A person in a purple shirt holds up a laminated sheet with a red background and black and white photography stitched together.
Peter Howe, PhD student and Acadia Science Fellow, holds up a map created by stitching together aerial photographs.Photo: Trevor Grandin

Coastal Conversations Radio Program: Historical Aerial Photography

February 28, 2025 Coastal Conversations

Coastal Conversations Show: 28 February 2025

Guest Hosta: Trevor Grandin, Cathy and Jim Gero Acadia Early Career Fellow in Science Communication, Schoodic Institute

This Episode

In this episode of Coastal Conversations, we feature Schoodic Institute’s podcast, Sea to Trees, and we’re taking twentieth-century flights over Mount Desert Island. For years, thousands of aerial photographs have been sitting in the University of Maine’s collection, waiting for someone to unearth them. Chronicling the landscape across New England from 1946 to 2015, these photographs tell Maine’s story from a birds eye view. What can these photos tell us about the history of Acadia and how can they influence the future of land stewardship?

A person holds their face to a glowing table to look at a negative photograph. The black and white image is a snapshot of a craggy peninsula.
Peter Howe, PhD student and Acadia Science Fellow, holds his face close to a light table, examining a negative photograph of the Schoodic Peninsula.

We talk with Acadia Science Fellow and University of Maine Ph.D. student Peter Howe about his work digitizing this extensive collection and creating the Northeast Forest Historical Atlas. You’ll also hear from Christian Halstead, Director of Earth Resources Information at the Maine Geological Survey, and Jesse Wheeler, Vegetation Program Manager at Acadia National Park, about the modern day uses for historical aerial photography.

Coastal Conversations is supported by Maine Sea Grant in partnership with Schoodic Institute and The First Coast.

Guests

Peter Howe – PhD Student and Acadia Science Fellow, University of Maine
Christian Halstead – earth resources information director, Maine Geological Survey
Jesse Wheeler – vegetation program manager, Acadia National Park

For more information

The University of Maine Sewall Company Aerial Photograph Collection

Northern Forest Historical Atlas

Maine Geological Survey Aerial Photography

Listen to the show on WERU archives

More information about Coastal Conversations Radio Program