Library Special Collections Blog
Genevieve Haugen: Woman with Wings
Blog post by Melissa Haley
The newly-processed Genevieve Haugen Papers (Collection 1967) combines two prominent elements of local history: aviation and movie-making.
The high-flying Haugen (1911-1968) received her pilot’s license in 1932 at the age of 20. Her flight logbook documents the action as she barrel rolls and loops around Los Angeles, giving numerous friends and strangers their first airplane rides along the way.
Haugen was a member of the Ninety-Nines, an organization of women aviators founded in 1929 and still active today.
Photo taken at the National Air Races in Los Angeles, 1933. Haugen stands in the back row, far right. Note Amelia Earhart first row, far left.
In 1935 Haugen published Women with Wings: A Novel of the Modern Day Aviatrix, which was later adapted for the screen as the 20th Century Fox film Tail Spin (1939). Haugen served as a technical advisor for the film. In this photo she coaches Tail Spin’s star Alice Faye (right), who played the fictional aviator, Trixie Lee.
In the 1940s, Haugen wrote several screenplays while married to her third husband, Max Nosseck.
Haugen working on the screenplay for The Jungle (later filmed by Nosseck as Kill or Be Killed) at the Hotel Atlantico in Estoril, Portugal, 1947.
The Genevieve Haugen Papers contain correspondence, photographs, screenplays and other writings (even a pair of flight goggles), and document the life of a dynamic, independent woman in 20th century Los Angeles.
Harriet Quimby, "Girl Aviator"

Are you familiar with the name Harriet Quimby? If not, it's understandable. Her career as an aviator was very brief, but in 1911 she became the first woman in the U. S. to get a pilot's license. She was also the first woman to fly across the English Channel. However, her flight took place on April 16, 1912 -- one day after the tragic sinking of Titanic, the story that occupied the newspapers for weeks to come. At any other time, her feat might have been front page news, but as it was, she rated barely a mention. Quimby cut quite a figure in her striking custom-made purple satin flying suit when she performed at airshows. She died in an accident at one such event on July 16, 1912, just three months after her historic Channel crossing. For more information about Quimby and other aviators, see the Elizabeth Hiatt Gregory Collection of Material About American Aviation, 1900-1945 that features items about many firsts in flying. By Megan Hahn Fraser, Processing Projects Librarian
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