The University of Iowa Libraries Map Collection Photo Database
The Map Collection contains over 150,000 aerial photographs of Iowa’s counties. Most of the photos were given to the collection by county extension offices over the years. Photo sets are often incomplete with some large gaps. The searchable database of our holdings (http://inpress.lib.uiowa.edu/LibrarySquirrel/aerial-search.aspx) has not been updated in several years. Instead, any new photo holdings are being added to the InfoHawk library catalog, and older holdings are gradually being added also. This is an ongoing project. If you cannot find desired county/year coverage in either the database cited above or InfoHawk, please contact us online or at the Map Collection. No photo images are included in this database. See the print collection on third floor, Main Library, for the actual items.
The Iowa Aerial Photo Indices Digital Collection, containing images of over 2,000 aerial photomosaic index sheets digitized by Historical Information Gatherers, can be found on the UI Libraries’ Iowa Digital Library website at http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/api. The index sheets allow researchers to determine exactly which numbered photo(s) in a county are required for their research needs. No individual photo images are included in this collection of index sheets.
The Iowa aerial photograph collection is available for public use in the Map Collection. Photos may be scanned, removed from the room for photocopying, or—with restrictions—may be checked out for short periods of time.
The Iowa State University GIS Laboratory is posting digitized county aerial photos, beginning with the 1930s, on the Iowa Geographic Map Server site (http://ortho.gis.iastate.edu/). Digitization of older aerial photos is an ongoing project.
