Vanished Amelia Earhart: "The Start of Something New"

"That plane; the entire project; the mission was a Purdue mission. If it's ever recovered, it belongs to us."

Normally, I start each part of the show by telling you where I’m at. Tonight, I just can’t do that. My location has to remain unknown except for this. I’m somewhere in the northwest. A tease I know but I had to make a promise to the people that let me come here that for now, it would remain anonymous. In the first four parts of this series, we’ve covered a lot of ground. And I’ve promised you that all of this information we’ve covered is going to tie in. Tonight, it starts to do just that. In just a few short years, Amelia Earhart has become a household name. She’s reached the zenith of her popularity and at this point, she’s nearly at icon status. That’s arguable. In 1935, just under two short years before she would vanish into thin air, she began an unlikely partnership with Purdue University. This was an aspect of her life that she had been waiting for; a chance to get in on the ground floor and directly influence the women of the time. AE relished her short time there, and as we’ll learn tonight, she looked forward to expanding that role when she returned from the world flight. Tonight, we take you back to 1935 and West Lafayette Indiana to discuss “the start of something new” for Amelia Earhart. 

Something started, that unfortunately for her, and us was never finished.  

SHOW NOTES

• Purdue University's official website.
• The Amelia Earhart Collection at the Purdue Archives. 
• "Vanished: Amelia Earhart" was recorded in its entirety by the Zoom H1N microphone. Get yours here.
• A special thank you to Scott Thrower from the "Fairy Tales for Unwanted Children" podcast for recording tonight's exit script.