Aerial Photographs and Ancestral Home Towns

Aerial view of a river winding through a city with bridges, green spaces, and urban development visible on both banks. — Aerial view of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, circa 1893. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

In the 19th century, daring photographers climbed into woven baskets held aloft by balloons in order to take pictures of local landscapes. While French photographer Nadar‘s photograph of Paris from the air in 1858 no longer exists, other such landscapes still do.

J. W. Black of Boston photographed Boston from a balloon in 1860. That picture is now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. You can read more about it in Smithsonian Magazine.

The world seemed enamored with aerial photography in the 1860s. During the Civil War, Gen. Ambrose Burnside employed a balloonist, Prof. James Allen of Providence, RI, to take reconnaissance photographs of battlefields and troop locations.

Visual Time Traveling

A large number of aerial images are in the collection of the Library of Congress. Search the Photo, Prints and Drawings collection using terms like “aerial photography,” then use the “Refine your results” options on the left side of the screen to narrow results by date, place or online availability. You can also browse through the “Aerial Views” subject in the online catalog. You might locate an image of an ancestral hometown taken in the time frame your ancestor lived there.

Historic sepia-toned photograph of a cityscape with rows of houses, tree-lined streets, and various buildings extending toward the horizon. — Aerial photograph looking west over Richmond, Virginia. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Also utilize the following resources to find aerial photographs:

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has a collection of over 35,000,000 aerial photographs from various federal agencies that date between 1917 and 2011. More information is available on their website.

The National Collection of Aerial Photography contains aerial photographs from around the world, including many digitized in partnership with NARA.

Numerous state agencies and universities also maintain collections of historic aerial photographs. Search terms like Ohio aerial photographs or Chicago aerial photos on Google to find relevant collections and repositories.

Kite Photos

Balloons weren’t the only way to photograph from the air. In 1882, a British meteorologist developed a way to attach cameras to kites. The caption of this postcard states that a kite-held camera took this scene.

Aerial view of Reeds Lake and Ramona Park in Grand Rapids, Michigan, showing buildings, trees, and a boat on the lake. Vintage postcard style, labeled with location and photo credit. — Kite Photo of Reeds Lake and Ramona Park, Grand Rapids, MI, circa 1911. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Aerial photography never went out of style. Airplanes replaced balloons and kites, and now there are drones. Visit any gadget store and you’re apt to see drones capable of taking videos. Search online for “drone film of [fill in the blank]” to see if there’s virtual aerial tour of an ancestral hometown.

A version of this article was published online in June 2016. Last updated: April 2026