Charles A. Lindbergh Arc de Triomphe Composite Photograph [Zachter]

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of a single oversized black and white print photograph (29 3/4 x 40 inches) depicting Charles A. Lindbergh with U.S. Ambassador Myron T. Herrick in an open horse-drawn carriage passing in front of the Arc de Triomphe, Paris, France. The photographic print is an elaborate composite image, assembled from several different photographs and extensively retouched. On a background of the Arc de Triomphe photographed during a celebration or commemorative ceremony is placed an image of the back half of an open barouche carriage (right foreground) followed by a mounted Garde Républicaine honor guard (center); Ambassador Herrick's head has replaced that of the original seated dignitary, and an image of a grinning Lindbergh standing and waving his hat has been added beside Herrick. A group of three young women waving American flags has been inserted behind the carriage. According to family lore, this photograph was given to the donor's grandmother in the early 1930s by a customer in exchange for bread at the family's New York City bakery.

Arrangement

Just one item.

Biographical / Historical

On May 21, 1927, Charles Augustus Lindbergh completed the first solo nonstop transatlantic flight in history, flying his Ryan NYP Spirit of St. Louis 5,810 kilometers (3,610 miles) between Roosevelt Field on Long Island, New York, and Paris, France, in 33 hours, 30 minutes. With this flight, Lindbergh won the $25,000 prize offered by New York hotel owner Raymond Orteig to the first aviator to fly an aircraft directly across the Atlantic between New York and Paris. When he landed at Le Bourget Field in Paris, Lindbergh became a world hero who would remain in the public eye for decades.