Fairchild Aerial Photography Collection at Whittier College

THE FAIRCHILD AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY
COLLECTION AT WHITTIER COLLEGE

The Fairchild Aerial Photography Collection at Whittier College is one of the largest libraries of aerial photographs in North America. The Collection is estimated to consist of at least 500,000 items, including prints, negatives, photoindices, and photomosaics. All of the photographs in the Collection were produced by Fairchild Aerial Surveys, Inc., or its subsidiaries and contractors during the period of 1927-1966, and are mostly black-and-white, vertical images.

The Fairchild Collection at Whittier College is a privately-owned archive of historical aerial photographs. Many of the images it contains are unique and irreplaceable; therefore, preservation of the photographs is the primary obligation of the Collection.

For more information on how to access our collection, please click on the appropriate box below. We classify Commercial Users as those companies and individuals who use the photographs in a profit-making enterprise, and all government agencies. Non-Commercial Users are individuals whose use of the photographs will not result in profit to them or to their employers.

DESCRIPTIVE DATA
Click here to see coverage statistics for the Collection

CONDITIONS FOR USE
Click here for details about our procedures and fees

TO PURCHASE PHOTOS
To purchase any of the photographs on this website, please call (562) 907-4220

THE FAIRCHILD STORY

Sherman Fairchild was born in 1896 in Oneonta, New York. His father was Republican Congressman George Winthrop Fairchild, one of the founders of International Business Machines (IBM), and the company's first president. Sherman began attending Harvard University in 1915, but soon transferred to the University of Arizona because his doctors thought the climate might help his bouts with tuberculosis. He also attended Columbia University, yet never received degrees from any of these universities.

In 1917, during World War I, Sherman Fairchild attempted to join the military but was rejected because of his poor health. Determined to aid in the war effort, he and his father traveled to Washington to find out if the U.S. Army could benefit from Sherman's camera expertise. The government contracted him to develop a camera for aerial photography; such cameras already existed, but produced highly distorted photographs due to slow shutter speeds which could not keep up with the movement of the flying plane. Fairchild developed a camera in which the shutter was placed inside the lens; this design was fast enough to produce photographs with minimal distortion. The project ended up costing $40,000, though the budget was only $7,000; the wealthy senior Fairchild paid the difference.

Unfortunately, the Army did not accept the camera until the war was over, but Fairchild convinced them to buy two cameras for training purposes. He quit classes at Columbia University to direct his time and effort towards improving his camera design and starting up Fairchild Aerial Camera Corporation in February, 1920. Soon the Army ordered twenty more and made them their standard aerial cameras. Canada, Japan, Argentina, Brazil and the Soviet Union all purchased cameras from Fairchild's new company.

Fairchild had a more difficult time convincing surveying companies that aerial photography would be beneficial to them. No one had ever used aerial photographic maps prior to the development of Fairchild's cameras. Eventually aerial surveying caught on and Fairchild started a second company, Fairchild Aerial Surveys, Inc. Sherman Fairchild eventually went on to design aircraft (among a multitude of other things) and to open several more companies, such as Fairchild Recording Equipment Corporation and Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation.

Meanwhile, Fairchild Aerial Surveys, Inc. opened other offices, including one at 224 E. Eleventh Street in Los Angeles. The company remained in business until 1965 when Fairchild sold it to Aero Services, Inc., which decided to keep most of the more recent photographs taken by Fairchild and dispose of the older materials. Upon learning of this plan, a former Fairchild employee contacted three Southern California professors who frequently used the Fairchild materials. We have former professor Beach Leighton to thank for making sure Whittier College picked up the largest share of materials, and probably the most valuable -- black-and-white vertical aerial photographic images. Apparently time was of the essence; the photos were on a loading dock awaiting a ride to the dump, and the colleges were given just 24 hours to pick up the materials.

UCLA and California State University at Northridge also acquired portions of the materials. The prints that Aero Services retained were later acquired by Teledyne Corp., who donated them to the University of California at Santa Barbara. Whittier College later obtained many of UCLA's vertical Fairchild photos in 1984.

Whittier College's Fairchild Collection has been open to the public since the acquisition of the materials. Over the past 35 years, we have grown from servicing less than 100 requests per year to aiding thousands of clients on an annual basis.

[Fairchild Aerial Surveys Planes]

Fairchild Aerial Surveys Aircraft Fleet
Gate 19, Lockheed Air Terminal, Burbank, CA
1951

TO CONTACT THE COLLECTION

	Hours: Staff:	BY APPOINTMENT ONLY 8:30 A.M. - 5:00 P.M., Monday - Friday Closed Saturday & Sunday Stephanie Breaux - Director Melissa Morrow - Office Manager
	Mailing Address:	Fairchild Collection Whittier College Whittier, CA 90608
	Telephone:	(562) 907-4220

[ Descriptive Data | Commercial | Non-Commercial | Conditions for Use ]

Background photo: Watsonville, Santa Cruz Co., CA - 1931