Scope and Contents

This collection consists of two items of ephemera issued by the New York City Mayor's Committee on Receptions [New York City] for the "WE" banquet, commemorating Charles A. Lindbergh's solo transatlantic flight, which was held on Tuesday, June 16, 1927, at 7:00 p.m. at the Hotel Commodore: an engraved invitation and a menu in the form of a program booklet.

The menu is an 11 x 8.5 inch booklet, 12 pages, bound with three-ply blue, white, and gold twisted silk cord with decorative tassels. The front cover illustration, a hand-colored blue-gray collotype print with a gold embossed Seal of the City of New York, features a view of the Ryan NYP Spirit of St. Louis (r/n N-X-211) in low-level flight over the ocean (top), and (at bottom) the Statue of Liberty in New York and the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, and crossed American and French flags with olive branches. Interior pages include the short text "Lindbergh Flies Alone," credited to ; a blue-gray collotype portrait photograph of Lindbergh with facsimile signature (credited to Underwood & Underwood); a dinner menu; a program of events, and a list of members of the Mayor's Committee on Receptions (Grover A. Whalen, William H. Woodin, Edward L. Stanton, and George F. Mand). Speakers included Alfred E. Smith, Governor of the State of New York; Dr. John H. Finley; Charles A. Lindbergh; Patrick Cardinal Hayes, Archbishop of New York; William T. Manning, Bishop of the New York Protestant Episcopal Diocese; and James J. "Jimmy" Walker, Mayor of the City of New York.

Arrangement

This collection contains two items. The invitation has been assigned NASM Archives image reference number NASM-9A18882, and the menu is NASM-9A18883. Note that pages 10 and 11 of the menu booklet are blank and have not been digitized.

Biographical / Historical

On May 21, 1927, Charles Augustus Lindbergh (1902-1974) completed the first solo nonstop transatlantic flight in history, flying his Ryan NYP Spirit of St. Louis (r/n N-X-211) 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. Following his historic New York to Paris flight, Lindbergh and the Spirit of St. Louis returned to the United States aboard the USS Memphis, arriving at Washington, D. C. on June 11, 1927. Two days later, on June 13, he flew on the Spirit of St. Louis to New York City where he was honored by a tickertape parade. Celebrations continued on June 14 with the "WE" banquet at the Hotel Commodore sponsored by the Mayor's Committee on Receptions. On June 16, Orteig presented the prize check to Lindbergh during a tea held at the Hotel Brevoort. Later that evening Lindbergh proceeded on to a dinner held in his honor at the Hotel Waldorf-Astoria by the Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce of America.

The Hotel Commodore, at 109 East 42nd Street, New York City (adjacent to Grand Central Station), first opened its doors in January 1919. The building was extensively remodeled in the mid-1970s, reopening with an all-glass façade in 1980 as the Grand Hyatt New York.

Related Materials

Program from the June 16, 1927, tea at the Hotel Brevoort where Lindbergh was presented with the $25,000 Orteig Prize check: Raymond Orteig Testimonial Dinner Program, NASM.2001.0051.

Program from the June 16, 1927, dinner at the Hotel Waldorf-Astoria sponsored by the Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce of America, Inc.: Charles A. Lindbergh Dinner Menu, NASM.XXXX.0542.