Anne Morrow Lindbergh: Visionary Aviator and Explorer

Join the Explorers Club and the Breaking Barriers committee on March 10th to celebrate the life of pioneering author and explorer Anne Morrow Lindbergh. On May 27th, 1929, Anne Spencer Morrow, a quite shy, prize-winning English major and graduate of Smith College, married Charles A. Lindbergh, the most famous aviator of his time and the world’s first media star. Not surprisingly this changed her life radically. In five years, by 1934, she would be referred to in the media as the “First Lady of Aviation” on her own merits. This amazing transformation would not only include her learning to fly, getting her radio license, and becoming a fully licensed glider pilot, but also opened the door to many very real flying accomplishments and adventures as she accompanied her husband as navigator, radio operator, and co-pilot, exploring the uses of aviation, then a new technology, in exploration, science, communication, and relief work. Anne’s contributions to exploration include: Acting as co-pilot and navigator with her husband to set a transcontinental record. Spotting from the air an important and previously undiscovered Mayan temple. Photo-documenting areas of the Canyon de Chelly that are still extremely difficult to reach. Identifying a previously unknown mountain range in Greenland. Flying 40,000 miles with her husband acting as co-pilot, radio operator, and navigator, surveying national and international air routes, many still in use today. Making a record breaking radio transmission of 3,000 miles, establishing a new long distance record. Her two books on her flying experiences during the Golden Age of Flight were best sellers and won the National Bookseller Association National Book Awards for non-fiction. Her first book, NORTH TO THE ORIENT, marking it’s 90th year in print in 2025, won the first National Book Award for non-fiction in 1935. This in-person event at the Explorers Club Headquarters will include an audience Q&A. Streaming live here on explorers.org, our YouTube Channel, and our Facebook Live — Monday, March 10th at 7:00 pm ET.