Aerial Photography at the National Archives at Boston, Massachusetts
Contact information for NARA at Boston
Record Group 26: Aids to Navigation Case Files, 1900 - 1996
This series consists of case files relating to the establishment, development, operation, and discontinuance of aids to navigation such as lighthouses, light stations, light ships, lighted buoys, lifeboat stations, breakwater lights, channel lights, bases, depots, and fog signals in the First Coast Guard District, for Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. Included is correspondence between the regional Superintendents of Lighthouses, mainly located at Portland, Maine and Boston, with other regional lighthouse officials such as lighthouse engineers and lighthouse keepers, the Commissioner of Lighthouses, and later the Commander of the First Coast Guard District. In addition there is correspondence with other government officials, as well as the general public. Also included are memorandums, authorizations to establish aids, notices to mariners about the establishment of or changes in the lights, inspection reports, instructions to lighthouse keepers, charts indicating locations of aids, blueprints, plot maps, a few photographs, and recommendations and orders relating to the discontinuance of aids. The finding aid for the series is available at NARA at Boston. This series is partially digitized.
Record Group 77: Aerial Photographs of Connecticut and Massachusetts, 5/1956 - 5/1965
This series consists of aerial photographs of Connecticut taken by Keystone Aerial Surveys, Inc., Glenside, Pennsylvania, during the months of March and April, 1965. In addition to individual photograph number, each photograph also shows the numbers "251" and "CFL 150.50". It also contains aerial photographs of Massachusetts taken by Lockwood, Kessler, and Bartlett, Inc., Syosset, New York, in May of 1965. The area covered extends from the Berkshire Mountains in the western part of the state to the city of Worcester in central Massachusetts. The series also includes a group of 146 unidentified aerial photographs taken on May 21, 1956. The finding aid for the series is available at NARA at Boston.
Record Group 77: Beach Erosion Section Photographs, 1909 - 1966
This series consists of aerial photographs going up the East Coast from Boston Harbor, Massachusetts, through New Hampshire, to Maine. This series is partially digitized.
Record Group 77: Charles River Basin Study on Water Availability, ca. 1960 - 1978
This series consists of maps, charts, and plans for the Charles River Basin Study on Water Availability relating to geology, hydrologics, and economics. Also included are some aerial photographs of the Charles River and photographs of members of the citizen committee involved in the study.
Record Group 77: Civil Works Project Files, 1944 - 1986
This series consists of civil works project files collected as a result of civil engineering projects including the planning, design, and construction of specific projects pertaining to structures and work related to navigation improvements and maintenance; flood control; multiple purpose projects; land structures; relocation; access roads; and parking areas. Types of records include, but are not limited to, assurances of local interest; correspondence with landowners, local, state and federal government officials; rights of entry for survey and exploration permits; spoil disposal permits; local flood protection agreements; proposals for relocations of roads, railroads, bridges, and cemeteries; construction histories; design memorandums; project cost estimates; planning schedules; master development plans; design analyses; specifications and addenda; final reports; and occasional photographs and newspaper clippings. Subjects include, but are not limited to, beach erosion; water pollution; brooks, rivers, harbors, and watersheds; and recreation. The projects in this series were located in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. The finding aid for the series is available at NARA at Boston.
Record Group 77: Civil Works Projects Relating to Waterways, 1871 - 1964
This series consists of civil works project files relating to waterways in New England, particularly dams, rivers, harbors and bridges. Types of records include power surveys, economic analyses, tidal studies, and sedimentation studies. Topics include water pollution, hurricanes, beach erosion, water resources development, transportation rates, regulation of anchorages, destruction of oyster beds, and national defense. The finding aid for the series is available at NARA at Boston.
Record Group 77: Comprehensive Reports and Studies Relating to Connecticut River Electric Power Surveys and Flood Control Projects, 1917 - 1944
This series consists of records regarding civil engineering projects related to the Connecticut River Watershed in New England including the Knightville Dam; Hartford dike system; 1936 and 1938 floods; interstate compacts; legislative actions both Federal and state; land takings; damages to private property; and gathering information on electric power and power possibilities in New England. Types of records include, but are not limited to, reports; contracts; estimates; field notes; minutes; specifications; surveys; correspondence; assurances; geophysical testing or plans; interstate compacts; photographs; maps; blueprints; and computations. The projects in this series were located in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The finding aid for the series is available at NARA at Boston.
Record Group 77: Connecticut Coast Beach Erosion Aerial Photographs, 1948 - 1949
This series consists of aerial photographs of Connecticut beaches. The bulk of the photographs show only water and beaches; they do not extend far enough inland to show any structures. The locations in the photographs are not identified.
Record Group 77: Conservation of Natural Resources Files, 1933 - 1983
This series consists of records relating to the conservation of natural resources on New England coastlines and streambanks. Included are photographs, aerial photographs, slides, and files dealing with beaches and beach erosion in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, and New Hampshire, as well as erosion on the Connecticut River Streambank.
Record Group 77: Construction Project Photographs, 1927 - 1981
This series consists of black and white photographs showing details of federal construction projects. The projects were located in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. The photographs document the progress of most projects from beginning through completion and depict site locations prior to construction. Photographs of dedication ceremonies are also present for some projects. Included in this series are photographs of flood control projects, such as dams, reservoirs, breakwaters, and dikes; navigation improvement projects, such as harbor and channel dredging; emergency management operations, including responses to blizzards, floods, hurricanes, ice jams, and fires; and construction of military air bases, airports, post offices, civil defense facilities, such as fallout shelters, and Veterans Administration Hospitals. Also included are photographs of facilities, equipment, and floating plant (vessels and dredging equipment) used by the Corps of Engineers in its construction work. The finding aid for the series is available at NARA at Boston. This series is partially digitized.
Record Group 77: Harbor Aerial Photographs, 1981 - 1992
This series consists of aerial photographs and maps of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island harbors.
Record Group 77: Historical Photographs of Flood Events, 1927 - 1984
This series consists of photographs, aerial photographs, newspaper clippings and files relating to historic New England floods, including Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, but mostly in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. The finding aid for the series is available at NARA at Boston. This series is partially digitized.
Record Group 77: New England Aerial Photographs, 1934 - 1982
This series consists of aerial photographs of New England. Some photographs show damage from the flood of 1936 and the Hurricane of 1938. The finding aid for the series is available on the Catalog description. This series is partially digitized.
Record Group 77: New England Maps, Plans, and Drawings, 1883 - 1945
This series consists of five subseries: New England Flood Control Projects, 1937-1945; Intracoastal Waterway Surveys, 1870-1920; Boston Harbor Surveys, 1888-1904; Westover Airfield Preparations, Chicopee, Massachusetts, 1942-1944; and New England Forts and Batteries, 1913-1920. Westover Airfield Preparations, Chicopee, Massachusetts consists of plans for the Westover Air Field in Chicopee, Massachusetts, including proposals and site plans, topography and drainage surveys, and aerial views of the proposed site.
Record Group 77: Passamaquoddy Tidal Power Project Survey Files, 1919 - 1964
This series consists of engineering drawings; computations; design studies; estimates; tide charts; power computations; topographic and hydrographic drawings; boring records; surveying notes and computations; daily logs; correspondence; minutes; news clippings; maps; preliminary and final reports as well as displays; still and aerial photographs and negatives; and glass and lantern slides of the International Passamaquoddy Tidal Power Survey project. Also included are records relating to the initial technical data developed by Dexter P. Cooper, Inc. and Associates during the period 1919-1935. The records document the survey and primary engineering investigation carried out by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England Division, as well as reflect the studies and investigations carried out by the International Joint Commission, International Passamaquoddy Engineering board, International Passamaquoddy Fishers Board, and the U.S. Department of the Interior. The finding aid for the series is available at NARA at Boston. This series is partially digitized.
Record Group 77: Project Photographs, 1927 - 1989
This series consists of photographs (including some aerial photographs), and negatives depicting New England Division projects and project operations conferences, as well as some images depicting historical New England floods and hurricanes (including the 1936 flood and 1938 hurricane). A small portion of the materials pertain to projects located outside of New England. Coverage locations are listed in the Catalog description. This series is partially digitized.
Record Group 77: Records Relating to Hurricane Studies, 1955 - 1964
This series consists of correspondence, reports, photographs, graphs, aerial photos, maps, newspaper clippings, real estate appraisals, and property inventories. The records contain information on the effects of hurricanes "Carol" (August 25-31, 1954), "Edna" (September 2-14, 1954), "Hazel" (October 5-18, 1954), and "Diane" (August 7-21, 1955) and cover chiefly the states of Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts.
Record Group 77: River and Harbor Photographs for New England, 1937 - 1959
The finding aid for the series is available at NARA at Boston. This series is partially digitized.
Record Group 77: Survey Reporting Aerial Photographs, 1934 - 1965
This series consists of aerial photographs of various sites in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont, including many rivers and reservoirs. The finding aid for the series is available at NARA at Boston.
Record Group 79: Cultural Resource Management Records, 1955 - 2014
This series consists of cultural resource program management records relating to historic, architectural, archaeological, environmental and other aspects of national parks, military parks, historic structures, and historic sites. Types of records include, but are not limited to, histories of sites, historic structures reports, architectural surveys, archaeological surveys, environmental surveys, interpretive plans, museum collection plans, construction reports, and cultural landscape inventories and reports. Coverage locations are listed in the Catalog description.
Record Group 79: Science Program Records, 1958 - 2014
This series consists of Northeast Regional Office (NER) Science Program management records; organization charts; annual program management reports; Regional Chief Scientists’ meetings and planning records; records relating to management of cooperative agreements; research project funding proposals and lists of unfunded projects; records relating to NER scientists’ participation in external major committees; records relating to program and project management for parks, including researchers’ annual reports and progress reports, and review comments on research reports and drafts; records relating to NER Science Program managed or co-managed training courses; records relating to the Fire Island to Montauk Point (FIMP) Project; and scientific research reports for National Park Service and NER parks.
Record Group 92: Utility Atlases and Operating Plans, 5/1919
This series consists of plans and maps of the Boston, Massachusetts, Army Supply Base. This series is partially digitized.
Record Group 95: Records Relating to Timber Salvage, 1938 - 1943
This series documents the activities of the Northeastern Timber Salvage Administration, an emergency program implemented by the Chief's Office of the U.S. Forest Service to carry out hazard reduction and timber salvage work across the New England region, following the devastating hurricane of September 21, 1938. This series consists of correspondence relating to administrative activities, cooperative work, fire protection, and other technical phases of salvage operations; materials dealing with resultant sales of lumber, pulpwood, and logs; contracts covering sawing and milling of salvaged lumber; statistical and historical records; as well as photographs and negatives of work sites and activities. This series is partially digitized.
Record Group 181: Administrative History of the First Naval District in World War II, 1946 - 1946
This series consists of retained copies of sections of the 11 volumes compiled for the First Naval District by the District Historical Officer and individual unit or activity historical officers. There are short narratives on naval personnel administration offices such as Victory and Readjustment, Procurement, Civil Readjustment, Naval Personnel Separation Center, Division of Women's Reserve, District Training, Discipline, and Welfare Division; local combatant force commands such as the Northern Group - Eastern Sea Frontier, Air Operations, Air-Sea Rescue, Harbor Entrance Control Posts, Fire, Rescue and Salvage, and the Northern Ship Lane Patrol; bases, stations, and training schools such as the Quonset Point Naval Air Station, Naval Operating Base at Argentina, Newfoundland, Naval Operating Base at Newport, Rhode Island, Camp Endicott at Davisville, Rhode Island, the Naval Net Depot at Newport, Rhode Island, and V-12 Training Programs at Bates College, Brown University, Dartmouth College, Williams College, Harvard University, College of the Holy Cross, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Middlebury College, Tufts University, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and other training schools at Smith College, Harvard University, and Bowdoin College, and the Firefighters' School in Boston; and photographic supplements are included for bases, stations, and industrial establishments such as Hingham Naval Ammunition Depot, Portsmouth Navy Yard, Boston Navy Yard, Quonset Point Naval Air Station, Brunswick Naval Air Station, Camp Endicott. The finding aid for the series is available at NARA at Boston. This series is partially digitized.
Record Group 181: Correspondence Concerning Ships, 1938 - 1940
This series contains a variety of documents pertaining to each vessel, including routine dispatches for arrival and departure times or docking and berthing assignments; requests for supplies; ship movement reports; notices of launching and assignment of home yards; rosters of officers; copies of movement and operations orders; reports of inspections and repairs; and correspondence of vessel commanders, the Chief of Naval Operations in Washington, DC, representatives of other Navy bureaus or offices, and the operations officer of the Boston Navy Yard. The series includes considerable information and some photographs on the sinking and salvage of the submarine USS Squalus in 1939. This series is partially digitized.
Record Group 181: Photographs, 1941 - 1970
This series consists of photographs that show buildings and shops, facilities and equipment, aircraft and engines under repair, office personnel, special events, and aerial views. This series is partially digitized.
Record Group 181: Photographs Depicting Naval Shore Establishments, 1939 - 1947
This series consists of photographs of shipyards, airfields, target and training sites, hospitals, barracks, warehouses and depots, wharves, direction-finding stations, and other facilities in New England constructed or used by the Navy during the World War II period. Included are many aerial views. The finding aid for the series is available at NARA at Boston. This series is fully digitized.
Record Group 181: Security-Classified General Correspondence, 1940 - 1946
This series consists of correspondence containing information on general administrative or policy matters relating to the establishment, construction, use, operations, status, improvement, expansion, and disposal of Navy facilities, as well as some information on specific contracts and projects. Subjects include land acquisition through purchase, lease, rental, or transfer from other government departments (proposed, offered, and actually accomplished); funding estimates, appropriations, and expenditures; utilities and communications; fire protection, security, and passive defense; and war plans. Documents include letters, endorsements, memorandums, mailgrams, dispatches, maps, plans, drawings, blueprints, district and Department of the Navy issuances, inspection and other descriptive reports and inventories, photographs, contracts, leases, easements, and permits. Correspondents include the Commandant and other staff officials of the First Naval District; the Chief of Naval Operations and other officials of the Department, its commands and bureaus; and commanding officers of various Navy facilities. The finding aid for the series is available at NARA at Boston. This series is partially digitized.
Record Group 227: Historical Records, ca. 1944 - ca. 1945
This series consists of correspondence, histories, notes, interview notes, research data, photographs, and reports relating to the establishment of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Radiation Laboratory (MIT Rad Lab), and the development of radar and production of radar sets and equipment. The finding aid for the series is available at NARA at Boston. This series is partially digitized.
Record Group 227: Records Relating to Airborne Systems I, 1942 - 1945
This series consists of reports, correspondence, meeting minutes, charts, graphs, photographs, studies, and test results records.
Record Group 269: Real Property Disposal Case Files, 1949 - ca. 1990
This series consists of case files documenting the disposal of surplus Federal real property. The files usually contain a declaration of surplus property; correspondence with other Federal agencies, state and local governments, private organizations or individuals; information about the disposal or sale of the property; inventories; inspection and appraisal reports; leases; and deeds. The case files contain primarily textual materials but occasionally include photographs, maps, and plans. The files document such sites as Army, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard properties; forts; fire control stations; Nike sites; military housing; industrial properties; lighthouses, light stations, and lifeboat stations; United States postal facilities; Veterans Administration hospitals; and other government buildings. The finding aid for the series is available at NARA at Boston.
Record Group 336: Administrative Records, 1942 - 1946
This series consists of correspondence, memorandums, messages, reports, statistical tables, and other records, including photographs, documenting the activities of the Boston Port of Embarkation. Included are statistical reports concerning cargoes; detailed historical reports concerning port organization, facilities, and activities; inspection reports relating to the readiness of units about to depart for overseas theaters of operation, transcripts of interviews with returning military personnel, and reports on the arrival and departure of vessels. Also included are records relating to overseas theaters, particularly the European Theater of Operation. This series is partially digitized.
Record 338: Installation Historical Files, 1961 - 1989
This series consists of organizational history files collected or created by the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) in Hanover, New Hampshire. Included are newsletters created by the Snow, Ice and Permafrost Research Establishment (SIPRE), a predecessor of CRREL that merged with the Arctic Construction and Frost Effects Laboratory (ACFEL) to form CRREL in 1961; CRREL "Benchnotes" newsletters; technical reference files; reference files from various projects and conferences; news clippings and articles about CRREL; some photographs; and records documenting special events, visitors, and community interactions. The finding aid for the series is available at NARA at Boston.
Record Group 338: Photographs Related to the Watertown Arsenal, 1908 - 1984
This series consists of black and white photographs and negatives of the Watertown Arsenal in Watertown, Massachusetts. Subjects include armaments and artillery; the nuclear reactor facility, irradiation facility, and reactor components; conferences and exhibits; buildings and grounds, including shop buildings (interior and exterior) and machinery; medals and awards ceremonies; special visitors, events, and open houses; personnel and officers; testing laboratories, equipment, and results; illustrations for publications, uranium casting and plating process; inspections; salute or reveille gun firings; Arsenal commanders; and aerial views. Individuals include General Douglas MacArthur, President John F. Kennedy, Senator Leverett Saltonstall, Edith Nourse Rogers, and Horace Hardy Lester. The finding aid for the series is available at NARA at Boston. This series is fully digitized.
Record Group 370: Scrapbooks, Logbooks, Photographs, and Correspondence, ca. 1922 - 1957
This series consists of research materials collected by scientist Paul S. Galtsoff, and includes scrapbooks, logbooks, photographs, and correspondence concerning the history of the Woods Hole Laboratory, oyster and fish research, and Galtsoff's involvement in nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll. The finding aid for the series is available at NARA at Boston. This series is partially digitized.
Record Group 467: Records of the Public Affairs Office, 1970 - 1992
This series consists of press clippings, press releases, journal articles, transcripts of speeches, lectures, and interviews, and publications such as employee newsletters, project directories, and annual reports. Records relate to policies, projects and programs as well as meetings, conferences, special events, and commemorations. The series also includes photographs of a wide range of the Transportation Systems Center (TSC) personnel, projects and programs, and video cassettes relating to the dedication of the TSC on September 18, 1990. This series is partially digitized.
