This series has to be some of the most wry humor in the Flickrverse. Taking old Bains News Service photographs from the Library of Congress, thatoliverguy adds text in the same handwriting style as the original, and a dash of humor too. We can’t wait to see more of his clever work. You’ll want to click through to read the new captions Oliver’s given the classic photos.

Library of Congress	thatoliverguy
ORIGINAL	REMIX

See more here and here. And do imagine his photo titles as spoken very matter-of-factly.

Flickr’s best-known meme may be Kitten, Baby, Sunset, Flower … We bring you oodles of them from across the Commons!

George Eastman House	Powerhouse Museum
KITTEN	BABY

Brooklyn Museum	State Archives of Florida
SUNSET	FLOWER

Again, with gusto!

Nationaal Archief	State Library of Queensland, Australia
KITTEH!	BABEH!

Oregon State University Archives	George Eastman House
SUNSET!	FLOWER!

If you haven’t ventured deeper into the Smithsonian Institution after the first year of the Smithsonian’s wonderful collections in Flickr’s Commons, here’s a primer to help you find your personal starting point:

What is the Smithsonian Institution?

As Wikipedia tells it,

The Smithsonian Institution was founded for the “increase and diffusion” of knowledge from a bequest to the United States by the British scientist James Smithson (1765–1829), who had never visited the United States himself. In Smithson’s will, he stated that should his nephew, Henry James Hungerford, die without heirs, the Smithson estate would go to the government of the United States for creating an “Establishment for the increase & diffusion of Knowledge among men”. After the nephew died without heirs in 1835, President Andrew Jackson informed Congress of the bequest, which amounted to 104,960 gold sovereigns, or US$500,000 ($9,235,277 in 2005 U.S. dollars after inflation).

Out of that bequest have grown …

SI Paintings Conservation Lab (cliff1066)

• 19 individual museums, including the National Museum of American History, Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, National Portrait Gallery, and the National Postal Museum.
• 159 affiliate museums, from the Adler Planetarium in Chicago to the York County Culture and Heritage Commission in Rock Hill, SC.
• 9 research centers, from the seas to space, plus — importantly to the SI collections in The Commons — the Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute, which offers internships, volunteer opportunities, and courses as well as conducting its own research.

Can’t get to Washington?

Wondering about the National Museum of Photography? No, there isn’t one. Photography makes up part of collections across the Smithsonian — and, if you can’t get to Washington, is prominent in the Smith’s web presence. One of these might grab your imagination:

• the Smithsonian Photography Initiative
• the blog The Bigger Picture: Photography and the Smithsonian
• the participatory site Click! Photography Changes Everything
• the SI Research Information System or
• Smithsonian Images

Even on Flickr there’s more

Even on Flickr, there’s more to the Smithsonian than the Commons. The Smith also has several active groups, inviting you to contribute your own visions of the Smithsonian and what it stands for:

New Courtyard (M.V. Jantzen)

• In the National Museum of American History group, “Share your experiences from your visit to the Museum — whether your photos is of a favorite spot in the museum or the most memorable artifact you encountered.”
• Or share your images of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Renwick Gallery.
• @1934 is an American Art group inspired by the exhibition 1934: A New Deal for Artists, on through January 3, 2010 at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
• Take your interaction outside the museum or deeper within it, with SIConnections/Lincoln in Your Hometown:  “As we celebrate the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth at the Smithsonian, we’re looking for Lincoln images in Washington, D.C., across the country, and around the world (if you can find it!). We’re making connections between history, art, and culture, as well as connections across the centuries, from the time of Lincoln to the inauguration of our new president.”
• For those who join the Smithsonian on tours, share the experience in Extraordinary Cultures Around the World.
• And check out images from the Smithsonian 2.0 Conference,  “a two-day interactive gathering (January 23-24, 2009) exploring how the Smithsonian can better and more effectively reach the younger generation … with its collections, materials, and expertise through the web and web/new media-based interactive strategies.”
• And if you follow @smithsonian on Twitter, there’s a group for you too! @Smithsonian Twitter Inspired Picture Share “provides a space for @Smithsonian Twitter Followers to share their images of the Smithsonian, it’s projects, museums and exhibitions. We will occasionally Tweet a ‘Photo War’ request for photos on specific topics, and this is the place to share, tag and discuss the results.”

Why follow the SI?

Smithsonian volunteer Col. John Braddon (dcrisoh)

Why follow @Smithsonian on Twitter? To try to keep up with what those 19 museums and 9 research centers are up to!

We invite you to move from enjoyment of the treasures of the past preserved and curated by the Smithsonian Institution into a more active engagement with the SI today. Follow, contribute, take a class, even volunteer — be part of the wealth of American heritage today.

Thomas Smillie
Untitled, 1890
Smithsonian Institution: RU95_Box78_0006

On June 16, 2008, the Smithsonian Institution joined the Flickr Commons with a wonderful collection of cyanotypes from the Smithsonian’s first photographer, Thomas William Smillie. The Smithsonian has gone on to upload some of the most loved photos in the Commons. We celebrate the Smithsonian’s Commonversary with the highlights of its past year on Flickr.

The Smith’s most viewed photograph is Uniformed Letter Carrier with Child in Mailbag, from the People and the Post set. #56 in interestingness (on 2008-06-16) 959 people call this photo a favorite Viewed 42,841 times

People and the Post

Another popular early set of Smithsonian photographs is Portraits of Scientists and Inventors, which includes this photo of Albert Einstein. You really have to click through to the image to appreciate the fun folksonomic tagging.

Portraits of Scientists and Inventors

The Smithsonian’s Inauguration set also garnered much attention this past year, particularly as we inaugurated another new President in the United States in 2009. Here is Richard Nixon, with his wife, Patricia, and daughters, Julie and Trisha, speaking at his Inaugural Ball in the Museum of History and Technology, now the National Museum of American History — part of the Smithsonian — January 20, 1973.

Inauguration

There are many contemporary images in the Smithsonian’s Flickr collection. The set American Celebrations documents personal family celebrations, international celebrations of arts and industry at major world expositions, and National Powwows, celebrations of Native American dance and song. This photograph is from the 2002 National Powwow, in which large social gatherings of Native Americans followed traditional dances started centuries ago by their ancestors.

American Celebrations

The Russell E. Train Africana Collection documents both British and American expeditions to Africa. “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” was famously asked by Henry M. Stanley, a newspaper reporter and tireless self-promoter, who was hired in 1871 by the New York Herald to find the missing Livingstone, winning himself wealth and reputation.

Russell E. Train Africana Collection

Because the Smithsonian Institution is comprised of a great many institutions, the Flickr Commons contains amazing and surreal images from the distant past through modern photography: Space, the final frontier, and the subject of all the photographs from the Chandra X-ray Observatory. You are peering 7,000 light years from Earth into the Eagle Nebula here, the “Pillars of Creation.”

Chandra X-ray Observatory

There is so much more to the Smithsonian Institution’s Flickr collection that we could cover in a blog post. Why not peruse their sets yourself and tell us what your favorites are?

June 14th is traditionally Flag Day in the United States. This year, President Obama has also declared Flag Week, so run those Stars and Stripes high! We celebrate with a photograph from a new set uploaded by the Library of Congress, Illustrated Newspaper Supplements.

New York Tribune
Flag day will be observed to-morrow in many states of the Union, June 13, 1909
Library of Congress: Chronicling America (Library of Congress) (DLC)

Illustrated Newspaper Supplements

• view + comment on Flickr
• discuss in our group, Flickr Commons

In 1904, a harsh fire swept through Ålesund, Norway, destroying many buildings. The city today is still stunning in its beauty.

Library of Congress	Eskil Kvalnes
THEN	NOW

Unidentified photographer
Portrait of Felix Nadar (1820-1910), Photographer and Aeronautical Scientist, 1910
Smithsonian Institution: SIL14-N001-01

“Nadar was the pseudonym of Gaspard-Félix Tournachon (April 6, 1820 – March 21, 1910), a French photographer, caricaturist, journalist, novelist and balloonist.” – wikipedia

via zyrcster in the Best of the Commons flickr group thread.

view + comment on Flickr

SHOUT IT OUT! Help keep the New York Public Library open.

Read more about the NYPL’s plight at the Daily News.

Heard around the Commons:

• Vet du hvor bildet er tatt? Last week, the Swedish National Heritage Board asked for help identifying a photo in the Commons. Within 24 hours, the location was determined … and they got a write up on the news!
• Pirates land in Chicago, a photo essay in the Chicago Sun-Times of the Field Museum’s “Real Pirates”.
• The Field’s dead geese help solve mystery of plane in Hudson, an article by the Chicago Tribune.
• Enter the Don McCullin competition at the National Media Museum: Win a signed hardback copy of the book Don McCullin by commenting on one of the photos Don curated for the museum’s Flickr stream.
• Check out the photos of the opening night of 1984, with John Hurt, at the National Media Museum.
• Celebrate the 1,000th Tyrrell image in the Powerhouse Museum’s Flickr stream!
• Valour is explained by the Australian War Memorial.
• Installing the Summer Shows, insight into the behind-the-scenes work at the George Eastman House.
• I Do Solemnly Swear … Got photos of the 2009 U.S. Presidential Inauguration? Share them with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.
• Picnic pest is focus of a Smithsonian exhibition — A write-up from the Philadelphia Enquirer on an intriguing photography exhibit.
• Check out some new National Air and Space Museum Photos (Smithsonian).
• Meanwhile, back on earth … A Slideshow, curated Flickr photos, by the Smithsonian Photography Initiative’s Marvin Heiferman.
• Islamic Art at the Brooklyn Museum, from Sunday Arts.
• Check out this interview by the Examiner of Dr. Patrick Amsellem, the Associate Curator of Photography at the Brooklyn Museum.
• The Sounds of American Life and Legend are tapped for the Seventh Annual National Recording Registry, from the Library of Congress.

Friday Fun!

The History of Household Technology, from the Library of Congress

Go Visit!

Now through 30 June — 1969: The Year of Gay Liberation at the New York Public Library. The 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in Greenwich Village, New York, is this month. There’s also a collection of GLBT books on display at the D.C. Public Library. We’re here, we’re queer, get used to it!

12-14 June – Fantastic Films Weekend at the National Media Museum. Oohhhhhhhhh, scary movies!

13 June –Garden Fest 2009: The Scenic Route, the annual all day family-friendly event presented by the Horticulture Services Division (HSD) at the Smithsonian Institution.

13 June — Alice Waters book signing at the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.

15 June – Kick-Off Event: Juneteenth DC 2009 at the D.C. Public Library. Featuring performances, remarks and a reception in celebration of the abolition of slavery in the U.S. More info on Juneteenth here.

16 June – What Is a Conversation Piece? at the National Galleries of Scotland. Desmond Shawe-Taylor, Surveyor of the Queen’s Pictures, explores this fascinating type of art, which is such an important tradition within European painting.

Remember summer camp and craft projects?  It’s that time of year again. Most Indicommons readers don’t get to spend a week in the woods anymore, twisting yarn around sticks, making sunprints with ferns, or gluing tissue paper to stones. So consider this post a virtual trip to the craft cabin. In this tutorial, we’ll make a set of four quick-and-easy cards with Commons images and a few ordinary office supplies. Never get caught without a perfect card again!

For my examples (above), I used the Field Museum Library’s wonderful World’s Columbian Exposition set, which includes prints, photographs, and ephemera related to the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, the “White City” where the first Ferris Wheel appeared, among other wonders. (Across the Commons, the Brooklyn Museum and the Smithsonian Institution have also posted images from the World’s Columbian Exposition.) But the idea can work for any images you like, so do explore the possibilities.

1. First, lay out two sheets of images: one for your backgrounds, and one for your foregrounds. For the background sheet, I copied and pasted the images of tickets from the Commons, in a collage pattern. Change the sizes as you see fit, and adjust the colors and contrast so that they’re mostly black-and-white (save your printer ink). For the foreground sheet, I copied and pasted an image of the Ferris wheel four times.  Choose a strong image that won’t be a huge hassle to cut out, and (again) you can adjust the contrast and colors for your purposes.

2. Print out each sheet onto white cardstock. Your pages should look like these:

3. Cut each sheet into quarters. If you stop here, you have eight postcards:

4. Cut the background rectangles slightly smaller (your printer probably left white edges — cut those off).  Now add a bit of color with ink pads, markers, pencils … whatever’s handy. Darker in the corners and edges, lighter toward the center, will usually give a good effect. Or you can leave the backgrounds alone and color the central image instead.

5. Cut out the central images from the foreground rectangles.

6. Use a gluestick or double-stick tape to mount the backgrounds to folded cardstock (I used some dark green and red scraps here), then add the central image:

That’s it! You’ve made four cool cards without a trip to the art supply store, thanks to Flickr Commons.