Pilot Marvel Crosson posed painting a number "1" on the side of an airplane. The logo on the plane reads "Unity for Service. National Exchange Club." National Exchange Club was the sponsor of her last race in 1929, which began in Santa Monica, California, and the number "1" was on the side of the airplane she flew. Title devised by cataloger. "Marvel Crosson"--text, on negative. Location and date are unidentified, but research shows this appears to be a photograph from 1929, before or during her last race. Marvel Crosson was one of the most popular women fliers in the West, and died when her plane crashed in Arizona during the Women's Air Derby (also called the "Powder Puff Derby"), 1929. The race had begun in Santa Monica, Ca. Marvel's plane was a Travel Air, inscribed with the number 1, and bearing the National Exchange Club logo. Source: "The Roaring 20: The First Cross-country Air Race for Women," by Margaret Whitman Blair (2006).
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