Frank A. Lindbergh was born on 1870 in Melrose, Minnesota, the brother of Minnesota congressman Charles A. Lindbergh, Sr., and the uncle of the famed aviator, Charles A. Lindbergh, Jr. Frank Lindbergh practiced law with his brother for 20 years in Little Falls, Minnesota. Following that partnership, he settled (1910) with his wife Florence in Crosby, Minnesota, on the Cuyuna Iron Range, where he operated an insurance agency and served at various times as the village attorney, mayor, and postmaster. He died there in 1966.
There is information on family history; the reburial of Charles Sr. at
Little Falls (1932); a proposed biography of him (1936-1937); Charles Jr.'s
transatlantic flight (1927) as well as subsequent flights and other activities;
his marriage (1929) to Anne Morrow; the kidnapping of their son (1932); and
notable events in aviation, including flights of Amelia Earhart (1920s-1930s)
and Douglas Corrigan (1930s) and the crash of the dirigible
Much of the later correspondence (1950s-1970s) consists of letters to Frank and Florence from siblings, nephews, nieces, and other family members. The 25 photographs (ca. 1900s-1950s) are nearly all portraits of family members. The extensive clippings nearly all relate to Charles A. Lindbergh, Jr., and his historic flight, and were collected by Winifred Small and later donated to the family.
A print version of this finding aid is available in the repository; it is filed as P640.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should
Accession number: 10,850; 15,976
Processed by: Dennis Meissner, January 2005
Catalog ID number: 001719763
A few 1927 letters to Frank concern his nephew's historic transatlantic flight. The rest are mostly letters to Frank and Florence from other family members, most of them siblings, but also a few from nieces and nephews, including Charles A. Lindbergh, Jr. Topics are largely family news and the day-to-day activities of Frank and Florence and their correspondents.
The first item is Frank's typed reminiscence of his uncle Perry Lindbergh, who immigrated in 18862 from Sweden to help August Lindbergh run his Minnesota farm following a sawmill accident, and who later settled in California. Other materials are largely printed items, including flyers and other items documenting the Lindbergh Historic Site and the Charles A. Lindbergh Fund, as well as a few items from Frank's insurance agency.
The items are all black and white prints (one of them hand tinted) of various Lindbergh family members, including a couple depictions of Charles A. Lindbergh, Jr. as a boy. Many are studio portraits depicting weddings and other events, as well as sitting portraits.
Two small sketches of Frank Lindbergh made by Florence Lindbergh the year after his death.
The clippings are pasted onto pages that were originally in a
looseleaf binder, from which they were removed and filed into folders in their
original page order, which is not chronological. They were apparently collected
by Winifred Small, who sent them to Frank Lindbergh in 1951. The clippings deal
largely with Charles A. Lindbergh, Jr., including the 1927 flight, subsequent
flights, his marriage to Anne Morrow, the 1932 kidnapping of their son, and
some of his activities after 1935. There are also stories about other aviation
topics: Amelia Earhart's flights, Douglas Corrigan, the 1937 crash of the
dirigible