Flickrs of the Past

Earlier this year the Library of Congress (LOC) established a photostream as part of The Commons on Flickr. The major photostreams are:

1930s-40s in Color (photographs produced for the US Farm Security Administration (FSA) and the Office of War Information (OWI))

News in the 1910s (photographs from the Bain News Service showing “…sports events, theater, celebrities, crime, strikes, disasters, and political activities, with a special emphasis on life in New York City.”)

Because the goals of this Flickr resource is “…to firstly show you hidden treasures in the world’s public photography archives…” There are now institutions other institutions who have placed photostreams that complement the LOC’s. They are:

The Smithsonian Institution with collections that include:

The National Postal Museum’s People and the Post (photographs showing Post Office Mascots from the 1880’s to riverboats and biplanes)

American Celebrations (photographs not only from the Smithsonian Archives but also the National Museum of the American Indian and the Anacostia Community Museum)

Smithsonian Folklife Festival (images taken at the festival on the Mall beginning in 1967)

The Brooklyn Museum’s photostreams include not only current events of the Museum but also:

Egyptian Lantern slides of General Views & People and Places

Paris Exposition of 1900

George Eastman House’s photostream include Autochromes among other amazing collections.

The Powerhouse Museum, located in Sydney Australia, have photostreams that cover rural life, botanical gardens and ships & sails from the 19th to the early 20th century.

Bibliothèque de Toulouse’s has a photostream that parks, mountains, villages and modes of transportation from the late 19th to early 20th century.

[Thanks to the Ibrarian blog that recently highlighted the Commons of Flickr]