A Family Story Takes Flight – FY24-25 in Review
Son Finds Long-Lost Photo of His Father Beside Amelia Earhart, Thanks to GSU Library’s Special Collections
When Daniel Brown began exploring the Digital Library of Georgia one afternoon, he didn’t expect to find a missing piece of his family’s history or Georgia’s aviation story. As he clicked through a collection labeled “Previously unpublished photos of Amelia Earhart at Candler Field in 1934,” one image made him stop cold.
There, standing beside the world-famous aviator, was his father, Edmond Daniel Brown, then a junior in high school.
“It was the photograph my father talked about all his life,” Daniel said. “He always said he met Amelia Earhart and had his picture made with her, but he never saw it.”
“I shouted out loud, ‘Daddy, I found it!’ and sat there grinning with tears in my eyes.”
The image, preserved for decades in the Georgia State University Library’s Special Collections & Archives, completed a story nearly 90 years in the making.
An Era Takes Flight
Daniel’s father grew up near the old Candler Raceway, the site that would become Atlanta’s first airport. His childhood neighbors were early barnstormers and stunt pilots who ignited his lifelong fascination with flight.
That passion led him to earn a pilot’s license at the University of Georgia and later to work for Eastern Airlines under aviation legend Eddie Rickenbacker. Even after retiring, aviation remained central to the Brown family’s story. In the 1990s, Daniel built a replica Curtiss Jenny airplane, one of the early models flown at Candler Field, with his father’s help.
Preserving Personal History
Stories like the Browns’ illustrate how archival collections safeguard not only famous names and historic events, but the everyday lives intertwined with them. The rediscovery of a single photo brought together a son, his late father, and one of the most iconic figures in aviation.
“These archives hold more than documents and images,” Daniel reflected. “They hold connections and memories.”
Note: Christina Zamon, Department Head of Georgia State University Library Special Collections & Archives, interviewed Daniel Brown for this story. You can view his oral history interview at the Georgia State University Library’s Youtube channel.
