As early as 1949, Robert Graber and his company, Airflite Aerial Photographers, began photographing the growth of Florida's west coast. By the time Graber stopped taking aerial photographs in 1990, the St. Petersburg photographer had accumulated approximately 27,000 aerial shots.

The Graber Collection of Aerial Photographs consists of more than 8,000 individual photographic negatives spanning 1949-1990. The photographs are dated and indexed according to the records of the original photographer; logbooks provide additional information about many of the aerial shots. Most of the photographs, which were taken by Graber with a K-24 military surveillance camera, document land development and construction on Florida's west coast. The collection was donated by Ken and JoAnne Taylor in 1997. There are 4,781 images online from the years 1956-1959.