Comments on: The Library of Congress, on Flickr.

The Library of Congress, on Flickr.

chunking express — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 11:54:36 -0800

They've posted some pretty amazing photographs. They're all free of any copyright, so you can use them for evil if you like. More details from the FlickrBlog.

By: eyeballkid

eyeballkid — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 11:59:34 -0800

Okay. That's just cool. More info on the Library of Congress blog too.

...3,000 photos from two of our most popular collections are being made available on our new Flickr page, to include only images for which no copyright restrictions are known to exist.

By: smackfu

smackfu — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 12:07:48 -0800

Why only scan negatives to 1024 pixels wide?

By: CitrusFreak12

CitrusFreak12 — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 12:13:23 -0800

Yeah the only upsetting thing about this is the resolution. Great find though.

By: chunking express

chunking express — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 12:14:03 -0800

I would imagine they are scanned at higher resolution, but posted to flickr at 1024.

By: Dave Faris

Dave Faris — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 12:16:28 -0800

Hey! I'm pretty sure that they stole all they stole all of their photographs from Shorpy!

By: Dave Faris

Dave Faris — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 12:17:11 -0800

(he stuttered...)

By: languagehat

languagehat — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 12:31:50 -0800

1930s-40s in color. Great stuff. (For some reason, I find the Woman aircraft worker haunting. Wonder if she's still alive?) Thanks for the post!

By: coolhappysteve

coolhappysteve — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 13:00:05 -0800

Hey, where did the last 90 minutes go? Thanks so much, this is the stuff MeFi is for!* *I say this authoritatively, of course.

By: Kadin2048

Kadin2048 — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 13:07:16 -0800

Very cool! The resolution limit is a bit disappointing, particularly because Flickr will go much higher than that (what's the max, 30MB or so? I've put some big panos up there and haven't it it, so it must be high). But that's a pretty small complaint, particularly when they have the URLs to the actual LoC page for each photo in the description. I guess what I like most about this is that it seems like an effort to actually get LoC content out to the public in a way that can be easily used and enjoyed. Having it available online at all is great, don't get me wrong, but having it in Flickr is a lot handier for most folks than having it only available through the LoC's site, where nobody will find the photos unless they're looking specifically. I hope they do continue.

By: smackfu

smackfu — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 13:13:23 -0800

It's nice they're tagged too.

By: Atreides

Atreides — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 13:39:43 -0800

Speaking of the Library Congress, they tried to stomp out Scottish nationalism the other day.

By: sbutler

sbutler — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 13:54:56 -0800

For the Woman aircraft worker the LOC URL has the uncompressed TIFF for download (at 141MB). The resolution is 7788x6348, but IMHO the color doesn't look as good as the Flickr one. Point is, hopefully that is large enough for anyone.

By: OmieWise

OmieWise — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 13:57:36 -0800

Very neat. As much as I've trolled the LOC archives, they are much easier to look at on the Flickr page. The size limit must be just for posting. If you click through to the LOC site and then the page for a particular photo, you can get to the archival TIFF. The one I just looked at clocked in @ 138MB, so I think they've got pretty good resolution. I'm not sure the size.

By: marxchivist

marxchivist — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 14:00:32 -0800

This is just great. I can't stop looking. This one is compelling.

By: blaneyphoto

blaneyphoto — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 14:51:05 -0800

Very cool.

By: smackfu

smackfu — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 15:48:12 -0800

This one is compelling. Is that Napoleon Dynamite?

By: garrett

garrett — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 16:32:15 -0800

It's worth noting that the aim of the project, apart from getting this fantastic imagery out there, is to get as many people as possible to tag these photos and help catalogue them. It's a bit like Galaxy Zoo in that respect. And damn is it a timesink! Fun though.

By: peacay

peacay — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 16:54:40 -0800

I was wondering if money changed hands for this collaboration? I'm not even sure which out of flickr or LoC stand to gains more - hard to judge given the commercial -vs- public aims. There is a fair amount of effort from both ends. Does anyone know? (I read the official LoC flickr pilot page as well as the FAQ - no hint could I see) Just general curiosity. It is of course a wonderful development. The pilot flickr commons program is seeking interest from further museums and libraries who wish to participate. "Our first task is to gauge demand. If you could let us know you're interested by sending an email to flickr-commons [at] yahoo-inc.com, we'll go from there."

By: SPrintF

SPrintF — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 19:04:01 -0800

I miss America. These photos remind me of who we used to be.

By: dejah420

dejah420 — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 19:15:18 -0800

This is SO cool!

By: puritycontrol

puritycontrol — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 20:39:51 -0800

I was wondering if money changed hands for this collaboration? Even if it's just $25 of our tax dollars per year going toward a pro account at flickr, it ain't a bad deal.

By: rtha

rtha — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 20:41:22 -0800

Breathtaking. This one is like a Vermeer, or a Rembrandt. Thank you. Wonderful find.

By: CitrusFreak12

CitrusFreak12 — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 21:20:31 -0800

Coming back here to mention what sbutler already covered; I retract my previous disappointment, as I just spent 5 minutes downloading a 140 megabyte, uncompressed version of this photo, which they link to on the flickr page. This is so fucking awesome.