National Archives and Records Administration

  • Scope and Contents: Aerial imagery and associated records copied under the auspices of a digitisation partnership with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). The partnership aims to copy NARA's extensive holdings of aerial photography in RG373. 
  • Conditions Governing Access: Open. All digitised imagery is available on the NCAP website.

 

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that preserves and shares public records that trace the story of the United States of America, its government and people. As the nation's record keeper, NARA carries out its mission through a nationwide network of archives, records centres, Presidential Libraries, and online.

 

NARA holds over 30 million aerial photographs, transferred to it from the Defense Intelligence Agency. This imagery was predominantly created by the US Navy, Army Air Corps and Air Force for military reconnaissance and mapping projects, but also includes Second World War-era aerial photography captured by the Americans from the Germans (code-named GX) and the Japanese (code-named JX). 

 

The National Archives building in College Park, Maryland, United States of America.

 

In 2017, NCAP began a digitisation partnership with NARA, to copy its extensive holdings of aerial photography. Focusing on aerial photography from the Second World War, the digital imagery created through the partnership is made publicly accessible via the NCAP website.

 

View all digitised NARA images.