Lindbergh and Coolidge, Washington DC

In 1944 the D.C. Public Library purchased over 1800 lanternslides and glass plate negatives from E.B. Thompson for $1,000. Mr. Thompson was a photographer who in 1904 opened a store that sold “steropticon supplies, cameras, lantern slides,” and other photographic equipment at 1343 F St., NW. His camera shop moved numerous times in forty years, ending up finally at 1744 Columbia Road, N.W. In 1944, his business letterhead advertised his store as selling “Sound and Silent Motion Pictures and Slides”.He offered to sell his collection of images of Washington, DC to the DC Public Library as he prepared to retire from full time work after a long illness in 1944. Starting in 1946 the DC Public Library contracted with the Library of Congress to create 8x10 black and white prints on mounts from his collection of slides and negatives. The prints are now part of the Washington, DC Historical Image Collection in the Washingtoniana Division. The collection’s strengths are in its images of federal buildings, the Arlington National Cemetery, federal memorials, national parades, historic houses, and street scenes.

Charles Lindbergh (1902 – 1974) was an American aviator, author, inventor, military officer, explorer, and social activist. At age 25, Lindbergh, a U.S. Air Mail pilot, made his  33 1⁄2 hours prize-winning solo nonstop flight from Long Island, New York, to Le Bourget Field in Paris, France. He flew the distance of nearly 3,600 miles (5,800 km) in a single-seat, single-engine, purpose-built Ryan monoplane, Spirit of St. Louis. Lindbergh used his fame and the development of both commercial aviation and Air Mail services in the United States and the Americas. In March 1932, his infant son, Charles Jr., was kidnapped and murdered in what was dubbed the "Crime of the Century". Lindbergh supported the isolationist America First movement, which advocated that America remain neutral during the war, as had his father, Congressman Charles August Lindbergh, during World War I. Nevertheless, Lindbergh publicly supported the war effort after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and flew 50 combat missions in the Pacific Theater of World War II as a civilian consultant. In his later years, Lindbergh became a prolific prize-winning author, international explorer, inventor, and environmentalist.