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About these aerial photos from the Johnson County Museum

The approximately 11,000 slides in this aerial slide collection are divided up into 45 different sets dating from April 1980 to July 2002. A complete set documented every section in Johnson County starting in the west and continuing to the east.

The county is divided up into twelve columns that run north to south and are indicated by the letters A-L. Column A is in the west along the Johnson and Douglas County line while column L is in the east along the state line. Each column is divided into smaller squares two sections (two miles) wide and is designated by a letter-number combination.

The number of slides covering that area varies. The southernmost row of sections along the Miami County line is always the northern two sections in the number 12, whether it is B12 or F12. However, because the northern border of the county varies due to the Kansas River, the northern row may begin its numbering differently, for example: B is numbered from B3 to B12 while F is numbered from F1 to F12. Each section in a township is numbered from 1 to 36, beginning with the northeast corner section as number 1 and numbering across to the northwest corner as number 6 and continuing all the way down winding east to west and west to east so that the southeast corner section is number 36.

The slides came with a corresponding guide map of the county that was used in the organization and identification of the slides. This map has all of the section numbers handwritten in red ink and the letter-number squares handwritten in blue ink. Sections of this map are difficult to read, so at times it was necessary to consult other maps as well as Google Earth. Some of the slides are hand marked with the section, township and range, but most of them are marked with the A-L system. A typical slide will have the letter and number of the column written in the center with the section numbers written in the corners. For example a slide may read "26 G7 25". (In the notes this has been changed to G7-26/25 for ease of typing.) These slides are written with various colors of markers including red, green, and black. The date the slide was taken, or possibly developed, is printed on one edge of the slide. Next to the date in the corner is a number. These numbers range from 1-500 and may possibly denote the order the slide was taken or developed. There are a few slides that do not have any hand written markings on them or there may have been two slides that were labeled as showing the same sections but are clearly two different pictures, so this number in the corner becomes the only means of identifying a particular slide. There are a few slides in some of the latter sets where this number is not in the corner, but is on the back of the slide in the center printed in red ink and may be hard to read as part of the number has faded. Some slides are labeled on the back and some are labeled upside down and some slides are a combination. Therefore, in order to find the orientation of any given slide, it may be necessary to compare it with other slides in the same column. Comparing the image to the corresponding image on Google Earth is another effective and simple way of finding north, south, east, and west on a slide. Slides are organized in the boxes according to their letters, beginning with A and ending with L.

The slides are arranged from north to south. Part of this is due to the fact that for the first five sets the image on the slide is of only one section. Beginning in July 1982 the image on the slide is of two sections. The boxes for the first five sets are organized, for example, so that the western column of sections in A runs north to south and then the eastern column of sections in A runs north to south.

Many of the sets are missing slides. Often this was found to be completely random and there may only be one or two slides missing from any given column. However, there were a few areas were it became quite routine to have missing slides. The two most common places that had missing slides are all of B6 and B5-7/8 which showed a majority of Sunflower Ordnance Works and the urbanized northeast corner of the county. Columns I, J, K, and L would often only contain the southern sections, however, there is no consistent pattern of how many slides would be missing and some sets include all or most of I, J, K, and L. There are a few times when the decision was made to keep more than one slide of the same sections, because the image was shifted just enough between the two slides that both were needed so that no information was lost. Some of the early sets included slides for the very thin slice of sections along the eastern border of the county. Most sets do not include slides specifically for these sections, but they may still be seen on the L slides if the picture was taken with enough space on the eastern edge. Slides were often labeled incorrectly and the only way to get a column in order was to match up every single slide in a column on the light box. Slides were only inspected with the magnifying glass and the light box when there was an obvious error with the slide order, for example, if there was a missing slide, if more than one slide was labeled the same, or more than one slide was out of order. Otherwise, if the slides were in order according to how they had been labeled, it was assumed that they were labeled correctly. Therefore, there may still be a few slides that are in the wrong order and have gone undetected. Slides were often compared to images on Google Earth to understand coverage and orientation. That resource will continue to be key in further work with the slides.

The slides were divided into dated sets when they came to the museum and they have been kept in those same sets. The set for 1999 does not have any dates written or printed on the slides and the only way information indicating the year is that this set had a tab taped to one of the slides with the year written on it. The Spring 1997 was labeled the same way in the cabinet, but may have actually been taken during April of 1997 according to slide L9-21/22. The Summer/Fall 1997 set was originally tabbed Fall 1997 in the cabinet. However, when examining the set, slide D9-23/24 number 171 was marked with the date of July 1997 and slide L9-21/22 number 490 was marked with the date of August 1997. In addition, some slides such as D4-26/25 number 151 and L9-21/22 number 490 had Summer 1997 written on them.

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