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Elizabeth Lippincott McQueen Papers
H.Mss.0525
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Title: Elizabeth Lippincott McQueen Papers
Dates: 1912-1994 and
undated
Bulk dates: 1927-1949
Collection number: H.Mss.0525
Creator:
McQueen, Elizabeth L. (Elizabeth
Lippincott)
Extent:
1.4 Linear Feet
(1 document box, 1 flat box)
Repository:
Claremont Colleges. Library. Special Collections, The Claremont
Colleges Library, Claremont, CA 91711.
Abstract: Photographs,
correspondence, writings, clippings, and other materials, primarily from 1927-1949, relating
to women in aviation, created and collected by Elizabeth L. McQueen (Mrs. Ulysses Grant) in
the course of her activities as founder and honorary president of the Women's International
Association of Aeronautics (WIAA) and as principal organizer of the 1929 Women's Air
Derby.
Administrative Information
Collection open for research.
All requests for permission to reproduce or to publish must be submitted in writing to
Special Collections.
[Identification of item], Elizabeth Lippincott McQueen Papers (H.Mss.0525). Special
Collections, The Claremont Colleges Library, The Claremont Colleges Services, Claremont,
California.
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Date and method of acquisition unknown. Articles and photographs relating to Mrs. Jolan Toth Voloszynovich (Box 1, Folder
64)
were doanted by Phil Hand in 2023.
No additions to the collection are anticipated.
Collection processed by Michael Palmer, April 2010.
Biography / Administrative History
Elizabeth Lippincott was born in Pennington, New Jersey, on September 26, 1878, the
daughter of the Rev. Benjamin Crispin Lippincott, DD, and his second wife, Deborah Diverty.
She graduated from Pennington Seminary in 1898, and in March 1900 married Ulysses Grant
McQueen (1864-1937), a wealthy inventor and manufacturer in New York City. The couple lived
in New York City until 1928, when they moved to Beverly Hills, California. During World War
I, Mrs. McQueen served in war relief work in Palestine under Field Marshal Allenby. In 1919
she founded the
Jerusalem News, the first English-language
newspaper in Jerusalem.
Mrs. McQueen became interested in aviation when in 1920 she witnessed seven airplanes "take
the place of two British regiments of soldiers" in routing a large number of rebel Arab
cavalry in the desert near Aden. "A vision, mental and spiritual, came to me of millions of
women with the hands upraised acclaiming: 'Save my son from war, save my son from war, save
my son from war!' I mentally saw these women's faces and hands upraised far into space and
heard their voices entreating me. This vision has never left me. Then and there I dedicated
my life to aeronautics as an instrument for World Peace."
In September 1928, Mrs. McQueen organized the Women's Aeronautic Association of California,
which was soon followed by similar organizations in New York, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas,
Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Canada, England, France, Germany, Australia, and New Zealand. On
May 23, 1929, she organized the Women's International Association of Aeronautics (WIAA),
which became the principal focus of her activities for the rest of her life. Mrs. McQueen
served as "founder and honorary president" of the WIAA; presidents of the association were,
in turn, prominent British aviator Lady Mary Heath (1929-1932), British reporter Lady Grace
Hay Drummond-Hay (1932-1940), educator Dr. Mary Sinclair Crawford (1940-1947), actress Mary
Pickford (1947-1949), airplane manufacturing executive Olive Ann Beech (1949-1954), and
pioneer aviator Matilde Moisant (1954-). A junior division of the WIAA was organized in
1931; members under 7 years old were called "tailwinds", those from 7 through 20 years old
"zoomers".
In 1929, Mrs. McQueen and Lady Heath appealed to the Federation Aeronautique Internationale
in Paris to have women's air records recognized, an appeal that was ultimately successful.
At the same time, in order to arouse greater interest in women's flying, Mrs. McQueen
conceived the idea and was one of the principal organizers of the first Women's Air Derby
from Santa Monica, California, to the 1929 National Air Races in Cleveland. 19 female
aviators took part in this forerunner to the Powder Puff Derby, the winners being Louise
Thaden and, in the lighter aircraft category, Phoebe Omlie.
In 1932 and 1933, Mrs. McQueen published a column, "Happy Contacts", concerning women and
aviation, in the monthly magazine
Speed; she also published
several articles in t
The Air Pilot in 1933. In July 1933,
Mrs. McQueen, who in 1929 had been deputized as the first aerial policewoman in the world by
Police Chief Charles Blair of Beverly Hills, organized the Women's Aerial Police
Association, whose members were deputized to assist the civil authorities in times of
emergency. From March 1940 to February 1941, she also undertook a Goodwill Tour to Mexico
and Central and South America, on which she publicly read a letter from Eleanor Roosevelt
and met with many pioneer female flyers.
From approximately 1942 to approximately 1947, Mrs. McQueen resided in the Mission Inn, in
Riverside, California, the location of the International Shrine of Aviators and the Famous
Fliers' Wall. By the late 1940s, she had returned to her house on Doheny Drive in Beverly
Hills.
Ulysses Grant McQueen died in April 1937, and about 1955 Mrs. McQueen married Dr. Irving
Reed Bancroft, a prominent retired physician. She died at her home in Hermosa Beach,
California, on December 24, 1958, aged 80, after a long period of declining health. Her
ashes are interred in the Portal of the Folded Wing in Pierce Brothers Valhalla Cemetery, in
North Hollywood. Although she had devoted her life to furthering the role of women in
aviation, she had never obtained a pilot's license.
Scope and Contents of the Collection
The bulk of the collection consists of photographs, together with considerably smaller
amounts of correspondence, writings, clippings, and other materials relating to women in
aviation, created and collected by Elizabeth L. (Mrs. Ulysses Grant) McQueen. The materials
were at an undetermined time, and for an unknown reason, separated from the bulk of Mrs.
McQueen's papers, which now form the Women's International Association of Aeronautics (WIAA)
Collection, No. 55, Special Collections Department, Doheny Library, University of Southern
California. Many of the photographs can be identified in a typescript list in the WIAA
Collection. The descriptions in the list often refer to Mrs. McQueen as "the author", which
suggests that it is an inventory of materials intended by Mrs. McQueen to illustrate her
planned but unrealized history of women in aviation.
Because of its small size, the collection is arranged as a single series divided into four
groups, as follows: (1) People, (2) Organizations, (3) Events, and (4) Printed Matter. The
first group (People) constitutes approximately two-thirds of the collection, and is arranged
alphabetically by name. Most folders contain very few items, usually one or more
photographs, correspondence, or a biographical account; the contents of each folder is
indicated in the container list. The biographical accounts were often written by Mrs.
McQueen, and many appeared in her "Happy Contacts" column in
Speed (1932-1933). Of particular interest are the materials relating to Florence
Lowe "Pancho" Barnes, Alys McKey Bryant, and Evelyn "Bobbie" Trout. The photographs of Mrs.
McQueen include portraits of her in flying attire, in fancy dress, and with her parrot,
Dick. Mrs. McQueen's writings include an undated account of aflight from Seattle to
Juneau.
The second group (Organizations) contains materials, almost exclusively photographs,
relating to the Women's Aerial Police Association and to the Women's International
Association of Aeronautics (WIAA). The materials relating to the women's aerial police
include a 1994 account written by Gail F. Ryan-Johnson (added by the Honnold/Mudd Special
Collections staff), an autographed photograph of Beverly Hills Police Chief Charles Blair,
who had deputized Mrs. McQueen in 1929, and photographs of the dedication of a placque
honoring the Association at the Mission Inn, Riverside, in 1938. The records of the WIAA
include minutes of the annual Board of Directors meetings for 1953-1955 (the minutes for
1955 are missing the first page). The photographs include the Blind Flying Challenge Cup
presented by Lady Drummond-Hay; an undated (but almost certainly 1934) gala luncheon,
probably at the Del Mar Club in Santa Monica, attended by many of the leading pioneer women
aviators of the day; meetings of the WIAA Board and of the general membership at the Mission
Inn, Riverside (1946-1947); and the "Annual Aeronautical Literary Contest in All Languages",
sponsored by the WIAA (1947 and 1949).
The third group (Events) contains photographs of events not necessarily attended by Mrs.
McQueen or associated with the WIAA. The majority date between 1933 and 1936, and include
the visit of the brothers Auguste and Jean Piccard to the University of Southern California,
the 99s visiting the Famous Fliers' Wall at the Mission Inn, Riverside, and several
breakfasts at the Los Angeles Breakfast Club, honoring Air Commodore P.F.M. Fellowes; Col.
Roscoe Tanner, Clyde Pangborn, and Thea Rasche; Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith; and Lady
Drummond-Hay. Other events include the victory of Louise Thaden and Blanche Noyes in the
Bendix Trophy Race, Mrs. McQueen's Goodwill Tour of Central and South America (1940), and a
luncheon for Mrs. Amy Oris Earhart (1949).
The fourth group (Printed Matter) consists of a single 1929 magazine clipping, 4 issues of
an unidentified Japanese-language publication, and the 15th anniversary issue (1944) of the
WIAA newsletter,
Aero-Gram.
The collection is organized into the following series:
- Series 1: People, 1912-1991 and undated
- Series 2: Organizations, 1929-1994 and undated
- Series 3: Events, 1933-1949
- Series 4: Printed Matter, 1929-1944 and undated
James Carruthers Memorial Aviation Collection of the Institute of Aeronautical History,
Special Collections, Honnold/Mudd Library, Claremont.
The bulk of Mrs. McQueen's papers constitute the Women's International Association of
Aeronautics Collection, No. 55, held by the Special Collections Department, Doheny Memorial
Library, University of Southern California, Los Angeles.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
library’s online public access catalog.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Air pilots
Barnes, Pancho, 1901-1975
Bendix Trophy Race
Bryant, Alys McKey, 1880-1954
Drummond-Hay, Grace M., Lady Hay, 1895-1956
Noyes, Blanche, 1900-1981
McQueen, Elizabeth L. (Elizabeth
Lippincott)
Policewomen
Rasche, Thea, 1899-1971
Thaden, Louise, 1906-1979
Trout, Evelyn, 1906-2003
Women's Aerial Police Association
Women air pilots
Women's International Association of Aeronautics