Aerial photos can be helpful research tools for historians. Google Earth, which provides access to a vast collection of aerial photography stretching back 20 years, is just a sampling of the many aerial photos that have been made since French balloonist Gaspard-Félix Tournachon, known as “Nadar”, took a photo over Paris, France in 1858.
Much of New York Sate was photographed with the camera pointing straight down, an oblique presentation that is less useful to some historians. An effort to capture all of New York in an orthophotographic perspective (corrected to a uniform scale) started in 1936 with a contract to C.S. Robinson of Ithaca, NY. These images are particularly valuable resources for historians of all stripes.
Most county clerks will have the complete photo collection, but obtaining digital copies may be difficult. In a recent trip to the Cortland County Clerk’s Office, I discovered a tall stack of these photos. I asked about the opportunity to photograph them and was told that I could only purchase photocopies.
Another source for these photos is the US Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency. They have used these photos to map out farm crop areas and for environmental surveys and have held onto many of the oldest collections. The public domain photos for the Cayuga, Cortland, Onondaga, Seneca, Tompkins and Wayne counties are available online at Cornell University.
At the ending of World War II, a few pilots began photographing rural farms and homes in a low angle (oblique) perspective. These efforts were in the hopes that the rural land owner would want to purchase an image. The photographer would develop the photo and venture door to door displaying a photograph. If they did not make a sale, the prints would be destroyed. Many photographers also did not archive the negatives if the prints did not sell. There are two photographers that did retain their negative collections.
Vintage Aerial has digitized many of their 25 million photos and has developed a website that allows a salesperson to display the collection on your computer. By going to their website at VintageAerial.com, you can enter in your location and a salesperson will make an appointment to display the photos of your property along with those in the general area. If you are quick with the cut and paste, you can capture history while you are taken on a tour of the surrounding properties. Some major drawbacks to their collection are that the photos start in 1980 in New York State and the prices that they charge are quite high.
Another major aerial photographer was Henry DeWolf, the proprietor of the company Aerial Surveys. DeWolf was actively photographing from 1950 to 1978 and the majority of his early work was in New York State.
DeWolf’s collection consists of over two million negatives. Anyone owning one of these photos can still purchase reprints at very reasonable prices, so long as the photo has a photo number written on the back (the collection was never indexed and cannot be searched). I am attempting to develop an index by requesting those who hold Aerial Surveys photos to share with me the photo location and number. My email contact information is listed below. With the help of many contributors, I have started an index online here.
Below is a “Farm History” established using aerial surveys to provide an idea of the kind of details that can be discovered using these unique photographs. This first photo was taken prior to 1950 by either Aerial Survey or Mason Bros Flying Service.
This next photo taken on Sept 7, 1957 by Aerial Surveys.
And this one on July 30, 1968, again by Aerial Surveys
And a final one taken in 2009 by American Aerial Scenes.
Photos above: An aerial photograph taken in 1938 showing Syracuse in Onondaga County and the Casey Farm in 1936 (left) and via Google Earth in 2012 (right). Photos by Aerial Surveys and American Aerial Scenes reprinted with permission.
Saratoga County photos from the US Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency are on line through Skidmore College. The jpg image may not be the best – Contact Soil and Water office at 518.885.6900 to see the actual photos.
https://www.skidmore.edu/wri/aerial/1948.php
Your attempt to index DeWolf’s collection is to be congratulated and the farm history series of photos shown is very interesting.
But I have seen earlier aerial postcards of farms and villages in our area. Does “aerial” mean that the subject is seen from above or that the photographer was airborne? I’m reasonably sure that our Mr. Tucker [and his horse and buggy] was not airborne.
The New York State Archives has digitized a collection (approximately 2053 negatives) of aerial photographs taken in New York State by Fairchild Aerial Surveys, Inc. during 1941-57. The collection in its entirety is available online here: http://iarchives.nysed.gov/PubImageWeb/listCollections.jsp?id=67356
http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov has a lot of aerial images; be sure to click the “Data Sets” tab and click the checkbox for at least “Aerial Photo Single Frames”. For most locations that I’ve looked at so far images only go back to 1952, but I did see one from the 1940s.
I’ve seen a commercial website that takes USGS’ topographical maps and aerial photos that stamps their own copyright on those images and charges people for copies without the copyright watermark. Presumably the people who use that site and pay for the images don’t realize they’re free on USGS’ website!
I have a aerial survey photo taken by Henry DeWolf ( business stamp as above) # D – 666 – 297, I would like to know what year it was taken, I’m thinking mid 70’s, But I would like to know for sure. Thanks Paul Mays,
Bill, As you know I use to work for Henry DeWolf Aerial Surveys back in the early 70s until I started my own bussness America Aerial Scenes in 1978. I had sold many of Henrys aerials all over the Northeast and he even had me and some others guys out in Arizona a couple winters selling. At the end of each week I would mail in all my sales on a specific cash out sheet with the photo # and the customers name who purchased the photograph along with the persons address. So unless Joyce tossed out all of those old salesmans sheets (which she probably did) the addresses of those customers were all written down so they could be refered back to as far as where the farm or that penticular price of property was located. In the past few years I use Lat and Long coordinates so it makes it much easier finding the properties. Henry would write down where the name of the town, village and where the roll would start and usually start with an over shot of the town and say what roads and little towns were encompassed on that certain roll and where the roll would end. If he had to make a jump to a different area because he backed himself into a corner or ran out of subject matter in that penticular area he would take a general overall shot of something that someone would recognize maybe a four corners or something similar (we refered to those as indicator shots) and resume shooting from there. If we had a problem finding a place all we would do would be to ask the previous customer you sold to where the next pic would be and most likely it’s there neighbor a short distance away. The farmers usually always could help you out in locating a place you had a tough time finding because they all knew there neighbors back in those days. The cameras that Aerial Surveys used would hold 100′ foot rolls of double perforated film so they would get 530 shots per roll and each photo was numbered from #1 to #530. The theory was once you found the 1st photo on the roll the following image would be the next place down the road and so on and so forth because they were shot in sequence. Basically what the salesman was doing when he was out there selling these pics was just following the track of the airplane when it originally flew the photo mission. Now days we use GPS. Much easier. So ask Joyce if she happens to still have any of those old salesmans cash out sheets and if she still does BINGO. I guarantee they will identify where a lot of these
images live and who knows maybe I was the salesmen who originally sold it many years and years ago. I hope this helps you to identify some of these lost aerial photographs. Good luck, Mark Parker/American Aerial Scenes
Pompey, New York
Hello there!
I have recently found a family photo of the old farm and would love to see if any copies are kicking around. The picture was taken in Columbia county New York. It was taken of a farm in east Chatham New York. My family owned it. The back of the picture has the numbers 568-200. I wasn’t sure if you would possibly remember it or if it was even around that time or possibly before. Any info would be great. Thanks so much!
Hi Mark,
I posted a question back on 4/1/18 with no response to date. See below:
“Good afternoon, Like many of the post before mine I am looking for De Wolf aerial photos of my grandparents farm and adjacent properties in northwest NJ, Sussex county. I have several photos in poor condition with series of hand written numbers all beginning with 640-.
Can anyone help me find the archives of these photos?”
Any possibility of you having knowledge of photos of flight/roll 640 ?
Thanks,
Dan
Dan, I just saw your post. That sounds like American Aerial Scenes Photo # and probably is. What’s throwing me is there stamp AAS should be on the back of the print itself assuming there originals.
Mark Parker American Aerial Scenes
315-436-1682
Hi Mark, Thank you so much for your response and including your phone number! I’ll keep you posted. Thank you again,
Dan
Hi Mark, Thanks again for Joyce’s phone number (585) 663-8231. I’ve left three messages to date with no return call. I’ve also sent an email as their outgoing message suggested. No reply to that yet. Here is the email address should others like to contact De Wolf Aerial Surveys: aerialsurveys@rochester.rr.com,
Have a happy Thanksgiving! Dan
Hi Mark!
My name is Keith Santspree, I live in Rochester, NY. I recently purchased a framed print from an antiques vendor and it had a “hidden” Dewolf print behind it. I would like to identify it and possibly get in the hands of some interested party. Any suggestions as to how to proceed? Thanks!
Dear Mark,
Doing a little research and came across your above e mail. My uncle purchased a picture which we can not find. However, he wrote down all the information. Aerial Surveys, 106 Silverdale Drive, Rochester, NyY I believe the photographer was Henry DeWolf. The picture was taken in September of 1973 of Sea Isle City. Picture number is C-786185. Would you be able to help me track this down to get a copy? Thanks in advance and hope to hear from you.
Sincerely,
Maureen Mesisca, NJ
We have one and would love a digital download of it. It is of Pawelski Farms in Orange County, NY. Circa 1978. It has a number of M 668-441. I can email you a pic of there photo and the info on the back. My email address is evep@warwick.net.
THX!
C
We have an old photo and have been looking to get another of it or at least find out the date it was taken.
The number on the back is C278-72. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks
Good morning. I have two undated color Henry DeWolf aerial photos that appear to be from the ’60s to mid ’70s. M810 140 depicts a view of the southern half of the Village of Port Jefferson. Yuo can see Main and East Main Street, the former First National Bank of Port Jefferson building (on the National Register of Historical Places) and other prominent structures still in use today. The second one, M810 138 depicts the waterfront of Port Jefferson Harbor. It shows the Port Jefferson ferry dock and the lot where Danfords Hotel and Marina now stands. I’m interested to know if the index numbers would help identify other aerial views of Port Jefferson Village from this flight that we might view and possible purchase for our historical society?
Hello! I have torn photograph of my childhood home with Henry DeWolf’s info on the back and would love to get more copies made for my family or somehow obtain a scan of the entire photo.
Info is as follows: HU-2-5564. And handwritten on the top is “660-16”.
Can anyone help me with my request?
Renee, Try calling JOYCE (585) 663-8231
Mark Parker/American Aerial Scenes
315-436-1682
Hello – We had a photo that was taken around 1977 – 1978 hanging on the wall in the home where I grew up. In 2015, my mom sold the house and moved to Florida. The movers we hired were not good people and delivered only 50% of my moms boxes (all of which were smashed) and unfortunately, the picture was not there. I’ve been trying to find the photographer who took the picture and I suspect it may be Henry DeWolf or you. The property was in Catskill, NY (Greene County). I know I’m grasping at straws but I figured that this is worth a try. Any advice or direction would be welcome. Thank you!!!!
Henry DeWolf Photo # T40-5
Address:
Rural Route 2
Shippensburg, PA 17357
Cumberland County
Penn Township
The photograph I have is a black & white of my grandfather’s farm. The farm was approx. 150 acres. The photo shows the house, barn and out-buildings and there are some vehicles in the photo too. My parent’s 53 acre farm where I grew up was right next to my grandfathers and I WOULD LOVE to buy a photo of my home place if by any chance it was also photographed along with an enlarged photo of my grandfather’s farm.
Hi, my family has an aerial photo from henry dewolf anf am trying to determine a date. The number on the back are as follows: M714 (printed), and 366 (written).
Also, any chance of obtaining a digital copy?
This print is of the Wetherby Farm on west street in fair haven, VT.
Thanks!
Cory, That was taken around 1976 – 1977. I worked that roll years ago. Regards, Mark Parker / American Aerial Scenes 315-436-1682
Thank you Mark!
Good afternoon, Like may of the post before mine I am looking for De Wolf aerial photos of my grandparents farm and adjacent properties in northwest NJ, Sussex county. I have several photos in poor condition with series of hand written numbers all beginning with 640-.
Can anyone help me find the archives of these photos?
Thank you,
Dan
I would like to request a reprint of an aerial photo taken by Henry DeWolf which I believe was taken between 1950-1954. The photo is of the Ingersoll Farm, South Otselic, NY. I believe the photo number is 25-85. There is also another number on the back which is 2650. I believe it reads H.A. Milton 2650 but is not very legible.
Please advise if this is obtainable.
SUNY Oneonta has aerial photos taken in 1936 and 1937 by C.S. Robinson Aerial for the US Dept of Agriculture. They are available on line at this link. The photos have been organized by town and/or village.
https://www.oneonta.edu/faculty/baumanpr/APTEST/Otsego%20County%20Main.htm
I have an old B&W photo of a family farm and would like to order some reprints of it. It has the number 140-124, it is from the late 50’s to early 60’s. The farm is located in Watsontown, PA.
I think a book about Henry DeWolf would be interesting. I have written local history books for Arcadia Publishing IMAGES OF AMERICA series. Are there resources available that would support a book about Henry’s life and career?
I have a photo of my husband Granddaddy’s farm and home place with a number on the back. Can you tell how to get another print of this aerial taken by Henry DeWolf?
Mary, if you’re still looking for the aerial photograph try this number JOYCE (585) 663-8231
Mark Parker
American Aerial Scenes LLC
http://www.americanaerialscenes.com
315-436-1682
I have two photos of our family farm. 550-136 and 550-138.’located in Berne, N Y, Could I get date of photos from you
Dave, Aerial Surveys would always STAMP the 1st. Part of the photo #. example M123 – 45
Look closely and determine if there is a stamped letter letter and # before the written one. If there’s NO STAMPED Letter and # on back it possibly might be America Aerial Scenes Photograph.
Mark Parker
315-436-1682
Just got a copy of our property photographed back in the 50s from a prior owner. We are wondering if there are more pics in that roll.
296-185
Newport, NY
Jeannine, There probably are more pics on that roll but not necessarily more of your property.
That sounds like my photo by the #.
Mark Parker
American Aerial Scenes
315-436-1682
Mark – Even though our photo says Henry Dewolfe in the back, I’m sensing you might have actually shot it? About 1977-78. Roll and picture says M339 182
Would love to find out about reprints.
Thank you for your courtesies!
I have a Henry DeWolf photo that I would like to purchase a copy of. The number on the back is C-125-39. It was taken in Florida, along the Indian River North of Melbourne, some time in the early 1960s.
I have a photo taken by Mr. DeWolf in the summer of 1963. The photo number is hand written: C102-206. It is of my grandparents house and barn. The address then was RD #1 Cattaraugus, New York 14719. Although technically I think the property was just inside Mansfield township. Grandparents were Marshall & Jean Farnham.
I have photo stamped with D 335 then handwriting number 201 that was taken in Marin County in 1980 and I was hoping to find a copy of it. Any help would be appreciated.
Regards.
I have a photo stamped M820 with a hand written 129 on the back. I am hoping to buy a few prints. I can supply pictures of the stamp if needed. The photo is from 1980 of 106 Shawnese Dr in Harveys Lake, PA.
Hello Keith – can you post a picture of the picture? I’ve been looking for a photo of the house where I grew up that was stolen during my mom’s move south. I know it’s a long shot but worth a try.
Thank you,
Jane
I have 2 DeWolf photos from 1955. They are numbers 190-112 and 190-97. They are of my property. 121 Slosson Lane, Geneva, New York