My Friend Flickr: A Match Made in Photo Heaven

Sun 6 2008

Treasures of the Library of Congress are now available on Flickr through The Commons, a pilot project aimed to extend public access and interaction with archival sources. More than 3,000 photos from two popular library collections--American Memory: Color Photos of the Great Depression and The George Grantham Bain Collection—offer opportunities in the classroom for teaching with images and for collaborative learning. These photos are copyright free and downloadable in multiple resolutions. Public commentary and tagging began with project launch in mid-January. The Library of Congress is already receiving and responding to comments that add to their knowledge of the photos and their context.

Enthusiastic public response is chronicled at the Library of Congress blog post, Flickr Followup and on the Flickr blog, Wow.

About the Author

Lee Ann Ghajar is a digital history associate in Public Projects at CHNM and a PhD candidate in American history at George Mason University.