British School at Rome Aerial Photograph Collection

Fonds

Staff Only

Abstract

The Aerial Photograph Collection, known as RAF Collection, is now deposited at the Istituto Centrale per il Catalogo e la Documentazione (ICCD), Aerofototeca Nazionale.

Reference number

PA-APH

Dates

1943 - 1945

Creator

Ward-Perkins, J. B. (John Bryan), 1912-1981 (British archaeologist and architectural historian) (Collector, Person)

Extent

ca. 233,005 Photographic Prints

Language of Materials

No linguistic content; Not applicable

Additional Description

Other Finding Aids

Two catalogues arranged by sheet number are preserved in the Archive Office.

Custodial History

At the end of the Second World War, an almost complete British air photograph coverage of Italy was deposited in the BSR and provided valuable material for studies of historical topography by both British and Italian scholars in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1975, however, the British Government through its Ambassador finally agreed to the transfer of the main collection to the Istituto centrale per il catalogo e la Documentazione (ICCD), where it formes a significant part of the Aerofototeca.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

From a memorandum (March 1945) now preserved in the BSR Administrative Archive and written by John Bradford (1918-1975), who was working in San Severo di Puglia for the Mediterranean Allied Photographic Reconnaissance Wing (MAPRW), it is reported that: «In the Spring of 1945 it was decided to scrap everything up to the line PISA-PESARO, and eventually of course the same treatment was to be applied to all photos of France, the Balkans, Germany, etc., as soon as the war ended.» «Finally we persuaded Lt. Col. Ward-Perkins, then D/Director of this Subcommission, to accept a sort of trusteeship for them, and our Unit agreed to turn over the whole of their photos to the Subcommission, as they became available.»