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Henry Solomon Wellcome was one of the first to realise the benefits of elevated photography and developed aerial photography by kite for use on archaeological sites. He had a passion for archaeology and spent five years 1909-1914 in Sudan at Jebel Moya excavating around three thousand tombs and possible associated settlement.

 

Born in a log cabin in Wisconsin in 1853, Wellcome was brought up in a strict, temperate manner by his father Rev. S. C. Wellcome, a travelling missionary, and his mother Mary Curtis Wellcome. As well as going on to create the Burroughs Wellcome global pharmaceutical company, Wellcome developed an interest in collecting medical artefacts and determined to establish a museum of man.

 

Over 12,500 medical objects, including of all things, Napoleon's toothbrush, had been amassed in a collection totalling over a million objects by the time of his death. This now forms the Wellcome Collection and surviving images from his ground-breaking kite surveying work can be found in the Wellcome Library.

 

In Plane View is inspired by this pioneering spirit and strives to maintain Wellcome’s innovative attitude.

 

Segadi, Jabel Moya, Sudan 1913 Image not reproduced  courtesy of the © Wellcome Library, London.