History and Women

"Puncetto lace” is traditionally from the Valsesia area, a mountain valley in northern Italy.  Its exact origins are not known, but it is believed the lace came about as a result of the invasion of Saracens in the 10th century because it closely resembles the delicate filigree decorative patterns of Arab art from that time.  The first known example of puncetto lace dates from the 16th century when a man named Gaudenzio Ferrari, a very famous and reknowned artist from Valsesia adorned a statue of the Virgin Mary with this lace.  Years later, artists working in the Varallo Sacred Mountain Chapel painted examples of this lace to embellish the plain costumes the figures appearing in the popular every day life scenes they were creating.  The popularity of the lace reached its height during the XIXth century, when Queen Margaret of Savoy, an admirer of Valsesia district, introduced it at her court, among her ladies-in-waiting.  The lace soon spread to France and Great Brita

Encyclopedia of World Biography on Amelia Mary Earhart The American aviator Amelia Mary Earhart Putnam (1897-1937) remains the world's best-known woman pilot long after her mysterious disappearance during a round-the-world flight in 1937. Amelia Mary Earhart was born on July 24, 1897, the daughter of Edwin and Amy Otis Earhart. Until she was 12 she lived with her wealthy maternal grandparents, Alfred and Amelia Harres Otis, in Atcheson, Kansas, where she attended a private day school.  Her summers were spent in Kansas City, Missouri, where her lawyer-father worked for the Rock Island Railroad. In 1909 Amelia and her younger sister, Muriel, went to live with their parents in Des Moines, Iowa, where the railroad had transferred her father. Before completing high school she also attended schools in St. Paul, Minnesota, and Springfield, Illinois, while her father fought a losing battle against alcoholism. His failure and its consequent humiliation for her were the root of