On a crisp October evening in 1936, an unusually large crowd gathered in the Congregational Church in Grinnell to hear Amelia Earhart deliver a lecture on “Aviation Adventures.” Originally scheduled for Herrick Chapel, the college event was moved to the Congregational Church since it could seat many more people and was used for such keynote gatherings (including graduation).

Billed as “the world’s premier aviatrix,” Earhart was touring the country in the wake of two unprecedented flights the year before: one was as the first person to fly solo across the Pacific from Hawaii to California (in January) while the other entailed the first solo (non-stop) flight from Mexico City to Newark, NJ (in May). Just a few years’ earlier, she had gained international fame as the first woman pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.

In the Fall of 1936, Earhart was making preparations for her most ambitious project yet: to become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the globe (flying solo, with just one companion, a navigator). To fly that distance, Earhart needed a different kind of plane, and was spending the Fall modifying a newly acquired Lockeed 10-E Electra (pictured here) that would be used to make the voyage the following summer.

Grinnellians were eager to make the most of this visit. The college library, in Carnegie, dedicated a “corner stall [that] will feature literature by and concerning the famous flyer.” And a special reception was held, after the talk, in the women’s Quandrangle drawing room–an event that was for “Grinnell co-eds and faculty women only.” Recently appointed a faculty member, herself, Earhart had joined Purdue University in 1935 to help them develop a new program in aviation (that she hoped would spread to other schools, opening up new opportunities for a rising generation of women and men).

Amelia Earhart’s plane disappeared the following July, n route from New Guinea to Howland Island.  Since it was during the summer, we don’t know much about how the campus reacted to the news of her disappearance.