The Jack Ammann organization
was formed in the early 1930's and consistently maintained a highly
skilled staff of photogrammetrists during its long existence. In
1954 the firm was incorporated in the State of Texas as a public stock
corporation.
By 1960 the organization employed
approximately 100 engineers,
surveyors, pilots, photographers, instrument operators, draftsmen,
technicians, and administrative personnel devoted to all phases of
aerial photography, photogrammetry and related fields of engineering
and exploration services. The firm also engaged in a significant
amount of research and development both under contract and for the
direct purpose of developing superior methods and techniques for the
benefit of its clients.
The home office and major facility of
the organization was maintained
in a three-storey building containing approximately 40,000 square feet
of floor space. The complete facility of Jack Ammann, Inc., was
acquired at an investment in excess of $1,000,000 in the 1950s. A
fleet of photographic aircraft was kept in operation, capable of
accomplishing all types of aerial photography from altitudes of a few
hundred feet to over 30,000 feet. A varied selection of camera
types, including the most modern versions of foreign and domestic
manufactured at the time, were maintained for immediate
operation. Camera types ranged from extremely long focal lengths
with motion compensating systems to five inch focal lengths for
specialized uses. Of significant interest was the exclusive
aerial color photographic system developed by the Ammann research and
development group. This system provided the capability for aerial
color photography at varying altitudes and conditions.
In addition to the home office
facility, complete with laboratory
equipment capable of accomplishing any type of production or
reproduction required by the photographic or mapping operations of the
day, there was a complete mobile laboratory for black and white or
color aerial photographic processing and supplementary mobile equipment
primarily used for foreign projects. The stereoscopic instrument
department contained two first order universal instruments, sixteen
second order plotters and complimentary instruments providing the
widest range of operating characteristics possible. Electronic
digitizing devices of the time were utilized to the fullest extent in
producing digital information directly from the stereo instruments
without intermediate transcriptions. The output devices were able
to be programmed to produce IBM card printed listings or punched paper
tape.
National Aerial Resources acquired this collection in 1992 from
Intrasearch, Inc., the company that purchased the assets of Jack Ammann
PE.
The TVGA Collection
Company
History
Tallamy VanKuran
Gertis & Associates, now known as TVGA Consultants, have been in
business since the 1920's. Based in New York, the company has
evolved into a consulting firm with 4 branches providing surv
eying,
environmental solutions, photogrammetry / aerial mapping,
engineering, planning,
and architectural services to the public and private sectors
throughout New York State and across the United States. To
facilitate servicing their clients' historical perspective needs,
over the years TVGA added aerial film collections from Rist-Frost
Associates, and All-States Aerial Surveys to their own.
By the late
1990's, changes in their business focus made a large, historical
photography collection unnecessary and they transferred the oldest
portions of their collection to National Aerial Resources.
The Sanborn Mapping
Collection
Company
History
The Sanborn Mapping
Company has been in existence since 1866. They started out producing
detailed city maps for fire insurance purposes. These maps came to
represent over 12,000 communities across the United States and their
digital descendants are still being updated today. The Sanborn
Mapping Company has always adapted to the changing face of the map
making industry and added aerial photography and photogrammetry to
it's procedures early in the history those fields. In 1990's they
became a subsidiary of EDR, Inc. and has since become the a large
company with offices across the USA.
It was during National
Aerial Resources' former association with EDR, Inc. that portions to
Sanborn's film collection was turned over to our possession.
The Rist-Frost Collection
Company
History
Rist-Frost Associates was a company
with a long and interesting history. In the early 1950's,
the
company was based in Watertown, NY as an architect-engineering firm. Back
then it was known as Sargent-Webster-Crenshaw-Folley. Around this
time it got into the photogrammetry business and started taking
aerial photography to use in it's aerial mapping. Through the years
the company grew, opened other offices in New York State, and took on
new partners, changing it's name from time to time to reflect
this. In addition to Sargent-Webster-Crenshaw-Folley, it has been
known as
Lewis-Dickerson Associates; Dickerson, Czerwinski & Warneck; and
Rist-Frost, Warneck and Partners, before shortening the name to
Rist-Frost Associates.
The company closed it's aerial mapping
division in the early 1980's and transferred all it's film to TVGA.
NAR acquired the Rist-Frost film as part of the TVGA Collection.
The All-States Aerial
Surveys' Collection
Company
History
Very little about
this collection's history is currently known to us. National Aerial
Resources acquired this collection as part of the TVGA collection.
Most of this photography covers Pennsylvania where the company was
apparently based. Unfortunately, not much of the collection came
with indexes. But all the locations were carefully cataloged. In
our on-going indexing / researching of this collection we've also
come across indications that either the company had previously been
known as Lanse Aerial Surveys, or that All-States Aerial Surveys had
acquired their collection prior to giving it to TVGA.
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