) wide, 10 ft (3 m) high and 2,556 miles (4,113 km) away. Their last known position report was near the Nukumanu Islands, about 800 miles (1,300 km) into the flight. The United States Coast Guard cutter was on station at Howland, assigned to communicate with Earhart's Lockheed Electra 10E and guide them to the island once they arrived in the vicinity.

Final approach to Howland Island

Through a series of misunderstandings or errors (the details of which are still controversial), the final approach to Howland Island using radio navigation was not successful. Fred Noonan had earlier written about problems affecting the accuracy of radio direction finding in navigation. Some sources have noted Earhart's apparent lack of understanding of her Bendix direction-finding loop antenna, which at the time was very new technology. Another cited cause of possible confusion was that the USCG cutter ''Itasca'' and Earhart planned their communication schedule using time systems set a half hour apart (with Earhart using Greenwich Civil Time (GCT) and the ''Itasca'' under a Naval time zone designation system).

Motion picture evidence from Lae suggests that an antenna mounted underneath the fuselage may have been torn off from the fuel-heavy Electra during taxi or takeoff from Lae's turf runway, though no antenna was reported found at Lae. Don Dwiggins, in his biography of Paul Mantz (who assisted Earhart and Noonan in their flight planning), noted that the aviators had cut off their long-wire antenna, due to the annoyance of having to crank it back into the aircraft after each use.

Radio signals

During Earhart and Noonan's approach to Howland Island the ''Itasca'' received strong and clear voice transmissions from Earhart identifying as KHAQQ but she apparently was unable to hear voice transmissions from the ship. At 7:42 am Earhart radioed "We must be on you, but cannot see you—but gas is running low. Have been unable to reach you by radio. We are flying at 1,000 feet." Her 7:58 am transmission said she couldn't hear the ''Itasca'' and asked them to send voice signals so she could try to take a radio bearing (this transmission was reported by the ''Itasca'' as the loudest possible signal, indicating Earhart and Noonan were in the immediate area). They couldn't send voice at the frequency she asked for, so Morse code signals were sent instead. Earhart acknowledged receiving these but said she was unable to determine their direction.

In her last known transmission at 8:43 am Earhart broadcast "We are on the line 157 337. We will repeat this message. We will repeat this on 6210 kilocycles. Wait." However, a few moments later she was back on the same frequency (3105 kHz) with a transmission which was logged as a "questionable": "We are running on line north and south." Earhart's transmissions seemed to indicate she and Noonan believed they had reached Howland's charted position, which was incorrect by about five nautical miles (10 km). The Itasca used her oil-fired boilers to generate smoke for a period of time but the fliers apparently did not see it. The many scattered clouds in the area around Howland Island have also been cited as a problem: their dark shadows on the ocean surface may have been almost indistinguishable from the island's subdued and very flat profile.

Whether any post-loss radio signals were received from Earhart and Noonan remains controversial. If transmissions were received from the Electra, most if not all were weak and hopelessly garbled. Earhart's voice transmissions to Howland were on 3105 kHz, a frequency restricted to aviation use in the United States by the FCC. This frequency was not thought to be fit for broadcasts over great distances. When Earhart was at cruising altitude and midway between Lae and Howland (over from each) neither station heard her scheduled transmission at 0815 GCT. Moreover, the 50-watt transmitter used by Earhart was attached to a less-than-optimum-length V-type antenna.

The last voice transmission received on Howland Island from Earhart indicated she and Noonan were flying along a line of position (taken from a "sun line" running on 157–337 degrees) which Noonan would have calculated and drawn on a chart as passing through Howland. After all contact was lost with Howland Island, attempts were made to reach the flyers with both voice and Morse code transmissions. Operators across the Pacific and the United States may have heard signals from the downed Electra but these were unintelligible or weak.

Some of these transmissions were hoaxes but others were deemed authentic. Bearings taken by Pan American Airways stations suggested signals originating from several locations, including Gardner Island. It was noted at the time that if these signals were from Earhart and Noonan, they must have been on land with the aircraft since water would have otherwise shorted out the Electra's electrical system. Sporadic signals were reported for four or five days after the disappearance but none yielded any understandable information. The captain of the later said "There was no doubt many stations were calling the Earhart plane on the plane's frequency, some by voice and others by signals. All of these added to the confusion and doubtfulness of the authenticity of the reports."

Search efforts

Beginning approximately one hour after Earhart's last recorded message, the USCG ''Itasca'' undertook an ultimately unsuccessful search north and west of Howland Island based on initial assumptions about transmissions from the aircraft. The United States Navy soon joined the search and over a period of about three days sent available resources to the search area in the vicinity of Howland Island. The initial search by the ''Itasca'' involved running up the 157/337 line of position to the NNW from Howland Island. The ''Itasca'' then searched the area to the immediate NE of the island, corresponding to the area, yet wider than the area searched to the NW. Based on bearings of several supposed Earhart radio transmissions, some of the search efforts were directed to a specific position 281 degrees NW of Howland Island without finding land or evidence of the flyers. Four days after Earhart's last verified radio transmission, on July 6, 1937, the captain of the battleship ''Colorado'' received orders from the Commandant, Fourteenth Naval District to take over all naval and coast guard units to coordinate search efforts.

Later search efforts were directed to the Phoenix Islands south of Howland Island. A week after the disappearance, naval aircraft from the ''Colorado'' flew over several islands in the group including Gardner Island, which had been uninhabited for over 40 years. The subsequent report on Gardner read: "Here signs of recent habitation were clearly visible but repeated circling and zooming failed to elicit any answering wave from possible inhabitants and it was finally taken for granted that none were there... At the western end of the island a tramp steamer (of about 4000 tons)... lay high and almost dry head onto the coral beach with her back broken in two places. The lagoon at Gardner looked sufficiently deep and certainly large enough so that a seaplane or even an airboat could have landed or takenoff [sic] in any direction with little if any difficulty. Given a chance, it is believed that Miss Earhart could have landed her aircraft in this lagoon and swum or waded ashore." They also found that Gardner's shape and size as recorded on charts were wholly inaccurate. Other Navy search efforts were again directed north, west and southwest of Howland Island, based on a possibility the Electra had ditched in the ocean, was afloat, or that the aviators were in an emergency raft.

The official search efforts lasted until July 19, 1937. At $4 million, the air and sea search by the Navy and Coast Guard was the most costly and intensive in U.S. history up to that time but search and rescue techniques during the era were rudimentary and some of the search was based on erroneous assumptions and flawed information. Official reporting of the search effort was influenced by individuals wary about how their roles in looking for an American hero might be reported by the press. Despite an unprecedented search by the United States Navy and Coast Guard no physical evidence of Earhart, Noonan or the Electra 10E was found. The United States Navy aircraft carrier and battleship ''Colorado'', the ''Itasca'' (and even two Japanese ships, the oceanographic survey vessel ''Koshu'' and auxiliary seaplane tender ''Kamoi'') searched for six–seven days each, covering .

Immediately after the end of the official search, Putnam financed a private search by local authorities of nearby Pacific islands and waters, concentrating on the Gilberts. In late July 1937 Putnam chartered two small boats and while he remained in the United States, directed a search of the Phoenix Islands, Christmas (Kiritimati) Island, Fanning (Tabuaeran) Island, the Gilbert Islands and the Marshall Islands, but no trace of the Electra or its occupants was found.

Back in the United States, Putnam acted to become the trustee of Earhart's estate so that he could pay for the searches and related bills. In probate court in Los Angeles, Putnam requested to have the "death in absentia" seven-year waiting period waived so that he could manage Earhart's finances. As a result, Earhart was declared legally dead on January 5, 1939.

Theories on Earhart's disappearance

Many theories emerged after the disappearance of Earhart and Noonan. Two possibilities concerning the flyers' fate have prevailed among researchers and historians:

Crash and sink theory

Many researchers believe the Electra ran out of fuel and Earhart and Noonan ditched at sea. Navigator and aeronautical engineer Elgen Long and his wife Marie K. Long devoted 35 years of exhaustive research to the "crash and sink" theory, which is the most widely accepted explanation for the disappearance. Capt. Laurance F. Safford, USN, who was responsible for the interwar Mid Pacific Strategic Direction Finding Net, and the decoding of the Japanese PURPLE cipher messages for the attack on Pearl Harbor, began a lengthy analysis of the Earhart flight during the 1970s. His research included the intricate radio transmission documentation. Safford came to the conclusion, "poor planning, worse execution." Rear Admiral Richard R. Black, USN, who was in administrative charge of the Howland Island airstrip and was present in the radio room on the ''Itasca,'' asserted in 1982 that "the Electra went into the sea about 10 am, July 2, 1937 not far from Howland". British aviation historian Roy Nesbit interpreted evidence in contemporary accounts and Putnam's correspondence and concluded Earhart's Electra was not fully fueled at Lae. William L. Polhemous, the navigator on Ann Pellegreno's 1967 flight which followed Earhart and Noonan's original flight path, studied navigational tables for July 2, 1937 and thought Noonan may have miscalculated the "single line approach" intended to "hit" Howland.

David Jourdan, a former Navy submariner and ocean engineer specializing in deep-sea recoveries, has claimed any transmissions attributed to Gardner Island were false. Through his company Nauticos he extensively searched a quadrant north and west of Howland Island during two deep-sea sonar expeditions (2002 and 2006, total cost $4.5 million) and found nothing. The search locations were derived from the line of position (157–337) broadcast by Earhart on July 2, 1937. Nevertheless, Elgen Long's interpretations have led Jourdan to conclude, "The analysis of all the data we have – the fuel analysis, the radio calls, other things – tells me she went into the water off Howland." Earhart's stepson George Palmer Putnam Jr. has been quoted as saying he believes "the plane just ran out of gas." Susan Butler, author of the "definitive" Earhart biography ''East to the Dawn'', says she thinks the aircraft went into the ocean out of sight of Howland Island and rests on the seafloor at a depth of . Tom D. Crouch, Senior Curator of the National Air and Space Museum, has said the Earhart/Noonan Electra is "18,000 ft. down" and may even yield a range of artifacts that could rival the finds of the ''Titanic'', adding, "...the mystery is part of what keeps us interested. In part, we remember her because she's our favorite missing person."

Gardner Island hypothesis

Immediately after Earhart and Noonan's disappearance, the United States Navy, Paul Mantz and Earhart's mother (who convinced G.P. Putnam to undertake a search in the Gardner Group) all expressed belief the flight had ended in the Phoenix Islands (now part of Kiribati), some southeast of Howland Island.

In July 2007, an editor at ''Avionews'' in Rome compared the Gardner Island hypothesis to other non-crash-and-sink theories and called it the "most confirmed" of them. In 1988, The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) initiated their project to investigate the Earhart/Noonan disappearance and since then has sent six expeditions to the island. They have suggested Earhart and Noonan may have flown without further radio transmissions for two and a half hours along the line of position Earhart noted in her last transmission received at Howland, arrived at then-uninhabited Gardner Island (now Nikumaroro) in the Phoenix group, landed on an extensive reef flat near the wreck of a large freighter (the ) and ultimately perished.

TIGHAR's research has produced a range of documented archaeological and anecdotal evidence supporting this hypothesis. For example, in 1940, Gerald Gallagher, a British colonial officer and licensed pilot, radioed his superiors to inform them that he had found a "skeleton... possibly that of a woman", along with an old-fashioned sextant box, under a tree on the island's southeast corner. He was ordered to send the remains to Fiji, where in 1941, British colonial authorities took detailed measurements of the bones and concluded they were from a male about 5 ft 5 in tall. However, in 1998 an analysis of the measurement data by forensic anthropologists indicated the skeleton had belonged to a "tall white female of northern European ancestry." The bones themselves were misplaced in Fiji long ago and have not been found.

During World War II, US Coast Guard LORAN Unit 92, a radio navigation station built in the summer and fall of 1944 and operational from mid-November 1944 until mid-May 1945 was located on Gardner Island's southeast end. Dozens of US Coast Guard personnel were involved in its construction and operation, but were mostly forbidden from leaving the small base or having contact with the Gilbertese colonists then on the island and found no artifacts known to relate to Earhart.

Artifacts discovered by TIGHAR on Nikumaroro have included improvised tools, an aluminum panel (possibly from an Electra), an oddly cut piece of clear Plexiglas which is the exact thickness and curvature of an Electra window and a size 9 Cat's Paw heel dating from the 1930s which resembles Earhart's footwear in world flight photos. tall and Earhart was and wore a size 6 shoe according to her sister.|group=N}} The evidence remains circumstantial, but Earhart's surviving stepson, George Putnam Jr., has expressed enthusiasm for TIGHAR's research.

From July 21 to August 2, 2007, a TIGHAR expedition visited Nikumaroro searching for unambiguously identifiable aircraft artifacts and DNA. The group included engineers, technical experts and others. They were reported to have found additional artifacts of as yet uncertain origin on the weather-ravaged atoll, including bronze bearings which may have belonged to Earhart's aircraft and a zipper pull which might have come from her flight suit.

In December 2010, the research group said it had found bones that appeared to be part of a human finger. The following March they reported that DNA testing at the University of Oklahoma proved inconclusive as to whether the bone fragments were from a human or from a sea turtle.

Myths, urban legends and unsupported claims

The unresolved circumstances of Amelia Earhart's disappearance, along with her fame, attracted a great body of other claims relating to her last flight, all of which have been generally dismissed for lack of verifiable evidence. Several unsupported theories have become well known in popular culture.

Spies for FDR

A World War II-era movie called ''Flight for Freedom'' (1943) starring Rosalind Russell and Fred MacMurray furthered a myth that Earhart was spying on the Japanese in the Pacific at the request of the Franklin Roosevelt administration. By 1949, both the United Press and U.S. Army Intelligence had concluded this rumor was groundless. Jackie Cochran, another pioneering aviator and one of Earhart's friends, made a postwar search of numerous files in Japan and was convinced the Japanese were not involved in Earhart's disappearance.

Saipan claims

In 1966, CBS Correspondent Fred Goerner published a book claiming Earhart and Noonan were captured and executed when their aircraft crashed on Saipan Island, part of the Northern Marianas archipelago while it was under Japanese occupation. In 2009, an Earhart relative stated that the pair died in Japanese custody, citing unnamed witnesses including Japanese troops and Saipan natives. He said that the Japanese cut the valuable Lockheed aircraft into scrap and threw the pieces into the ocean.

Thomas E. Devine (who served in a postal Army unit) wrote ''Eyewitness: The Amelia Earhart Incident'' which includes a letter from the daughter of a Japanese police official who claimed her father was responsible for Earhart's execution.

Former U.S. Marine Robert Wallack claimed he and other Marines opened a safe on Saipan and found Earhart's briefcase. Former U.S. Marine Earskin J. Nabers claimed that while serving as a wireless operator on Saipan in 1944, he decoded a message from naval officials which said Earhart's aircraft had been found at Aslito AirField, that he was later ordered to guard the aircraft and then witnessed its destruction. In 1990, the NBC-TV series ''Unsolved Mysteries'' broadcast an interview with a Saipanese woman who claimed to have witnessed Earhart and Noonan's execution by Japanese soldiers. No independent confirmation or support has ever emerged for any of these claims. Purported photographs of Earhart during her captivity have been identified as either fraudulent or having been taken before her final flight.

Since the end of World War II, a location on Tinian, which is five miles (eight km) southwest of Saipan, had been rumoured to be the grave of the two aviators. In 2004 a scientifically supported archaeological dig at the site failed to turn up any bones.

Tokyo Rose rumor

A rumor which claimed that Earhart had made propaganda radio broadcasts as one of the many women compelled to serve as Tokyo Rose was investigated closely by George Putnam. According to several biographies of Earhart, Putnam investigated this rumor personally but after listening to many recordings of numerous Tokyo Roses, he did not recognize her voice among them.

Rabaul

David Billings, an Australian aircraft engineer, has asserted a map marked with notations consistent with Earhart's engine model number and her airframe's construction number has surfaced. It originates from a World War II Australian patrol stationed on New Britain Island off the coast of New Guinea and indicates a crash site southwest of Rabaul. Billings has speculated Earhart turned back from Howland and tried to reach Rabaul for fuel. Ground searches have been unsuccessful.

Assuming another identity

In November 2006, the National Geographic Channel aired episode two of the ''Undiscovered History'' series about a claim that Earhart survived the world flight, moved to New Jersey, changed her name, remarried and became Irene Craigmile Bolam. This claim had originally been raised in the book ''Amelia Earhart Lives'' (1970) by author Joe Klaas, based on the research of Major Joseph Gervais. Irene Bolam, who had been a banker in New York during the 1940s, denied being Earhart, filed a lawsuit requesting $1.5 million in damages and submitted a lengthy affidavit in which she refuted the claims. The book's publisher, McGraw-Hill, withdrew the book from the market shortly after it was released and court records indicate that they made an out of court settlement with her. Subsequently, Bolam's personal life history was thoroughly documented by researchers, eliminating any possibility she was Earhart. Kevin Richlin, a professional criminal forensic expert hired by National Geographic, studied photographs of both women and cited many measurable facial differences between Earhart and Bolam.

Legacy

Amelia Earhart was a widely known international celebrity during her lifetime. Her shyly charismatic appeal, independence, persistence, coolness under pressure, courage and goal-oriented career along with the circumstances of her disappearance at a young age have driven her lasting fame in popular culture. Hundreds of articles and scores of books have been written about her life which is often cited as a motivational tale, especially for girls. Earhart is generally regarded as a feminist icon.

Earhart's accomplishments in aviation inspired a generation of female aviators, including the more than 1,000 women pilots of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) who ferried military aircraft, towed gliders, flew target practice aircraft, and served as transport pilots during World War II.

The home where Earhart was born is now the Amelia Earhart Birthplace Museum and is maintained by the Ninety-Nines, an international group of female pilots of whom Amelia was the first elected president.

A small section of Earhart's Lockheed Electra starboard engine nacelle recovered in the aftermath of the Hawaii crash has been confirmed as authentic and is now regarded as a control piece that will help to authenticate possible future discoveries. The evaluation of the scrap of metal was featured on an episode of ''History Detectives'' on Season 7 in 2009.

Records and achievements

Woman's world altitude record: 14,000 ft (1922)

First woman to fly the Atlantic (1928)

Speed records for 100 km (and with cargo) (1931)

First woman to fly an autogyro (1931)

Altitude record for autogyros: 15,000 ft (1931)

First person to cross the U.S. in an autogyro (1932)

First woman to fly the Atlantic solo (1932)

First person to fly the Atlantic twice (1932)

First woman to receive the Distinguished Flying Cross (1932)

First woman to fly non-stop, coast-to-coast across the U.S. (1933)

Woman's speed transcontinental record (1933)

First person to fly solo between Honolulu, Hawaii and Oakland, California (1935)

First person to fly solo from Los Angeles, California to Mexico City, Mexico (1935)

First person to fly solo nonstop from Mexico City, Mexico to Newark, New Jersey (1935)

Speed record for east-to-west flight from Oakland, California to Honolulu, Hawaii (1937)

Books by Earhart

Amelia Earhart was a successful and heavily promoted writer who served as aviation editor for ''Cosmopolitan'' magazine from 1928 to 1930. She wrote magazine articles, newspaper columns, essays and published two books based upon her experiences as a flyer during her lifetime:

''20 Hrs., 40 Min.'' (1928) was a journal of her experiences as the first woman passenger on a transatlantic flight.

''The Fun of It'' (1932) was a memoir of her flying experiences and an essay on women in aviation.

''Last Flight'' (1937) featured the periodic journal entries she sent back to the United States during her world flight attempt, published in newspapers in the weeks prior to her final departure from New Guinea. Compiled by her husband GP Putnam after she disappeared over the Pacific, many historians consider this book to be only partially Earhart's original work.

Memorial flights

Two notable memorial flights by female aviators subsequently followed Earhart's original circumnavigational route. In 1967, Ann Dearing Holtgren Pellegreno and a crew of three successfully flew a similar aircraft (a Lockheed 10A Electra) to complete a world flight that closely mirrored Earhart's flight plan. On the 30th anniversary of her disappearance, Pellegreno dropped a wreath in Earhart's honor over tiny Howland Island and returned to Oakland, completing the commemorative flight on July 7, 1967.

In 1997, on the 60th anniversary of Amelia Earhart's world flight, San Antonio businesswoman Linda Finch retraced the final flight path flying the same make and model of aircraft as Earhart, a restored 1935 Lockheed Electra 10E. Finch touched down in 18 countries before finishing the trip two and a half months later when she arrived back at Oakland Airport on May 28, 1997.

In 2001, another commemorative flight retraced the route undertaken by Amelia Earhart in her August 1928 trans-continental record flight. Dr. Carlene Mendieta flew an original Avro Avian, the same type that was used in 1928.

Other honors

Amelia Earhart Centre And Wildlife Sanctuary was established at the site of her 1932 landing in Northern Ireland, Ballyarnet Country Park, Derry.

The "Earhart Tree" on Banyan Drive in Hilo, Hawaii was planted by Amelia Earhart in 1935.

The Zonta International Amelia Earhart Fellowship Awards were established in 1938.

Earhart Light (also known as the Amelia Earhart Light), a navigational day beacon on Howland Island (has not been maintained and is crumbling).

The Amelia Earhart Memorial Scholarships (established in 1939 by The Ninety-Nines), provides scholarships to women for advanced pilot certificates and ratings, jet type ratings, college degrees and technical training.

The Purdue University Amelia Earhart Scholarship, first awarded in 1940, is based on academic merit and leadership and is open to juniors and seniors enrolled in any school at the West Lafayette campus. After being discontinued in the 1970s, a donor resurrected the award in 1999.

In 1942, a United States Liberty ship named was launched (it was wrecked in 1948).

Amelia Earhart Field (1947), formerly Masters Field and Miami Municipal Airport, after closure in 1959, the Amelia Earhart Regional Park was dedicated in an area of undeveloped federal government land located north and west of the former Miami Municipal Airport and immediately south of Opa-locka Airport.

Amelia Earhart Airport (1958), located in Atchison, Kansas.

Amelia Earhart Commemorative Stamp (8¢ airmail postage) was issued in 1963 by the United States Postmaster-General.

The Civil Air Patrol Amelia Earhart Award (since 1964) is awarded to cadets who have completed the first 11 achievements of the cadet program along with receipt of the General Billy Mitchell Award.

Amelia Earhart Residence Hall opened in 1964 as a residence hall for women at Purdue University and became coed in 2002. An eight-foot sculpture of Earhart, by Ernest Shelton, was placed in front of the Earhart Hall Dining Court in 2009.

Member of National Women's Hall of Fame (1973).

Crittenton Women’s Union (Boston) Amelia Earhart Award recognizes a woman who continues Earhart’s pioneering spirit and who has significantly contributed to the expansion of opportunities for women. (since 1982)

Earhart Corona, a corona on Venus was named by the (IAU) in 1982. The Amelia Earhart Birthplace, Atchison, Kansas (a museum and historic site, owned and maintained by The Ninety-Nines since 1984).

UCI Irvine Amelia Earhart Award (since 1990).

Member of Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (1992).

3895 Earhart, a minor planet discovered in 1987, was named in 1995 after her, by its discoverer, Carolyn S. Shoemaker.

Earhart Foundation, located in Ann Arbor, MI. Established in 1995, the foundation funds research and scholarship through a network of 50 "Earhart professors" across the United States.

Amelia Earhart Festival (annual event since 1996), located in Atchison, Kansas.

Amelia Earhart Pioneering Achievement Award, Atchison, Kansas: Since 1996, the Cloud L. Cray Foundation provides a $10,000 women’s scholarship to the educational institution of the honoree’s choice.

Amelia Earhart Earthwork in Warnock Lake Park, Atchison, Kansas. Stan Herd created the landscape mural in 1997 from permanent plantings and stone to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Earhart's birth. Located at and best viewed from the air.

Amelia Earhart Bridge (1997), located in Atchison, Kansas.

Greater Miami Aviation Association Amelia Earhart Award for outstanding achievement (2006); first recipient: noted flyer Patricia "Patty" Wagstaff.

On December 6, 2006, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver inducted Amelia Earhart into the California Hall of Fame located at The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts.

USNS ''Amelia Earhart'' (T-AKE-6) was named in her honor in May 2007.

Amelia Earhart full size bronze statue was placed at the Spirit of Flight Center located in Lafayette, Colorado in 2008.

The Amelia Earhart General Aviation Terminal, a satellite terminal at Boston's Logan Airport (formerly used by American Eagle, now unused)

Amelia Earhart Dam on the Mystic River in eastern Massachusetts.

Schools named after Amelia Earhart are found throughout the United States including the Amelia Earhart Elementary School, in Alameda, California, Amelia Earhart Elementary School, in Hialeah, Florida, Amelia Earhart Middle School, Riverside, California and Amelia Earhart International Baccalaureate World School, in Indio, California.

Amelia Earhart Hotel, located in Wiesbaden, Germany, originally used as a hotel for women, then as temporary military housing is now operated as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Europe District Headquarters with offices for the Army Contracting Agency and the Defense Contract Management Agency.

Amelia Earhart Road, located in Oklahoma City (headquarters of The Ninety-Nines), Oklahoma.

Earhart Road, located next to the Oakland International Airport North Field in Oakland, California.

Amelia Earhart Playhouse, at Wiesbaden Army Airfield.

Popular culture

Amelia Earhart's life has spurred the imaginations of many writers and others:

Literature

Earhart appears as a character in David Lippincott's 1970 novel, ''E Pluribus Bang!''.

Patti Smith published two poems dedicated to Earhart: "Amelia Earhart I" and "Amelia Earheart II" in her 1972 poetry collection ''Seventh Heaven''.

Earhart is referenced in Clive Cussler's 1992 book ''Sahara''.

''I Was Amelia Earhart'' (1996) is a faux autobiography by Jane Mendelsohn in which "Earhart" tells the story of what happened to her in 1937, complete with heavy doses of romance with her navigator.

''Flying Blind'' (1999) by Max Allan Collins is a detective novel in which the intrepid Nathan Heller is hired to be a bodyguard for Amelia Earhart. Before long they become lovers (her marriage to Putnam being described as being a union in name only) and later Heller helps her to try to escape from the Japanese following her ill-fated flight.

''Amelia And Eleanor Go For A Ride'' (1999) is a children's picture book written by Pam Munoz Ryan and illustrated by Brian Selznick. It tells the story of the impromptu flight taken by Amelia Earheart and Eleanor Roosevelt in 1933.

In Christopher Moore's 2003 novel, ''Fluke'', Earhart survived her wreck and appears as the mother of one of the characters.

Music

"Amelia Earhart's Last Flight", by "Yodelling Cowboy" Red River Dave McEnery, is thought to be the first song ever performed on commercial television (at the 1939 World's Fair). He recorded it in 1941 and it was subsequently covered by artists including Kinky Friedman and the Country Gentlemen.

Possibly the first tribute album dedicated to the legend of Amelia Earhart was by Plainsong, "In Search of Amelia Earhart", Elektra K42120, released in 1972. Both the album and the Press Pak released by Elektra are highly prized by collectors and have reached cult status.

Singer Joni Mitchell wrote a song called "Amelia" on her 1976 album, ''Hejira'', based on Amelia Earhart's legacy. A video of her live album ''Shadows and Light'' (1980) includes the song "Amelia" and incorporates clips of Earhart.

In 1979, Bachman-Turner Overdrive (BTO) released a song called "Amelia Earhart" on their album, Rock n' Roll Nights.

Erik Frandsen's musical: ''Song of Singapore'', that opened May 23, 1991, features a lounge singer with amnesia, recovering to discover she's Amelia Earhart.

Alternative country band The Handsome Family's 1996 album ''Milk and Scissors'' includes the song "Amelia Earhart vs. the Dancing Bear", a fictionalized account of Earhart's death in a hypothetical crash.

The disappearance of Earhart is one of the many mysteries mentioned in the song "Someday We'll Know" (1999) by the New Radicals, later covered by Mandy Moore and Jonathan Foreman for the movie ''A Walk to Remember''. The lyrics are: "Whatever happened to Amelia Earhart? Who holds the stars up in the sky?"

Singer/songwriter Deb Talan's second album, "Something Burning" (2000), begins with a song called "Thinking Amelia." The song goes on to suggest that Earhart had a "one-in-a-million bad day."

The song "Aviator" by Nemo, which appears on their 2004 debut LP ''Signs of Life'', was written about Amelia Earhart's last flight.

The song "I Miss My Sky," written by Heather Nova for her 2005 album ''Redbird'', is dedicated to Earhart, suggesting that she survived on an island after her disappearance.

Banjo player Curtis Eller of ''Curtis Eller's American Circus'' has also written a song about Earhart's disappearance, "Amelia Earhart" in his "Taking Up Serpents Again" release (2005). One of the lyrics poignantly states that she, "disappeared in a cloudbank and the static never cleared."

The Canadian Hip Hop artist Buck 65 links Amelia Earhart and other iconic women Neko Case and Frida Kahlo in the song "Blood of a Young Wolf" (2006) from the album ''Secret House Against The World''.

English singer/songwriter Tom McRae's fourth album King of Cards (2007) features a song called "The Ballad of Amelia Earhart."

Pop/rock singer-songwriter Jon Mclaughlin wrote a song titled "Amelia's Missing" (2007); the lyrics state: "and Amelia's missing somewhere out at sea."

The song "Amelia" from the 2009 album Blue Lights on the Runway by Irish band Bell X1 contemplates the last moments and fate of Earhart.

Movies and television

The 1943 Rosalind Russell film ''Flight for Freedom'' derived from a treatment, ''Stand by to Die'', was a fictionalized treatment of Earhart's life, with a heavy dose of Hollywood World War II propaganda.

"In Search of: Amelia Earhart," (1976) was episode 16 of the 1976–1982 ''In Search Of'' series, hosted by Star Trek alum Leonard Nimoy. The episode explores the possibility that Earhart was on a secret spy mission and was possibly captured by the Japanese.

A 1976 television bio production titled ''Amelia Earhart'' starring Susan Clark and John Forsythe included flying by Hollywood stunt pilot Frank Tallman whose late partner in Tallmantz Aviation, Paul Mantz, had tutored Earhart in the 1930s.

In the climax of the 1977 science fiction film ''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'', Amelia Earhart is seen walking out of the Mothership, along with a crowd of a hundred other alien abduction survivors. Director Steven Spielberg has acknowledged that this was specifically a nod to the legacy of Earhart and other flyers who mysteriously vanished at sea. The documentary Amelia Earhart: The Price of Courage (1993) from ''American Experience''.

''Amelia Earhart: The Final Flight'' (1994) starring Diane Keaton, Rutger Hauer and Bruce Dern was initially released as TV movie and subsequently released as a theatrical feature.

Earhart as one of many humans abducted by an alien race in 1937, only to be found in cryo-stasis on a planet on the other side of the galaxy, is portrayed by Sharon Lawrence in the ''Star Trek: Voyager'' episode "The 37's" (first aired 1995). :''Dialogue from the episode states that the flight'' was, ''in fact, espionage – the fact that such top-secret information had become common knowledge was the first thing that made her realize that the'' Voyager ''crew's tale of another planet, and in the future, might actually be true.'' Stock footage of Earhart is shown in the opening sequence for the full broadcast run of ''Star Trek: Enterprise'' (2001–2005)

Actress Jane Lynch was cast as Amelia Earhart in the 2004 film ''The Aviator'', but her scenes were cut.

Academy Award nominee Amy Adams portrayed Earhart in ''Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian'' (2009).

In ''Amelia'' (2009), Amelia Earhart is portrayed by Hilary Swank, who also served as co-executive producer of the biopic.

Advertising

The Gap khaki pants ad campaign (1993) featured Amelia Earhart's likeness as did ads for Apple computers.

Earhart's likeness was included among the icons in Apple Computer's "Think Different" advertising campaign (2002) and is now a sought-after collectible. (See: studio portrait, c. 1932 above)

See also

Amelia Earhart Park

Aviation

Aviation archaeology

Bernt Balchen

Irene Craigmile Bolam

Jacqueline Cochran

Cornelia Fort

Douglas Corrigan

Frances Wilson Grayson

Howland Island

Lae, a city in Papua New Guinea

Lockheed Model 10 Electra

Lockheed Vega

Nancy Harkness Love

Elsie Mackay

Paul Mantz

Nikumaroro (Gardner Island)

Ninety-Nines (International Organization of Women Pilots)

Opa-locka Airport

Purdue University

Harriet Quimby

Radio navigation

Neta Snook

Women Airforce Service Pilots

Notes

References

Citations

Bibliography of cited sources

Backus, Jean L. ''Letters from Amelia 1901–1937''. Boston: Beacon Press, 1982. ISBN 0-8070-6703-2.

Blau, Melinda. ''Whatever Happened to Amelia Earhart?'' Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Contemporary Perspectives Inc., 1977. ISBN 0-8172-1057-1.

Briand, Paul. ''Daughter of the Sky''. New York: Duell, Sloan, Pearce, 1960. No ISBN.

Brink, Randall. ''Lost Star: The Search for Amelia Earhart''. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1994. ISBN 0-393-026883-3.

Burke, John. ''Winged Legend: The Story of Amelia Earhart''. New York: Ballantine Books, 1971. ISBN 0-425-03304-X.

Butler, Susan. ''East to the Dawn: The Life of Amelia Earhart''. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1997. ISBN 0-306-80887-0.

Bryan, C.D.B. ''The National Air and Space Museum''. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1979. ISBN 0-8109-0666-X.

Campbell, Mike with Thomas E. Devine. ''With Our Own Eyes: Eyewitnesses to the Final Days of Amelia Earhart''. Lancaster, Ohio: Lucky Press, LLC, 2002. ISBN 0-9706377-6-4.

Cochran, Jacqueline and Maryann Bucknum Brinkley. ''Jackie Cochran: The Autobiography of the Greatest Woman Pilot in Aviation History''. Toronto: Bantam Books, 1987. ISBN 0-553-05211-X.

Cochran, Jacqueline. ''Stars at Noon''. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1954.

Corn, Joseph J. ''The Winged Gospel''. New York: Oxford University Press, 1983. ISBN 0-19-503356-6.

Crouch, Thomas D. "Searching for Amelia Earhart." ''Invention & Technology'' Volume 23, Issue 1, Summer 2007.

Devine, Thomas E. ''Eyewitness: The Amelia Earhart Incident''. Frederick, CO: Renaissance House, 1987. ISBN 0-939650-48-7.

Earhart, Amelia. ''Last Flight''. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company (first edition: Putnam), 1937.

Garst, Shannon. ''Amelia Earhart: Heroine of the Skies''. New York: Julian Messner, Inc., 1947. No ISBN.

Gillespie, Ric. ''Finding Amelia: The True Story of the Earhart Disappearance''. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2006. ISBN 1-59114-319-5.

Glines, C.V. "'Lady Lindy': The Remarkable Life of Amelia Earhart." ''Aviation History'' July 1997.

Goerner, Fred. ''The Search for Amelia Earhart''. New York: Doubleday, 1966. ISBN 0-385-07424-7.

Goldstein, Donald M. and Katherine V. Dillon. ''Amelia: The Centennial Biography of an Aviation Pioneer''. Washington, DC: Brassey's, 1997. ISBN 1-57488-134-5.

Grooch, William Stephen. ''Skyway to Asia''. New York: Longmans, Green and Co., 1936. No ISBN.

Hamill, Pete. "Leather and Pearls: The Cult of Amelia Earhart." ''MS Magazine'' September 1976.

Hoverstein, Paul. "An American Obsession". ''Air & Space Smithsonian'' Vol. 22, No. 2, June/July 2007.

Kerby, Mona. ''Amelia Earhart: Courage in the Sky'' (Women of our Time series). New York: Puffin Books, 1990. ISBN 0-14-034263-X.

King, Thomas F. et al. ''Amelia Earhart's Shoes''. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press, 2001. ISBN 0-7591-0130-2.

Lauber, Patricia. ''Lost Star: The Story of Amelia Earhart''. New York: Scholastic, 1989. ISBN 0-590-41159-4.

Leder, Jane. ''Amelia Earhart'' (Great Mysteries: Opposing Viewpoints). San Diego: Greehaven Press, Inc., 1989. ISBN 0-89908-070-7.

Long, Elgen M. and Marie K. ''Amelia Earhart: The Mystery Solved''. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999. ISBN 0-684-86005-8.

Loomis, Vincent V. ''Amelia Earhart, the Final Story''. New York: Random House, 1985. ISBN 978-0-394-53191-5.

Lovell, Mary S. ''The Sound of Wings''. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1989. ISBN 0-312-03431-8.

Lubben, Kristen and Erin Barnett. ''Amelia Earhart: Image and Icon''. New York: International Center of Photography, 2007. ISBN 978-3-86521-407-2.

Marshall, Patti. "Neta Snook". ''Aviation History'' Vol. 17, No. 3. January 2007, pp. 21–22.

Morey, Eileen. ''The Importance of Amelia Earhart''. San Diego: Lucent Books, 1995. ISBN 1-56006-065-4.

Morrissey, Muriel Earhart. ''Amelia Earhart''. Santa Barbara, California: Bellerophon Books, 1992. ISBN 0-88388-044-X.

Morrissey, Muriel Earhart. ''Courage is the Price: The Biography of Amelia Earhart''. Wichita, Kansas: McCormick-Armstrong Publishing Division, 1963. ISBN 1-141-40879-1.

Oakes, Claudia M. ''United States Women in Aviation 1930–1939''. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1985. ISBN 0-87474-380-X.

O'Leary, Michael. "The Earhart Discovery: Fact or Fiction?" '' Air Classics'' Vol 28, No. 8, August 1992.

Parsons, Bill with Bill Bowman. ''The Challenge of the Atlantic: A Photo-Illustrated History of Early Aviation in Harbour Grace, Newfoundland.'' St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador: Robinson-Blackmore Book Publishers, 1983. ISBN 0-920884-06-7.

Pearce, Carol Ann. ''Amelia Earhart''. New York: Facts on File, 1988. ISBN 0-8160-1520-1.

Pellegrino, Anne Holtgren. ''World Flight: The Amelia Trail''. Ames, Iowa: The Iowa State University Press, 1971. ISBN 0-8138-1760-9.

''The Radio Amateur's Handbook''. West Hartford, Connecticut: American Radio Relay League, 1945. No ISBN.

Randolph, Blythe. ''Amelia Earhart''. New York: Franklin Watts, 1987. ISBN 0-531-10331-5.

Regis, Margaret. ''When Our Mothers Went to War: An Illustrated History of Women in World War II.'' Seattle: NavPublishing, 2008. ISBN 978-1-87732-05-0.

Rich, Doris L. ''Amelia Earhart: A Biography''. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989. ISBN 1-56098-725-1.

Safford, Laurance F. with Cameron A. Warren and Robert R. Payne. ''Earhart's Flight into Yesterday: The Facts Without the Fiction'', McLean, Virginia: Paladwr Press, 2003. ISBN 1-888962-20-8.

Sloate, Susan. ''Amelia Earhart: Challenging the Skies''. New York: Fawcett Books, 1990. ISBN 978-0-449-90396-4 .

Strippel, Richard G. ''Amelia Earhart: The Myth and the Reality''. New York: Exposition Press, 1972. ISBN 0-682-47447-9.

Strippel, Richard G. "Researching Amelia: A Detailed Summary for the Serious Researcher into the Disappearance of Amelia Earhart." ''Air Classics'' Vol. 31, No. 11, November 1995.

Thames, Richard. ''Amelia Earhart''. New York: Franklin Watts, 1989. ISBN 0-531-10851-1.

Van Pelt, Lori. ''Amelia Earhart: The Sky's No Limit''. London: Macmillan, 2005. ISBN 978-0-7653-1061-3.

Van Pelt, Lori. "Amelia's Autogiro Adventures." ''Aviation History'' March 2008.

Ware, Susan. ''Still Missing: Amelia Earhart and the Search for Modern Feminism''. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1993. ISBN 0-393-03551-4.

Wright, Monte Duane. ''Most Probable Position, A History of Aerial Navigation to 1941''. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 1972. ISBN 0-7006-0092-2.

Additional resources

Barker, Ralph. ''Great Mysteries of the Air''. London: Pan Books, 1966. ISBN 0-330-02096-X.

Cady, Barbara. ''They Changed the World: 200 Icons Who Have Made a Difference''. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, 2003. ISBN 1-57912-328-7.

Chapman, Sally Putnam, with Stephanie Mansfield. ''Whistled Like a Bird: The Untold Story of Dorothy Putnam, George Putnam and Amelia Earhart''. New York: Warner Books, 1997. ISBN 0-446-52055-1.

Haynsworth, Leslie and David Toomey. ''Amelia Earhart's Daughters: The Wild and Glorious Story of American Women Aviators from World War II to the Dawn of the Space Age''. New York: Harper Collins Publishers Inc., 1998. ISBN 0-380-72984-9.

Landsberg. Alan. ''In Search of Missing Persons''. New York: Bantam Books, 1978. ISBN 0-553-11459-X.

Moolman, Valerie. ''Women Aloft'' (The Epic of Flight series). Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life Books, 1981. ISBN 0-8094-3287-0.

Purdue University Libraries, "George Palmer Putnam Collection of Amelia Earhart Papers"

Turner, Mary. ''The Women's Century: A Celebration of Changing Roles 1900–2000''. Kew, Richmond, Surrey, UK: The National Archives, 2003. ISBN 1-903365-51-1.

External links

''A 1930's American Hope, Amelia Earhart'', Essay by Mariette Vermeulen, April 3, 1997

Amelia Earhart Birthplace Museum

Amelia Earhart Collection of Papers, Memorabilia and Artifacts The world's largest collection of Earhart photographs, artifacts and correspondence. More than 600 photos are now online

Amelia Earhart's Flight Across America: Rediscovering a Legend

Amelia Earhart Official Web site

Amelia Earhart: On The Future Of Women In Flying (listen online)

Museum of Women Pilots

Amelia Earhart Memorial flight Recreation

Life magazine''">Life and Mystery of Amelia Earhart slideshow by ''Life magazine''

Transcript of interview with Earhart biographer Susan Butler, 1997

Amelia Earhart interview following the 1932 transatlantic flight

Library of Congress">General Correspondence: Earhart, Amelia, 1932–1934, The Wilbur and Orville Wright Papers at the Library of Congress

Library of Congress">Speech by Amelia Earhart from the collection American English Dialect Recordings, Library of Congress

CG cutter Itasca and the search for Earhart

FBI file on Amelia Earhart

Category:1897 births Category:1937 deaths Category:American aviators Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in 1937 Category:Aviation pioneers Category:Female aviators Category:Harmon Trophy winners Category:People from Atchison County, Kansas Category:Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United States) Category:People declared dead in absentia Category:Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents Category:Missing people Category:Purdue University faculty Category:Writers from Kansas Category:Missing aviators

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Name	Hildegard of Bingen
Birth date	1098
Death date	September 17, 1179
Feast day	17 September
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church, Anglican Communion, Lutheranism
Birth place	Bermersheim vor der Höhe, County Palatine of the Rhine, Holy Roman Empire
Death place	Bingen am Rhein, County Palatine of the Rhine, Holy Roman Empire
Titles	Sibyl of the Rhine
Canonized date	No formal canonization, but her name is in the Roman Martyrology
Major shrine	Eibingen Abbey
Prayer attrib	}}

Blessed Hildegard of Bingen (; ) (1098 – 17 September 1179), also known as Saint Hildegard, and Sibyl of the Rhine, was a writer, composer, philosopher, Christian mystic, German Benedictine abbess, visionary, and polymath. Elected a ''magistra'' by her fellow nuns in 1136, she founded the monasteries of Rupertsberg in 1150 and Eibingen in 1165. One of her works as a composer, the ''Ordo Virtutum'', is an early example of liturgical drama.

She wrote theological, botanical and medicinal texts, as well as letters, liturgical songs, poems, and arguably the oldest surviving morality play, while supervising brilliant miniature Illuminations.

Biography

Hildegard of Bingen's date of birth is uncertain. It has been concluded that she may have been born in the year 1098. Hildegard was raised in a family of free nobles. She was her parents' tenth child, sickly from birth. In her ''Vita'', Hildegard explains that from a very young age she had experienced visions.

Perhaps due to Hildegard's visions, or as a method of political positioning, Hildegard's parents, Hildebert and Mechthilde, offered her as a tithe to the church. The date of Hildegard's enclosure in the church is contentious. Her ''Vita'' tells us she was enclosed with an older nun, Jutta, at the age of eight. However, Jutta's enclosure date is known to be in 1112, at which time Hildegard would have been fourteen. Some scholars speculate that Hildegard was placed in the care of Jutta, the daughter of Count Stephan II of Sponheim, at the age of eight, before the two women were enclosed together six years later. There is no written record of the twenty-four years of Hildegard's life that she was in the convent together with Jutta. It is possible that Hildegard could have been a chantress and a worker in the herbarium and infirmarium. In any case, Hildegard and Jutta were enclosed at Disibodenberg in the Palatinate Forest in what is now Germany. Jutta was also a visionary and thus attracted many followers who came to visit her at the enclosure. Hildegard also tells us that Jutta taught her to read and write, but that she was unlearned and therefore incapable of teaching Hildegard Biblical interpretation. Hildegard and Jutta most likely prayed, meditated, read scriptures such as the psalter, and did some sort of handwork during the hours of the Divine Office. This also might have been a time when Hildegard learned how to play the ten-stringed psaltery. Volmar, a frequent visitor, may have taught Hildegard simple psalm notation. The time she studied music could also have been the beginning of the compositions she would later create.

Upon Jutta's death in 1136, Hildegard was unanimously elected as "magistra" of her sister community by her fellow nuns. Abbot Kuno, the Abbot of Disibodenberg, also asked Hildegard to be Prioress. Hildegard, however, wanted more independence for herself and her nuns and asked Abbot Kuno to allow them to move to Rupertsberg. When the abbot declined Hildegard's proposition, Hildegard went over his head and received the approval of Archbishop Henry I of Mainz. Abbot Kuno did not relent, however, until Hildegard was stricken by an illness that kept her paralyzed and unable to move from her bed, an event that she attributed to God's unhappiness at her not following his orders to move her nuns to Rupertsberg. It was only when the Abbot himself could not move Hildegard that he decided to grant the nuns their own monastery. Hildegard and about twenty nuns thus moved to the St. Rupertsberg monastery in 1150, where Volmar served as provost, as well as Hildegard's confessor and scribe. In 1165 Hildegard founded a second convent for her nuns at Eibingen.

Hildegard says that she first saw “The Shade of the Living Light” at the age of three, and by the age of five she began to understand that she was experiencing visions. In Hildegard’s youth, she referred to her visionary gift as her viso. She explained that she saw all things in the light of God through the five senses: sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. Hildegard was hesitant to share her visions, confiding only to Jutta, who in turn told Volmar, Hildegard's tutor and, later, secretary. Throughout her life, she continued to have many visions, and in 1141, at the age of 42, Hildegard received a vision she believed to be an instruction from God, to "write down that which you see and hear." Still hesitant to record her visions, Hildegard became physically ill. The illustrations recorded in the book of Scivias were visions that Hildegard experienced, causing her great suffering and tribulations. In her first theological text, ''Scivias'' ("Know the Ways"), Hildegard describes her struggle within:

But I, though I saw and heard these things, refused to write for a long time through doubt and bad opinion and the diversity of human words, not with stubbornness but in the exercise of humility, until, laid low by the scourge of God, I fell upon a bed of sickness; then, compelled at last by many illnesses, and by the witness of a certain noble maiden of good conduct [the nun Richardis von Stade] and of that man whom I had secretly sought and found, as mentioned above, I set my hand to the writing. While I was doing it, I sensed, as I mentioned before, the deep profundity of scriptural exposition; and, raising myself from illness by the strength I received, I brought this work to a close – though just barely – in ten years. [...] And I spoke and wrote these things not by the invention of my heart or that of any other person, but as by the secret mysteries of God I heard and received them in the heavenly places. And again I heard a voice from Heaven saying to me, 'Cry out therefore, and write thus!'

Hildegard's ''Vita'' was begun by Godfrey of Disibodenberg under Hildegard's supervision.

Works

Attention in recent decades to women of the medieval Church has led to a great deal of popular interest in Hildegard, particularly her music. Between 70 and 80 compositions have survived, which is one of the largest repertoires among medieval composers. Hildegard left behind over 100 letters, 72 songs, 70 poems, and 9 books.

One of her better known works, ''Ordo Virtutum'' (''Play of the Virtues''), is a morality play. It is unsure when some of Hildegard’s compositions were composed, though the Ordo Virtutum is thought to have been composed as early as 1151. The morality play consists of monophonic melodies for the Anima (human soul) and 16 Virtues. There is also one speaking part for the Devil. Scholars assert that the role of the Devil would have been played by Volmar, while Hildegard's nuns would have played the parts of Anima and the Virtues.

In addition to the ''Ordo Virtutum'' Hildegard composed many liturgical songs that were collected into a cycle called the ''Symphonia armoniae celestium revelationum.'' The songs from the Symphonia are set to Hildegard’s own text and range from antiphons, hymns, and sequences, to responsories. Her music is described as monophonic; that is, consisting of exactly one melodic line. Hildegard's compositional style is characterized by soaring melodies, often well outside of the normal range of chant at the time. Additionally, scholars such as Margot Fassler and Marianna Richert Pfau describe Hildegard's music as highly melismatic, often with recurrent melodic units, and also note her close attention to the relationship between music and text, which was a rare occurrence in monastic chant of the twelfth century. Hildegard of Bingen’s songs are left open for rhythmic interpretation because of the use of neumes without a staff. The reverence for the Virgin Mary reflected in music shows how deeply influenced and inspired Hildegard of Bingen and her community were by the Virgin Mary and the saints.

The definition of ‘greenness’ is an earthly expression of the heavenly in an integrity that overcomes dualisms. This ‘greenness’ or power of life appears frequently in Hildegard’s works.

In addition to her music, Hildegard also wrote three books of visions, the first of which, her ''Scivias'' ("Know the Way"), was completed in 1151. ''Liber vitae meritorum'' ("Book of Life's Merits") and ''De operatione Dei'' ("Of God's Activities", also known as ''Liber divinorum operum'', "Book of Divine Works") followed. In these volumes, the last of which was completed when she was about 75, Hildegard first describes each vision, then interprets them through Biblical exegesis. The narrative of her visions was richly decorated under her direction, with transcription assistance provided by the monk Volmar and nun Richardis. The book was celebrated in the Middle Ages, in part because of the approval given to it by Pope Eugenius III, and was later printed in Paris in 1513.

Aside from her books of visions, Hildegard also wrote her ''Physica,'' a text on the natural sciences, as well as ''Causae et Curae''. Hildegard of Bingen was well known for her healing powers involving practical application of tinctures, herbs, and precious stones. In both texts Hildegard describes the natural world around her, including the cosmos, animals, plants, stones, and minerals. She combined these elements with a theological notion ultimately derived from Genesis: all things put on earth are for the use of humans. She is particularly interested in the healing properties of plants, animals, and stones, though she also questions God's effect on man's health. One example of her healing powers was curing the blind with the use of Rhine water.

Hildegard also invented an alternative alphabet. The text of her writing and compositions reveals Hildegard's use of this form of modified medieval Latin, encompassing many invented, conflated and abridged words.

Hildegard's musical, literary, and scientific writings are housed primarily in two manuscripts: the Dendermonde manuscript and the Riesenkodex. The Dendermonde manuscript was copied under Hildegard's supervision at Rupertsberg, while the Riesencodex was copied in the century after Hildegard's death.

Hildegard's visionary writings maintain that virginity is the highest level of the spiritual life; however, she also wrote about secular life, including motherhood. In several of her texts, Hildegard describes the pleasure of the marital act.

In addition, there are many instances, both in her letters and visions, that decry the misuse of carnal pleasures. She condemns the sins of same-sex couplings and masturbation. After confession, severe repentance expressed in fasting and bodily penance is needed to obtain forgiveness from God for such sins. For instance, in ''Scivias'' Book II Vision Six.78:

God united man and woman, thus joining the strong to the weak, that each might sustain the other. But these perverted adulterers change their virile strength into perverse weakness, rejecting the proper male and female roles, and in their wickedness they shamefully follow Satan, who in his pride sought to split and divide Him Who is indivisible. They create in themselves by their wicked deeds a strange and perverse adultery, and so appear polluted and shameful in my sight...

...a woman who takes up devilish ways and plays a male role in coupling with another woman is most vile in My (God's) sight, and so is she who subjects herself to such a one in this evil deed...

...And men who touch their own genital organ and emit their semen seriously imperil their souls, for they excite themselves to distraction; they appear to Me as impure animals devouring their own whelps...

...When a person feels himself disturbed by bodily stimulation let him run to the refuge of continence, and seize the shield of chastity, and thus defend himself from uncleanness. (translation by Mother Columba Hart and Jane Bishop)

Human beings show forth God's creative power, and man and woman have complementary roles in the world.

...When God looked upon the human countenance, God was exceedingly pleased. For had not God created humanity according to the divine image and likeness? Human beings were to announce all God's wondrous works by means of their tongues that were endowed with reason. For humanity is God's complete work....

Man and woman are in this way so involved with each other that one of them is the work of the other. Without woman, man could not be called man; without man, woman could not be named woman. Thus woman is the work of man, while man is a sight full of consolation for woman. Neither of them could henceforth live without the other. Man is in this connection an indication of the Godhead while woman is an indication of the humanity of God's Son.

Significance

Hildegard communicated with popes such as Eugene III and Anastasius IV, statesmen such as Abbot Suger, German emperors such as Frederick I Barbarossa, and other notable figures such as Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, who advanced her work, at the behest of her abbot, Kuno, at the Synod of Trier in 1147 and 1148. Hildegard of Bingen’s correspondence with many people is an important element of her literary work because this is where we can see her speaking most directly to us.

Many abbots and abbesses asked her for prayers and opinions on various matters. She traveled widely during her four preaching tours. She had several rather fanatic followers, including Guibert of Gembloux, who wrote frequently to Hildegard and eventually became her secretary after Volmar died in 1173. In addition, Hildegard influenced several monastic women of her time and the centuries that followed; in particular, she engaged in correspondence with another nearby visionary, Elisabeth of Schönau.

Contributing to Christian European rhetorical traditions, she “authorized herself as a theologian” through alternative rhetorical arts. Hildegard was creative in her interpretation of theology. She believed that her monastery should not allow novices who were from a different class than nobility because it put them in an inferior position. She also stated that ‘woman may be made from man, but no man can be made without a woman’. Due to church limitation on public, discursive rhetoric, the medieval rhetorical arts included: preaching, letter writing, poetry, and the encyclopedic tradition. Hildegard’s participation in these arts speaks to her significance as a female rhetorician, transcending bans on women’s social participation and interpretation of scriptures. The acceptance of public preaching by a woman, even a well-connected abbess and acknowledged prophet does not fit the usual stereotype of this time. She conducted four preaching tours throughout Germany, speaking to both clergy and laity in chapter houses and in public, mainly denouncing clerical corruption and calling for reform. Maddocks claims that it is likely she learned simple Latin, and the tenets of the Christian faith, but was not instructed in the Seven Liberal Arts, which formed the basis of all education for the learned classes in the Middle Ages: the ''Trivium'' of grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric plus the ''Quadrivium'' of arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music. The correspondence she kept with the outside world both spiritual and social transgressed the cloister as a space of female confinement, and served to document Hildegard’s grand style and strict formatting of medieval letter writing. The poetry and music of Hildegard’s Symphonia is concerned with the anatomy of female desire thus described as Sapphonic, or pertaining to Sappho, connecting her to a history of female rhetoricians.

In recent years, Hildegard has become of particular interest to feminist scholars. Her reference to herself as a member of the "weaker sex" and her rather constant belittling of women, though at first seemingly problematic, must be considered within the context of the patriarchal church hierarchy. Hildegard frequently referred to herself as an unlearned woman, completely incapable of Biblical exegesis. Such a statement on her part, however, worked to her advantage because it made her statements that all of her writings and music came from visions of the Divine more believable, therefore giving Hildegard the authority to speak in a time and place where few women were permitted a voice. Hildegard used her voice to condemn church practices she disagreed with, in particular simony.

Hildegard has also become a figure of reverence within the contemporary New Age movement, mostly due to her holistic and natural view of healing, as well as her status as a mystic. She was the inspiration for Dr. Gottfried Hertzka's "Hildegard-Medicine", and is the namesake for June Boyce-Tillman's Hildegard Network, a healing center that focuses on a holistic approach to wellness and brings together people interested in exploring the links between spirituality, the arts, and healing,. Hildegard's reincarnation has been debated since 1924 when Austrian mystic Rudolf Steiner lectured that a nun of her description was the past life of Russian poet Vladimir Soloviev, whose Sophianic visions are often compared to Hildegard. Sophiologist Robert Powell writes that hermetic astrology proves the match, and artist mystic Carl Schroeder claims to be in the lineage of Hildegard with the support and validation of reincarnation author Walter Semkiw.

Before Hildegard’s death, a problem arose with the clergy of Mainz. A man buried in Rupertsburg had died after excommunication from the Church. Therefore, the clergy wanted to remove his body from the sacred ground. Hildegard did not accept this idea, replying that it was a sin and that the man had been reconciled to the church at the time of his death. On 17 September 1179, when Hildegard died, her sisters claimed they saw two streams of light appear in the skies and cross over the room where she was dying. and Pope Benedict XVI. Hildegard’s Parish and Pilgrimage Church house the relics of Hildegard, including an altar encasing her remains, in Eibingen near Rüdesheim.

Hildegard of Bingen also appears in the calendar of saints in various Anglican churches. In the Church of England she is commemorated on 17 September.

In space, she is commemorated by the asteroid 898 Hildegard.

Bibliography

Primary sources ;Editions and manuscripts of Hildegard's works

Hildegardis Bingensis, ''Opera minora''. edited by H. Feiss, C. Evans, B. M. Kienzle, C. Muessig, B. Newman, P. Dronke, Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis CCCM 226 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2007), ISBN 978-2-503-05261-8

Wiesbaden, Hessische Landesbibliothek, Hs. 2 (Riesen Codex) or Wiesbaden Codex (ca. 1180–85)

Dendermonde, Belgium, St.-Pieters-&-Paulusabdij Cod. 9 (Villarenser codex) (ca. 1174/75)

Otto Müller Verlag Salzburg 1969: Hildegard von Bingen: Lieder (modern edition in adapted square notation)

München, University Library, MS2∞156

Leipzig, University Library, St. Thomas 371

Paris, Bibl. Nat. MS 1139

Beate Hildegardis Cause et cure, edidit L. Moulinier, Berlin, Akademie Verlag, 2003, CXVII + 384 p.

Hildegardis Bingensis, ''Epistolarium pars prima I-XC'' edited by L. Van Acker, Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis CCCM 91A (Turnhout: Brepols, 1991)

Hildegardis Bingensis, ''Epistolarium pars secunda XCI-CCLr'' edited by L. Van Acker, Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis CCCM 91A (Turnhout: Brepols, 1993)

Hildegardis Bingensis, ''Epistolarium pars tertia CCLI-CCCXC'' edited by L. Van Acker and M. Klaes-Hachmoller, Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis XCIB (Turnhout: Brepols, 2001)

Hildegardis Bingensis, ''Scivias''. A. Führkötter, A. Carlevaris eds., Corpus Christianorum Scholars Version vols. 43, 43A. (Turnhout: Brepols, 2003)

Hildegardis Bingensis, ''Liber vitae meritorum''. A. Carlevaris ed. Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis CCCM 90 (Turnhout: Brepols, 1995)

Hildegardis Bingensis, ''Liber divinorum operum''. A. Derolez and P. Dronke eds., Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis CCCM 92 (Turnhout: Brepols, 1996)

Hildegard of Bingen, ''Two Hagiographies: Vita sancti Rupperti confessoris, Vita sancti Dysibodi episcopi,'' ed. and trans. Hugh Feiss & Christopher P. Evans, Dallas Medieval Texts and Translations 11 (Louvain and Paris: Peeters, 2010)

;Other sources

Friedrich Wilhelm Emil Roth, "Glossae Hildigardis", in: Elias Steinmeyer and Eduard Sievers eds., ''Die Althochdeutschen Glossen'', vol. III. Zürich: Wiedmann, 1895, 1965, pp. 390–404.

''Analecta Sanctae Hildegardis, in Analecta Sacra'' vol. 8 edited by Jean-Baptiste Pitra (Monte Cassino, 1882).

Patrologia Latina vol. 197 (1855).

Explanatio Regulae S. Benedicti

Explanatio Symboli S. Athanasii

Homeliae LVIII in Evangelia.

Hymnodia coelestis.

Ignota lingua, cum versione Latina

Liber divinorum operum simplicis hominis (1163-73/74)

Liber vitae meritorum (1158–63)

Libri simplicis et compositae medicinae.

Physica, sive Subtilitatum diversarum naturarum creaturarum libri novem

Scivias seu Visiones (1141–51)

Solutiones triginta octo quaestionum

Tractatus de sacramento altaris.

See also

Bibliography of Hildegard of Bingen

Discography of Hildegard of Bingen

Hildegard has been portrayed on film by Patricia Routledge (Keeping Up Appearances) in a dramatized BBC biographical documentary called "Hildegard Von Bingen In Portrait: Ordo Virtutum."

The film ''Vision - From the Life of Hildegard von Bingen'', directed by Margarethe von Trotta, premiered in Europe in 2009. Its US distributor is Zeitgeist Films, where it is due to be released in October 2010. Hildegard is played by Barbara Sukowa.

Notes

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20.

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Moulinier, Laurence, "La Terre vue par Hildegarde de Bingen (1098–1179)", dans ''Aux origines de la géologie, de l’Antiquité au Moyen Age, Actes du colloque inernational'' 10–12 mars 2005, Paris Sorbonne (Paris IV), textes réunis sous la direction de Claude Thomasset, Joëlle Ducos et Jean-Pierre Chambon, Paris, Honoré Champion, 2010, p. 205–230.

Newman, Barbara. “Hildegard of Bingen: Visions and Validation.” ''Church History'' 54 (1985): 163–175.

________. “‘Sibyl of the Rhine’: Hildegard’s Life and Times.” ''Voice of the Living Light: Hildegard of Bingen and Her World''. Edited by Barbara Newman. Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press, 1998.

________. ''Sister of Wisdom: St. Hildegard’s Theology of the Feminine''. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1987.

Newman, Barbara. Voice of the Living Light. California: University of California Press, 1998.

Reed-Jones, Carol. Hildegard of Bingen: Women of Vision. Washington: Paper Crane Press, 2004.

Richert-Pfau, Marianna. “Mode and Melody Types in Hildegard von Bingen’s Symphonia.” ''Sonus'' 11 (1990): 53–71.

Ruether, Rosemary Radford. Visionary Women. Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2002. 6–13.

Schipperges, Heinrich. Hildegard of Bingen: healing and the nature of the cosmos. New Jersey: Markus Wiener Publishers, 1997.

The Life and Works of Hildegard von Bingen. Internet. Available from http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/med/hildegarde.html; accessed 14 November 2009.

Tillman, June-Boyce. “Hildegard of Bingen at 900: The Eye of a Woman”. The Musical Times 139, no. 1865 (Winter, 1998): 31–36.

Underhill, Evelyn. Mystics of the Church. Pennsylvania: Morehouse Publishing, 1925.

Further reading

;General commentary

Burnett, Charles and Peter Dronke, eds. ''Hildegard of Bingen: The Context of Her Thought and Art''. The Warburg Colloquia. London: The University of London, 1998.

Cherewatuk, Karen and Ulrike Wiethaus, eds. ''Dear Sister: Medieval Women and the Epistolary Genre''. Middle Ages Series. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993.

Davidson, Audrey Ekdahl. ''The Ordo Virtutum of Hildegard of Bingen: Critical Studies''. Kalamazoo, MI: Medieval Institute Publications, 1992. ISBN 1-879288-17-6

Dronke, Peter. ''Women Writers of the Middle Ages: A Critical Study of Texts from Perpetua to Marguerite Porete''. 1984. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.

Flanagan, Sabina. ''Hildegard of Bingen: A Visionary Life''. London: Routledge, 1998. ISBN 0-7607-1361-8

King-Lenzmeier, Anne H. ''Hildegard of Bingen: An Integrated Vision''. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2001.

Newman, Barbara. ''Sister of Wisdom: St. Hildegard’s Theology of the Feminine''. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987.

Newman, Barbara, ed. ''Voice of the Living Light: Hildegard of Bingen and Her World''. Berkeley: University of California, 1998.

Pernoud, Régine. ''Hildegard of Bingen: Inspired Conscience of the Twelfth Century''. Translated by Paul Duggan. NY: Marlowe & Co., 1998.

Schipperges, Heinrich. ''The World of Hildegard of Bingen: Her Life, Times, and Visions''. Trans. John Cumming. Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1999.

Wilson, Katharina. ''Medieval Women Writers''. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1984.

;On Hildegard's illuminations

Fox, Matthew. ''Illuminations of Hildegard of Bingen''. Santa Fe, NM: Bear & Company, 1985. ISBN 1-879181-97-5

Harris, Anne Sutherland and Linda Nochlin, ''Women Artists: 1550–1950'', Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Knopf, New York, 1976. ISBN 0-394-73326-6

;Background reading

Barber, Richard. ''Bestiary: MS Bodley 764''. Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 1999.

Boyce-Tillman, June. ''The Creative Spirit: Harmonious Living with Hildegard of Bingen'', Harrisburg, PA: Morehouse Publishing, 2000. ISBN 0-8192-1882-0

Butcher, Carmen Acevedo. ''Man of Blessing: A Life of St. Benedict''. Brewster, MA: Paraclete Press, 2006.

Bynum, Caroline Walker. ''Holy Feast and Holy Fast: the Religious Significance of Food to Medieval Women''. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987.

Bynum, Caroline Walker. ''Resurrection of the Body in Western Christianity, 200-1336''. New York: Columbia University Press, 1995.

Chadwick, Whitney. ''Women, Art, and Society,'' Thames and Hudson, London, 1990. ISBN 0-500-20354-7

Constable, Giles Constable. ''The Reformation of the Twelfth Century''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.

Dronke, Peter, ed. ''A History of Twelfth-Century Western Philosophy''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.

Holweck, the Rt. Reverend Frederick G., ''A Biographical Dictionary of the Saints, with a General Introduction on Hagiology''. 1924. Detroit: Omnigraphics, 1990.

Lachman, Barbara. ''The Journal of Hildegard of Bingen: A Novel''. New York: Crown, 1993.

Lachman, Barbara. ''Hildegard: The Last Year''. Boston: Shambhala, 1997.

McBrien, Richard. ''Lives of the Saints: From Mary and St. Francis of Assisi to John XXIII and Mother Teresa''. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2003.

McKnight, Scot. ''The Real Mary: Why Evangelical Christians Can Embrace the Mother of Jesus''. Brewster, MA: Paraclete Press, 2006.

Newman, Barbara trans. ''Symphonia: A Critical Edition of the "Symphonia armoniae celestium revelationum''. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press, 1988.

Newman, Barbara. ''God and the Goddesses''. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 0-8122-1911-2

O’Donohue, John. ''Anam Ċara''. New York: HarperCollins, 1998.

Ohanneson, Joan. ''Scarlet Music. Hildegard of Bingen: A Novel''. New York: Crossroad Publishing Company, 1997.

Pelikan, Jaroslav. ''Mary Through the Centuries: Her Place in the History of Culture''. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996.

Sacks, Oliver. ''Migraine: Understanding a Common Disorder''. 1985. Reprint. London: Vintage Books, 1999.

Santos Paz, José Carlos, ed. ''La Obra de Gebenón de Eberbach''. Firenze: SISMEL-Edizioni del Galluzzo, 2004.

Sherman, Bernard D. “‘Mistaking the Tail for the Comet’: An Interview with Christopher

Silvas, Anna. ''Jutta and Hildegard: The Biographical Sources''. University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1998. ISBN 0-271-01954-9

Sweet, Victoria. "Hildegard of Bingen and the Greening of Medieval Medicine." Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 1999, 73:381–403.

Sweet, Victoria. "Rooted in the Earth, Rooted in the Sky: Hildegard of Bingen and Premodern Medicine." New York: Routledge Press, 2006. ISBN 0-415-97634-0

Ulrich, Ingeborg. ''Hildegard of Bingen: Mystic, Healer, Companion of the Angels''. Trans. Linda M. Maloney. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1993.

Ward, Benedicta. ''Miracles and the Medieval Mind''. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1987.

Weeks, Andrew. ''German mysticism from Hildegard of Bingen to Ludwig Wittgenstein : a literary and intellectual history''. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1993. ISBN 0-7914-1419-1

External links

Hildegard Center for the Arts, A Faith Based Fine Arts Center in Lincoln Nebraska

International Society of Hildegard von Bingen Studies

A Hildegard FAQ Sheet

Hildegard Von Bingen

Hildegard of Bingen Documents, History, Sites to see today, etc.

Source

Discography

Biography and Prayers of Hildegard

Another discography

Church of St. Hildegard in Eibingen, Germany with information about Hildegard von Bingen and the Eibinger Hildegardisshrine

The Reconstruction of the monastery on the Rupertsberg

Young, Abigail Ann. ''Translations from Rupert, Hildegard, and Guibert of Gembloux''. 1999. 27 March 2006.

McGuire, K. Christian. ''Symphonia Caritatis: The Cistercian Chants of Hildegard von Bingen''. 2007. 14 July 2007.

* From Katya Sanna's blog

Category:1098 births Category:1179 deaths Category:People from Alzey-Worms Category:Beatified people Category:People celebrated in the Lutheran liturgical calendar Category:Christian mystics Category:Rhineland mystics Category:German Roman Catholic theologians Category:Women philosophers Category:German spiritual writers Category:German women writers Category:Inventors of writing systems Category:Women of medieval Germany Category:Medieval composers Category:Medieval drama Category:German Roman Catholic abbesses Category:Walhalla enshrinees Category:Women classical composers Category:Herbalists Category:Women physicians Category:Manuscript illuminators Category:12th-century women writers Category:Romanesque artists Category:Sophiology Category:Hymnographers Category:German women artists Category:Anglican saints Category:Women composers

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