Joan Merriam Smith First Day Cover

Joan Merriam Smith First Day Cover

Joan Merriam Smith
Ninety-Nines
World Flight
Amelia Earhart
Pilots

Joan Merriam Smith carried this First Day Cover on her historic 1964 Round-the-World flight. She took off from Long Beach, CA on March 17, 1964 and followed Amelia Earhart's intended path around the equator. When Smith returned to California on May 12, 1964, she had become the first woman to fly solo around the world at the equator and the first woman to fly solo around the world in a twin-engine plane.

A First Day Cover is an envelope with a stamp that was canceled – or used – on its first day of issue from the U.S. Postal Service. Event covers are a subset of First Day Cover that commemorate an event, often with an illustration called a “cachet.” For many pilots, First Day Covers helped finance their flights. Pilots carried a limited number of event covers created for their flight, autographed each cover, and then sold the covers to the public upon landing.

This particular First Day Cover was sponsored by the Ninety-Nines International Organization of Women Pilots and their Amelia Earhart Scholarship Fund. The envelope features two red Amelia Earhart U.S. Air Mail 8¢ stamps, along with an illustration of Earhart and Smith's signature. The back of the envelope is postmarked April 20, 1964 in Papua New Guinea. Inside the envelope is a small card detailing some of Amelia Earhart's many accomplishments.

March 17 - May 12, 1964

Donated by Louise Smith

Online access is provided for research purposes only. For rights and reproduction requests contact the International Women's Air & Space Museum at collections@iwasm.org

First Day Cover

1982.3.2

First Day Cover