Ellen Church
FLIGHT ATTENDANT (1904 - 1965)
Ellen Church was the world's first female flight
attendant (in 1930 known as stewardesses.)
Previously only men were stewards. Church
created the idea of using nurses on flights to
assist passengers who felt sick or uneasy
about flying. A nurse herself and trained pilot
she came up with the idea after being
repeatedly rejected for pilot jobs, wanting to
create a pathway for women in aviation. She
created the training programme for
stewardesses and completed it with seven
others known as 'the great eight'.
Stewardesses were required to be a nurse, 5ft
4inches, aged 25 or younger and weigh less
than 115 lbs. Their duties included handling
luggage, caring for passengers, maintaining,
fuelling the plane. Church invented the jumpseat
that folds down on the main cabin door
so passengers would be safe. she left
stewarding in 1932 after an accident,
returning to nursing, serving in World War II.
Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore
WORLD TRAVELLER, AUTHOR,
JOURNALIST (1856 - 1928)
Eliza Scidmore was the first female board
member of National Geographic, a journalist,
photographer, author and world traveller. In
1883, she was a newspaper correspondent
travelling aboard a steamship to Alaska,
becoming one of the first tourists to visit
Glacier Bay. Scidmore created the first ever
travel guide book for Alaska in 1885.
She travelled all around the world learning
about different cultures, and documenting
through her books, photographs and magazine
articles. Scidmore travelled and lived in Japan,
this inspired her visionary project to grow
cherry blossom trees in Washington, D.C. as
she wanted residents and travellers to
experience the beauty she saw in the cherry
blossoms. She eventually got approval for the
project with help of First Lady Helen Taft.
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