Miami: Early Aviation Photgraphs

Introduction

Gleason Waite Romer was a noted photographer who worked extensively in Miami, Florida and the surrounding area. He was first employed by the Illustrated Daily Tab, an early Miami newspaper. After this newspaper closed, he became a commercial photographer. Romer's work covers the period from 1925 until the early 1950s. After his death in 1971, the City of Miami acquired Romer's photographs from his wife. These materials make up the Romer Collection. This collection is housed in the Florida Room of the Miami-Dade Public Library System's Main Library. The collection includes over 17,000 images that illustrate many aspects of South Florida's history. Romer photographed Miami at a time when aviation was just beginning to flourish. Many of his photographs document the emergence of aviation in Miami. In many ways, the growth of Miami and the development of aviation are historically linked. Miami's strategic location has always made it a major aviation hub and the gateway to Latin America. Miami International Airport has become one of the world's busiest airports and nearly one in six jobs in the Miami area is aviation related. As the photographs in this online collection reveal, Miami has long been a leader in aviation and Romer's photographs help demonstrate how aviation and South Florida have developed together.

Navigating this site

This online collection of Romer's Aviation Photographs is divided into various sections. The Browse the Collection page is perhaps the easiest and most informative way to view the online collection. The Collection has been divided into 10 exhibits of Romer's photographs. Each exhibit demonstrates a different aspect of aviation in Miami during the 1920s and 1930s. The exhibits include a narrative explaining each of the photographs. The currently available exhibits include:

The Browse Collection page provides links to these exhibits and furnishes a brief description of the contents of each exhibit. Viewing the exhibits is recommended as the most effective way for visitors to become acquainted with the images included in this online collection.

The About the Collection page explains the goal of this digital library project, collection development policies, resource description methods, and project maintenance plans. This section also provides the user with a way to comment or make suggestions about how to improve the project.

The Image Checklist page provides users with a complete listing of the photographs included in the online collection. This page serves as a Table of Contents and provides links to each of the individual images.

A Bibliography has been included to allow users to find materials that may help further explain the images included in this collection. While not intended to be an all inclusive listing of resources on the subject of Miami's aviation history, the bibliography does supply references and links that provide information that is useful in explaining the subjects depicted in Romer's photographs..

Finally, a Search Page has been provided to aid users in finding information and images in the online collection. Searching is available through two methods. A search engine is provided that allows visitors to search the site using keywords or phrases. A separate search feature arranged by Subject Heading is also available for locating images included in the collection.

Digital Library Project

This project was originally created by John Krupnick to fulfill a requirement for the course "Digital Libraries" (ILS 655) taken during the Fall 2002 semester at Southern Connecticut State University. This project was completed and posted on the World Wide Web on November 18, 2002. All of the images used in this project are part of the Romer Collection at the Miami-Dade Public Library. The Library has granted permission to include these images in this project. Copyright law may restrict the reproduction of images included in this project. To determine whether images are free of copyright restriction, please conduct a copyright search and seek appropriate permissions prior to publication or exhibition of the images. The comments and opinions expressed on this site are those of the project's creator and in no way represent those of the Miami-Dade Public Library System.