Aerial Photography

Aerial photography emerged in the mid-nineteenth century when photographers captured images from hot air balloons for military reconnaissance and other purposes. The first modern birds’ eye view of the Medical College of Virginia (MCV), now the MCV Campus of Virginia Commonwealth University, dates from the institution’s centennial celebration in 1938. MCV President Dr. William T. Sanger (1887-1975) found aerial images of the growing campus useful public relations tools, displaying them in conference rooms and offices around the college. In 1947, MCV hired Melvin C. Shaffer (1926-2021), a former military medical photographer of note, as the head of the newly created Department of Visual Education. During his thirty-six-year career as director of Visual Education, Shaffer captured many aerial shots or piloted the plane, allowing a photographer to capture the memorable images displayed here.

For additional information about Melvin Shaffer and his work, please view the finding aid for his papers located in Special Collections and Archives at the Health Sciences Library.

MCV in the early 1940s, following the construction of the skyline-defining West Hospital. Note the open space north of the 1200 block of East Marshall Street, the current site of Main and North Hospitals.

By 1957, MCV had a commanding physical presence just east of the newly opened Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike, today’s Interstate 95. A portion of Bacon’s Quarter Branch valley is still visible in the right corner of the image.

MCV’s red brick structures surround the former Museum of the Confederacy (White House) in 1957 in this early color aerial photo.

The photographer captures both the campus and the wing of the plane in this 1959 image. The surface parking areas in the center of the image would soon become locations for Sanger Hall and the Nelson Clinic.

MCV Campus parking decks hover on the western edge of Interstate 95. This image dates from circa 1976 when the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Bridge, also known as the Leigh Street Viaduct, was under construction.

Campus planners and administrators found aerial images useful for visualizing future capital projects. In this 1980s shot, planners imagined a terraced office and parking facility as a replacement for the aging West Hospital.