[MassHistPres] Aerial photos - how useful for historical documentation and preservation?

[Doherty, Jennifer (SEC)]

Hi Lyle,
Historic aerials are a great way to track 20th century changes in a community - moved buildings, demolitions, the development of suburbs. They can also be helpful for communities looking to update their survey of historic resources - what has changed in your community since you last completed a survey? Or if a previous survey stopped at 1930 or 1950, what areas might have been missed?

I frequently use two easily-accessible sources:

-          MACRIS Maps<https://maps.mhc-macris.net/> has a few more recent (1990s-present) statewide ortho layers you can turn on. On the right side of the screen, where the address search is, select the "Layers" tab and then click the "Base Layer" dropdown to select one of the ortho layers.

-          HistoricAerials.com<https://historicaerials.com/viewer> has aerials going back to the 1950s or so as well as historic topo maps. They do watermark all their images, but it can be a helpful quick reference. Note that this is not an MHC product and this is not an official endorsement by the MHC, but it is a helpful site to know!

Thank you,
Jenn


Jennifer B. Doherty
Local Government Programs Coordinator
Massachusetts Historical Commission
220 Morrissey Boulevard
Boston, MA 02125-3314
Office: (617) 727-8470
Remote: (617) 807-0685
Jennifer.Doherty at sec.state.ma.us<mailto:Jennifer.Doherty at sec.state.ma.us>

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From: MassHistPres <masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu> On Behalf Of Lyle Nyberg
Sent: Wednesday, April 13, 2022 11:05 PM
To: MassHistPres at cs.umb.edu
Subject: [MassHistPres] Aerial photos - how useful for historical documentation and preservation?

My historical work has found aerial photos useful but overlooked, often buried in town archives. Has anyone else found them useful?

Lyle Nyberg
Independent historian, author, www.lylenyberg.com<https://urldefense.com/v3/__http:/www.lylenyberg.com__;!!CUhgQOZqV7M!1_14WH6oExQqO_d96zCZ1ck8FA1YyW0IlChBRdOyTjBCQWV42LLFd_KI8p28JXGch0pSfu5tY78$>
Volunteer at Scituate Historical Commission
Scituate, MA
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