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Barnes County, N.D. Aerial Photograph Collection

 Collection
Identifier: Photo 2096

Scope and Content

The Barnes County, N.D. Aerial Photograph Collection consists of 190 high altitude, 9x9 inches, photographic prints, covering approximately 401 square miles of land in east central North Dakota. The majority of the images are located in Barnes County with approximately 353 square miles; however there are 9 square miles in the southeast corner of Griggs County, 21 square miles in the southwest corner of Steele County, and 18 square miles in the northwest corner of Ransom County also represented. Each image shows approximately 6 square miles. They are arranged following a numbering system created by the publisher, and printed in the upper right corner of each image. This collection runs from image CWJ-2K-6 to CWJ-2K-213. Several numbers appear to be missing from this sequence, likely evidence that the set is not complete. Numerically the images follow a geographical pattern running in south to north bands, with each band starting to the west of the previous band. Put together the bands stretch geographically across a long narrow strip of approximately 46 miles x 10 miles. Towns included in the images are Nome, Cuba, Kathryn, Eastedge, Luverne and north Valley City. Townships included are Thordenskjold, Norma, Cuba, Alta, Noltimier, Grand Prairie, Minnie Lake, Baldwin, Ellsbury, Sibley Trail Ashtabula, Getchell, Valley, Marsh, Nelson and Oak Hill in Barnes County; Broadview in Griggs County; Willow Lake and Carpenter in Steele County; and Northland and Preston in Ransom County. The date the images were taken are printed in the upper left corner of each image and are July 14 and July 15, 1952.

Dates

  • 1952

Access

The collection is open under the rules and regulations of the NDSU Archives.

Copyrights

Copyrights to this collection remain with the copyright holder or are in the public domain.

History

Between 1935 and 1954, the U.S. Department of Agriculture created extensive vertical aerial image maps designed for crop determination and soil erosion. The project covered approximately 90 percent of the contiguous United States. These aerial photographs can provide researchers with a straightforward depiction of the physical landscapes and manmade structures and agricultural use at any given time. When skillfully interpreted, these aerial images supply a valuable pictorial record useful to geographers, historians, geologists, archaeologists, ecologists and urban planners. The Barnes County, N.D. Aerial Photograph Collection originated in the Geology Department of Kansas State University, in Manhattan, Kansas. The Barnes County collection was part of a set of high altitude aerial photographs taken by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and included several U.S. states; however Barnes County was the only North Dakota grouping in the set. In the summer of 2007, the Geology Department donated the high altitude photographs to Government Documents Department in the Hale Library at K.S.U. The librarian in charge of the collection in turn kept the Kansas set of images, and sent the remaining state sets to other Federal Repository Libraries. In February 2009, the Government Documents department at the North Dakota State University Libraries was contacted to see if there was an interest in the Barnes County set of images at N.D.S.U. The Government Documents Librarian in turn contacted the Institute for Regional Studies, and the images were accepted for inclusion into the Institute’s collections.

Extent

190 Photographic Prints (190 photographic prints)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

The Barnes County, N.D. Aerial Photograph Collection consists of 190 high altitude, 9x9 inches, photographic prints, covering approximately 401 square miles of land in east central North Dakota. The majority of the images are located in Barnes County with approximately 353 square miles; however there are 9 square miles in the southeast corner of Griggs County, 21 square miles in the southwest corner of Steele County, and 18 square miles in the northwest corner of Ransom County also represented.

Provenance

Prints donated by Hale Library, Kansas State University, Manhattan, 2009 (Acc. 2872).

Property rights

The NDSU Archives owns the property rights to this collection.
Title
Finding Aid to the Barnes County, N.D. Aerial Photograph Collection
Description rules
Rda
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the Institute for Regional Studies Repository

Contact:
West Building N
3551 7th Avenue North
Fargo North Dakota 58102 United States