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

[Haley, Ben (SEC)]

UMass Amherst's Special Collections has digitized the William P. MacConnell Aerial Photograph Collection. The scans are high quality and can be very useful.


Here's the description of the collection:


In the 1950s, William P. MacConnell (Class of 1943), and his photogrammetry students in the Dept. of Forestry began using aerial photography to map forests, agricultural fields, wetlands, and other land cover in Massachusetts. Their work was eventually expanded to include the mapping of all land use for Massachusetts, making this state the first in the nation to be completely mapped in this fashion, and laying the foundation for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Wetlands Inventory.


The scanned photographs can be found here: https://credo.library.umass.edu/view/collection/mufs190


Ben

Ben Haley
National Register Director
Massachusetts Historical Commission
220 Morrissey Blvd.
Boston, MA 02125
Ph: 617-727-8470
Fax: 617-727-5128
www.sec.state.ma.us/mhc<https://owa.sec.state.ma.us/owa/redir.aspx?C=WjnKiV1joO-edaxbgjLwlSFwvkY1L6PZt76-usnxYiYhAPM1NNfXCA..&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.sec.state.ma.us%2fmhc>
ben.haley at sec.state.ma.us<https://owa.sec.state.ma.us/owa/redir.aspx?C=g-UrbAOcH-6AfUOM_E5TJ32Mwc8MQ2E5lLQ3vKZ7ELkhAPM1NNfXCA..&URL=mailto%3aben.haley%40sec.state.ma.us>

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________________________________
From: MassHistPres <masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu> on behalf of jim boone <jimboone at hotmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 14, 2022 9:37:54 AM
To: Doherty, Jennifer (SEC); Lyle Nyberg; MassHistPres at cs.umb.edu
Subject: Re: [MassHistPres] Aerial photos - how useful for historical documentation and preservation?

In 1939 there was a WPA project that photographed every house and building in Springfield Ma. The Springfield Preservation Trust is digitizing these to our website. Great recourse. Look and see if your town did a similar project,
________________________________
From: MassHistPres <masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu> on behalf of Doherty, Jennifer (SEC) <jennifer.doherty2 at state.ma.us>
Sent: Thursday, April 14, 2022 1:28 PM
To: Lyle Nyberg <lylenyberg at comcast.net>; MassHistPres at cs.umb.edu <MassHistPres at cs.umb.edu>
Subject: Re: [MassHistPres] Aerial photos - how useful for historical documentation and preservation?


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://urldefense.com/v3/__https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https*3A*2F*2Fmaps.mhc-macris.net*2F&data=04*7C01*7C*7C6d169e340c0043642e4408da1e1ac23b*7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa*7C1*7C0*7C637855397532211893*7CUnknown*7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0*3D*7C3000&sdata=W8kefCbJxx*2FN076c32HYfjtnFmUt8DaQx*2FbAwmFlWlA*3D&reserved=0__;JSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUl!!CUhgQOZqV7M!3Lk1NxvYQ7rRYD1Eo7bClN3o_aeK4Og0MGZBU53dDlBcpFw1ZoaWamNf1x4yZQrYz0LLrw$> 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://urldefense.com/v3/__https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https*3A*2F*2Fhistoricaerials.com*2Fviewer&data=04*7C01*7C*7C6d169e340c0043642e4408da1e1ac23b*7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa*7C1*7C0*7C637855397532211893*7CUnknown*7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0*3D*7C3000&sdata=Mt7CWJtSowWCjZXS7YvaWM0N2Suq*2Big*2FUJnyh*2FnJbCo*3D&reserved=0__;JSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJQ!!CUhgQOZqV7M!3Lk1NxvYQ7rRYD1Eo7bClN3o_aeK4Og0MGZBU53dDlBcpFw1ZoaWamNf1x4yZQoNIvlTwQ$> 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/__https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https*3A*2F*2Furldefense.com*2Fv3*2F__http*3A*2Fwww.lylenyberg.com__*3B!!CUhgQOZqV7M!1_14WH6oExQqO_d96zCZ1ck8FA1YyW0IlChBRdOyTjBCQWV42LLFd_KI8p28JXGch0pSfu5tY78*24&data=04*7C01*7C*7C6d169e340c0043642e4408da1e1ac23b*7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa*7C1*7C0*7C637855397532211893*7CUnknown*7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0*3D*7C3000&sdata=KT2853HPlxZARScjVdNF*2FLrs5wKnin56GYBihU*2FgWrE*3D&reserved=0__;JSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSU!!CUhgQOZqV7M!3Lk1NxvYQ7rRYD1Eo7bClN3o_aeK4Og0MGZBU53dDlBcpFw1ZoaWamNf1x4yZQp8mbJnIA$>

Volunteer at Scituate Historical Commission

Scituate, MA
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