The Harriet Quimby Scrapbook
The Life of America’s First Birdwoman (1875-1912)
This first complete biography of Harriet Quimby is visually charming for all ages and a handy reference for entertainment, photography, travel, and aviation historians. With over 150 vintage newspaper clips and dozens of never before published photographs, it’s a must for every fan of early aviation.
Carrie Vanderbilt’s pictures of her best friend, Harriet Quimby, remained in storage for over 85 years. These photographs and dozens of other never-before published images are artfully presented with vintage newspaper clippings and Quimby family documents, as if Quimby had pasted them into her own scrapbook. Reprinted for the first time are Harriet Quimby’s seven silent film treatments for American Biograph.
Drawing of Harriet Quimby
by Mike Aten, from the
private collection of
Giacinta Bradley Koontz
Quimby was disarmingly unique. Ignoring criticism, and creating her own sense of style, she owned several cars, learned how to repair them, and encouraged other women to do the same. She smoked cigarettes, lived alone, and lied about her age. Cleverly calculating her professional career, she represented all that was independent and modern, yet she distanced herself from feminist causes.
Harriet Quimby’s life touched the fringes of the Civil War, the Industrial Revolution, the Ragtime Ear, and the new Age of Aviation. Moving from Michigan to California and finally to New York City during 1903, she was prepared to take it by storm. She had no alternate plan.
New York loved her. America admired her. The world was her oyster until tragedy struck. Before her death at age 37, her potential for continued fame, fortune, and contributions to U.S. history was limitless.
Scientific American eulogized that her death, “while fitting for an athlete, should never have been the lot of such a fragile flower of sunny California.â€.
This scrapbook represents more than the life of one woman. It is our cultural heritage.
Published by Ironwood Publications, 209 pages, 8½ by 11 inches, softcover
 Going through your book is like going through a 3D movie of an historical period full of fascinating people. 
- Leonard E. Opdycke, Publisher
WWI Aero and Skyways magazines
My colleagues were amazed about the great research you did on Harriet Quimby. . .this copy will become part of our "Women in Aviation" library.
- Sebastian Menzel
Zeppelin Museum in Germany
I am digesting every word (urp!) To me this stuff is meat and drink.
- John Underwood,
aviation historian/author
. . .you have conveyed a sense of closeness to Harriet that evades most others.
- Norman Hawk,
Arizona
I sincerely believe that aviation history (perhaps any history) should focus, in sequence, on people, events and artifacts. The trouble with aviation history is that most institutions have their focus in totally the reverse order – machines, events, people… thanks to you and your multi-year focus on Harriet Quimby.
- Colin Green,
aviation historian/author
I have read it [the book] two or three times already and I am so pleased to have a comprehensive piece that combines family docs, articles about her [Quimby] and her writings in one place! I was floored by the photos and glad to read new pieces of info that I did not know.
- Monica Batac,
Alaska
…I'm amazed at the amount of research you've done. . .I was reminded that her [Harriet's] total flying experiences lasted about a year, between 1911 and 1912. . .she had an amazing life outside of flying, especially for a woman of her time, including writing, theatre and travel. She must have had a great amount of energy!
- Mark Dyott, Virginia
(son of pioneer aviator George Dyott)
[Harriet's story has] everything… a beautiful, charismatic, talented, smart leading character, and she leads her life in the proverbial fish-out-of-water world, the world of men, in a time of men. Not to mention that the story is true, and it's about a historically important figure at that. I guess what I love the most is that you've discovered this piece of American history that wasn't [well] known until you literally "wrote the book"... I have great faith in this story as a movie.
- Michael Bershad, Producer,
California
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