Lucielle Belmont, Balloonist and Parachutist Scrapbook

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of a scrapbook documenting the career of Lucielle Belmont Baldwin Rutshaw. The scrapbook has a red cardstock cover and measures approximately 6.5 by 8.5 inches. The scrapbook contains newspaper clippings, photographs and correspondence with county fair officials regarding her performances, as well as ephemera such as county fair passes and tickets. The collection also contains a loose photograph of Lucielle Belmont Baldwin with her husband, C. C. Baldwin, and a studio portrait of her alone.

Arrangement

Collection is arranged by type of material.

Biographical / Historical

Lucielle Belmont Baldwin Rutshaw (1887--1961) was a balloonist and parachutist who performed solo balloon ascensions and parachute drops as an entertainer at county fairs and exhibitions all over the United States and Canada in the years from 1912 to the early 1920s. Belmont was sometimes billed as part of the "Famous Belmont Sisters" with sisters Mabel and Cleo, and was managed for at least part of her career by Robinson Attractions in Chicago, Illinois. Belmont was known for triple and sometimes quadruple jumps where she cut loose from one parachute then opened another one multiple times. After her marriage to C. C. Baldwin, Belmont sometimes appeared as Lucielle Belmont Baldwin and under this name she was granted License for Flying Civilian Aircraft no. 375 (to operate a hot air balloon) on April 9, 1918 by the Joint Army and Navy Board on Aeronautic Cognizance. Since she made her first solo balloon ascent, including a parachute jump, on August 14, 1912, Lucielle qualified for membership in the Early Birds of Aviation and she joined that organization with her married name from her second marriage, Lucielle Rutshaw.