In 1929, two years after his epic cross-Atlantic solo flight, Charles Lindberg and his new wife Anne embarked on another novel exploration. Alfred V. Kidder, who was excavating at Pecos Pueblo in New Mexico, asked them to photograph some of the dramatic archaeological sites in the Southwest. A new generation of archaeologists was at work throughout the region, and Kidder believed aerial photography would add much new information. Lindbergh jumped at the challenge after being impressed by Maya ruins in the Yucatán he saw from the air in 1928.
By then he had joined Transcontinental Air Transport (TAT, later TWA) as its technical director working to establish a regular air route from Los Angeles to New York. He helped establish new airports in the Southwest, and volunteered to detour to sites in the Southwest to photograph them. On July 5, 1929 Lindbergh and his wife arrive at the TAT airport in Albuquerque. From there they flew to Chaco Canyon where they photographed some of the major ruins, including Pueblo Bonito and Pueblo del Arroyo. Traveling in a Curtiss Falcon biplane with an open two-seat cockpit, Charles would lean over with the camera while Anne flew the plane. From Chaco they continued to Canyon de Chelly in Arizona. Subsequent trips took them to many more archaeological sites in the Southwest. The Lindbergh archaeological archive of about 200 photographs is housed at the Laboratory of Anthropology in Santa Fe.
In this breathtaking book, the Lindbergh photos are combined with recent photos of many of the same sites by noted aerial photographer Adriel Heisey. In all, there are 30 color plates by Heisey and 30 black and white photos by the Lindberghs. Historian Erik O. Berg adds an excellent historical essay of the Lindbergh’s adventures in the Southwest and their connections to Southwestern archaeology. Linda J. Pierce and Maxine E. McBrinn add essays on the importance of aerial photography to archaeological preservation. Oblique Views is a striking contribution to the history of archaeological research in the American Southwest.
