| Abstract: | Thomas F. Root (b. 1923) of Plymouth, Ohio, was a ceramics engineer, salesman, pilot and aerial photographer. He learned to fly an airplane at the Mansfield Airport in 1939, and subsequently owned a series of small aircraft. From 1966 until his retirement in 1994, Root ran his own business, Tom Root Air Photos, Inc. His principal clients included the American Shipbuilding Company, Denison and Oberlin colleges, General Electric, Timken, Ford, General Motors, and many field tilling contractors. Root's company specialized in single photograph verticals for field tilling operations, zoning, and single views of entire towns. Many of his aerial photographs documented newsworthy events; some were distributed to the national media. The consists of 74 black and white photographs, size 8 1/2" x 11", plus 70 black and white copies, size 3 3/4" x 5", and 71 black and white negatives, size 4" x 5", of aerial views of different parts of the Cleveland, Ohio area. | |