I don't always buy first day covers, but when I do...

Two changes were made to the Women's Air Derby in 1937, neither of which would be used again in 1938.

The Women's Air Derby was an event created for the annual National Air Races in 1929 . It was a cross-country race from California (usually Santa Monica) to Cleveland, OH; where the National Races took place. 

For reasons that I've yet to see explained, the 1937 event was changed to a 25-mile dash. The kind where certain marks need to be hit, and if they weren't, points were reduced (or time was added). From what I can gather, this was the only year that they did that for the Women's Derby.

The other temporary change, and one that certainly made more sense at the time, was that the race was renamed to the Amelia Earhart Memorial Race. Amelia Earhart (and Fred Noonan) had disappeared just two months earlier on July 2nd, so she was still very much on everyone's mind. One could argue that even though the primary search had been called off six weeks earlier, that there was a slim chance that she could've still been alive, and therefor the name change might've been a bit premature. They went ahead and changed it though, and much like the new race, the name only lasted for one year.

The Charlotte Observer 9/12/37

Gladys O' Donnell had been participating in air races for eight years by 1937, in fact her first race was in the 1929 Women's Air Derby, where she took second place; one spot ahead of Amelia Earhart (who only finished third because the gal ahead of her crashed). For those interested in early aviation, I would encourage you to read one of the multiple books that have been put out about that 1929 race. It's story has everything, a great cast of characters, suspected sabotage, tragedy (Marvel Crosson died during the race), and heck, there's even a case of Typhoid Fever mixed in just for good measure. 

Gladys O'Donnell after winning the Amelia Earhart Memorial Race. Image swiped from the Getty site.

Like a lot of early aviators, Gladys was a pretty interesting person. She wasn't even interested in flying (despite her husband running a flight school) until getting caught up in all of Charles Lindbergh's various triumphs. She finally took up flying in 1929 (as a 25 year-old mother of two), and had only logged 40 hours of solo time before she entered that first Women's Air Derby (despite entrants allegedly needing 100 hours of solo time to participate); which makes that second place finish just that much more impressive. She won her first competition the following year, and would pick up quite a few more wins throughout the 30's.

When it comes to stamps and other postal ephemera, I generally prefer things that were originally intended for actual use by the public. Things that have a story. Because of this preference, first day covers, which were created solely for the collector market, have never been of much interest to me. Prior to this purchase, my only FDC's were of the airship/dirigible variety. I made an exception for this particular cover because it's at least contemporary to what it's commemorating, as opposed to paying homage to something that happened 40 years earlier. In addition to that, I rarely get to add anything to my small collection of Amelia Earhart items (which is beginning to morph into a more of just a collection of items celebrating early aviation), so for just a couple of bucks (less than $3 with shipping), I couldn't resist!