Vintage Photo 8x10 EMMA LILIAN TODD First aircraft built by Woman 1910 For Sale

Emma Lilian Todd, originally from Washington, D.C., and later New York City, was a self-taught inventor who grew up with a love for mechanical devices. The New York Times issue of November 28, 1909, identified her as the first woman in the world to design airplanes, which she started in 1906 or earlier.
She was not permitted to Fly the aircraft just designed it / Aircraft flew in 1910Little is know about E. (Emma) Lilian Todd (1865-1937), and this image from a newspaper is the only known photograph of her. We do know that she grew up in Washington, D.C. In order to support herself, she trained as a stenographer, finding employment with a firm of patent attorneys before setting up her own patent business.She was employed briefly by millionaire philanthropist Helen Gould during the Spanish-American War. It was probably Helen Gould\'s influence that caused her to be hired as Secretary for the 1904 World\'s Fair in St. Louis. Here her interest in airships and planes became a passion, and she subsequently built many models of planes and airships.She first came to public attention at the Second Annual Exhibition of the Aero Club of America (December 1906). Todd then designed a full-size biplane which was built by C. & A. Witteman Company of Staten Island, New York, thanks to funding from Olivia Sage.Todd probably worked on its design and construction there, but she never piloted it, as far as we know. The plane was taken up in November 1910 by pilot Didier Masson, and Olivia Sage was there to see the flight.Only one year later, Todd\'s aviation career was over, and she became secretary to Mrs. Sage. Todd handled the philanthropist\'s voluminous correspondence between 1912 and 1918, but after her employer\'s death in 1918 she moved to California and died there in obscurity.shipping and handling FREE