University of Minnesota Libraries, City of Minneapolis and the Minnesota Historical Society worked together and completed digitization of more than 4,500 historical aerial photos of Minneapolis, dating back to 1938.

These scanned photos of the Minneapolis were added to the already existing online collection of the Minnesota Historical Aerial Photographs, of more than 121,000 aerial photographs from around the state dating back to 1923. The original photographs will be preserved by the Libraries and the digital images are freely available for viewing by the public.  Students and history enthusiasts can use these photos as part of their research project to make a study on how the area back in 1938 changed over time.

Ryan Mattke, head of the John R. Borchert Library  said “I think that this project is a great collaboration among the City of Minneapolis, the Minnesota Historical Society, and the University of Minnesota to make sure that these historical resources are not only preserved and archived but also available to the public for use by anybody.”

“Because of our partnership with the Borchert Map Library, we’ve been successful at providing digital images online to give immediate benefits to the community, while ensuring proper long-term care of the original artifacts,” said City Clerk Casey Carl, city of Minneapolis. “This project was a true win-win partnership for the city and the community.”

You can view the aerial photographs here: https://www.lib.umn.edu/apps/mhapo/index.html#mpls