How do museums and historians shape a person’s legacy, for better or for worse? Join us for small group conversations as we investigate the stories of aviation pioneers Pancho Barnes and Amelia Earhart through an LBGTQ+ perspective. We’ll consider the wider challenges of representing diverse ethnicities or sexual/gender identities of historical individuals with today’s language, and examine how what museums say (and don’t say) about a person’s life has a profound impact on visitors. PRESENTERS: Shae Skager, Administrative Coordinator, Education, The Museum of Flight Sean Mobley, Social Media and Content Marketing Specialist, The Museum of Flight

1. Labeling Legacies
Presented by: Shae Skager & Sean Mobley

2. What to Expect
• The Life of Pancho Barnes
• Breakout
• Group Share
• Amelia Earhart’s Letter
• Breakout
• Group Share
• Q&A
*There is no single right
answer to any of the
questions – we will facilitate
conversation, discuss &
share ideas

3. Community Agreement
• We are all here to learn
• Ask questions, even messy ones
• Assume positive intent
• Practice empathy
• Practice self-care

4. Pancho's Early Years
• Grandfather was Thaddeus
S.C. Lowe, U.S. Civil War
aeronaut
• Accomplished equestrian
• Spent 4 months in Mexico as
a man, fighting with
revolutionaries
• Decided in 1928 to learn to
fly – soloed after 6 hours of
instruction

5. Racing & Hollywood
• Ran a barnstorming show
• Competed in air races &
broke Amelia’s speed
record – 196.19 mph
• Moved to Hollywood in
1930 to work as a movie
stunt pilot
• Started the first film stunt
pilot union
• Helped launch George
Hurrell’s Hollywood
photography career

6. The Happy Bottom Riding Club
• Purchased the land for
Rancho Oro Verde in 1935,
close to Edwards AFB
• Kept up base morale &
became famous for parties
• Became close friends with
many test pilots & famous
airmen
• Provided a free steak dinner
for breaking the sound
barrier

7. Trouble on the Ranch
• Government buyout offer in
1952 – requested fair appraisal
• Defamed & banned for military
personnel
• Pancho sued the U.S. Air Force
• During the court battle in 1953,
ranch burned down in
mysterious fire
• Pancho wins! Awarded $375,000
renumeration

8. Legacy
• Pancho returned to Edwards
AFB in late 60s
• Deemed "Mother of Edwards
Air Force Base“
• Passed away in 1975 due to
breast cancer complications
• Son scattered ashes over the
site of the Happy Bottom
Riding Club

9. Community Agreement
• We are all here to learn
• Ask questions, even messy ones
• Assume positive intent
• Practice empathy
• Practice self-care

10. Breakout!
• Today, we have more terms &
language for gender non-
conforming individuals.
• Do those terms have a place when
we’re talking about historical
figures? Why or why not?
• Is it fair to make inferences about
how historical figures might identify
today? Why or why not?
• Is this information important to
include when we talk about
them? Why or why not?

11. Amelia's Letter
• Letter from Amelia
Earhart to George Putnam
shortly before their
marriage.

13. Breakout!
• What stood out to you in this
letter? Why?
• What can you infer about
Amelia and George’s
relationship based on this
letter?
• Would this letter be important
to include in a
program/exhibit/article about
Amelia’s life? Why?

14. Breakout!
• Consider this scenario: Your museum receives a collection from
a prominent local female subject who passed away last year. In
the collection are journals and notes that show without a
shadow of a doubt that she was a lesbian and had a female
partner for most of her life, something that wasn’t widely
known. Meanwhile, the museum is planning an exhibit about
LGBTQ+ history within the scope of your field.
• Should her story be included in the exhibit? Why or why not?
• What should the museum do if you include her story, and some of her
family object to her inclusion?
• Does time change the scenario? What if she had passed away 20 years
ago? Would your answer change for any of the
above? What about 50 years ago?

15. Continue the Conversation
• Shae Skager (sskager@museumofflight.org)
• Sean Mobley (smobley@museumofflight.org)
• OR message any Museum of Flight social media. I’ll see it.
Resource
Understanding and Teaching U.S. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,
and Transgender History
Edited by Leila J. Rupp and Susan K. Freeman

16. Q&A
“When you have
a choice,
choose happy!”
- Pancho
Barnes
“Amelia Earhart got all the
publicity, and Bobbi Trout made
all the money. But I was the best
pilot.”
- Pancho Barnes
“Impossible is
NOT a fact. It is
an opinion.”
- Pancho Barnes
"We had more
fun in a week
than most of the
weenies in the
world have in a
lifetime!"
- Pancho Barnes