Island historian Gerald Elfendahl is still on his hunt to date and identify the origin and contents of a large, aerial photo of the island he found in a city hall dumpster in early September.

Elfendahl believes the photo was taken around 1960 because of the presence of both Town & Country Market, which opened in 1957, and the former Bainbridge Island Review Building, which was destroyed in 1963.

The photo will be on display in the library until Oct. 27, and will be placed in the Bainbridge Island Historical Museum unless another business or organization would like to have it on display beforehand.

One island woman thinks the photo may have been taken by the late Charlie Siegel, a photographer who published several aerial photos of the island.

Elfendahl questions why the photo was in the dumpster and who was responsible for throwing it out.

Interim City Manager Brenda Bauer said the photo was inadvertently thrown away when a closet was cleaned, and said she is glad the photo is now in good hands.

Rick Chandler, the museum’s curator, said the photo is valuable in adding to the history and understanding of how the island has changed over time. He said the museum has about a dozen or two similar images from various eras either before or after this photo was taken.

“I also hope it’s a symbol for others that these sorts of images are valuable and before they go into the dumpster someone should go to the museum to see if we are interested and we can preserve it,” said Chandler.

He hopes the image will eventually be digitally scanned to make it more available and accessible for others to view.