Are you a Commons fan living in Florida? Join the State Archives to celebrate the Commons at one of two (yes, two!) events:

in Safety Harbor:

in Tallahassee:

Don’t forget your camera! Event photos are welcome in the Flickr Commons group.

Flickr Commons uploads include many historical images–and historical images include many awesome hats–hats as costume, hats as uniform, hats as protective gear, and hats as fashion. Here are some of the finest examples.

This one at least looks lighweight–straw and flowers.

George Eastman House

The classic Australian hat–Aussie Olympic teams still wear this style in the opening ceremonies some years.

Australian War Memorial

A palmetto hat she made herself–probably a very practical solution to the need for cool headwear in Florida.

State Library and Archives of Florida

Evelyn Nesbit’s eyes, and the photo itself, all seem focused on that extravagant plume.

Library of Congress

The sideways cap–it isn’t just for 1980s rapper wannabes.

Library of Virginia

The pin on this 1930s headwrap commemorates the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

State Library of New South Wales

Mrs. Burleson’s huge hat marks her as a special leader of the suffrage parade. But the other women have some fine millinery too.

Library of Congress

The frayed edges of this hat match the frayed layers of Cody’s outfit.

George Eastman House

Feather plumes like these endangered several species of birds.

Library of Congress

Russell was an artist, but that’s no beret.

Smithsonian Institution

The exuberant hat matches Mrs. Stulle’s smile and attitude–she ran a matchmaking service for widows and widowers.

Library of Congress

Gardner’s hat marks him as a Nantucket eccentric, even while his suit and expression are quite sober.

Nantucket Historical Association

European immigrant women at Ellis Island sometimes brought with them the elaborate headwear of their home regions.

New York Public Library

Helene Dutrieu was the fourth woman in the world to earn a pilot’s license; she also raced cars and motorcycles. This makeshift helmet seems to have extra layers of felt for ear protection.

Library of Congress

A ballet dancer’s costume, heavily beaded and embroidered.

State Library of New South Wales

The clean lines of the sailor’s cap match the Portuguese actress’s trademark bangs and eyebrows.

Biblioteca de Arte-Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian

Today, we generally only see boater hats at political conventions–but they were once ordinary daywear for men, especially on hot summer days in Tennesee.

Smithsonian Institution

One of the most popular and commented photos in the Commons features a serious boy wearing a serious hat.

Library of Congress

Earlier this month, George Oates spoke to the Society of Archivists‘ annual conference, about The Commons and Open Library. Now you can see her talk too — in 163 slides, about sharing (and more):

creator: unknown
View looking toward the Bahia Honda Bridge: Bahia Honda Key, Florida, Not before 1972.
State Library and Archives of Florida: COM00024

view + comment on Flickr

Flickr released a new feature this week called galleries.

Galleries - a new Flickr feature

The Flickr Blog explains,

For whatever you find interesting, fascinating, or mind-blowing on Flickr, galleries are a way to curate up to 18 public photos or videos of your fellow members into one place around a theme, an idea or just because.

Now any Flickr user can create an Across the Commons series, annotated, containing photos from the Commons centered around any theme that moves them! Here’s a sprinkling of Commons Galleries we’ve noticed:

Before Kodachrome, a gallery curated by Lú_, investigates the early colour photographic processes in the Commons collections on Flickr.

Before Kodachrome

Yours truly is fascinated by Yosemite National Park and tragedies. In this gallery, I put together Carleton E. Watkin’s historic photos with modern day images of the same scenes. Watkins lost most of his photographic legacy in the Great Fire of ‘06 in San Francisco… we’re fortunate that his work is available in The Commons.

Yosemite Then and Now

The Branch Office is a fun and eclectic mix of photos from both The Commons and from other Flickr users, curated by pennylrichardsca. Enjoy the beauty of light filtering down through the leaves.

The Branch Office

striatic re-creates a fun Across the Commons first posted to this blog. Just Plane Trouble is a fun and insightful look at aeronautic fails.

Just Plane Trouble

Delivering the Mail — the Commons way is a great curation from Brenda Anderson, in fact, the first Across the Commons that our group ran.

Delivering the Mail – the Commons way

What galleries will you create? Drop by our thread in the Flickr Commons group and show us your stuff! We’d love to feature your galleries on this blog.

Shelley Bernstein
Getting Ready for Common Ground 2009 – Brooklyn Museum

The Commons is busting with activity with various institutions preparing for Common Ground! You’ve got until 16 September 2009 to VOTE.

Heard around and about The Commons:

• The Commons: Using the Web to Unlock Little Mysteries of the Past, is a very good write-up by Philip Bump, a technology and communications consultant in New York City. He illustrates the article with an example from the Commons.
• A History of Our Own, Representing Communities and Identities on the Web (SAA09: Session 202), a summary of Andrew Flinn’s session at the Society of American Archivists’ recent conference, by Jeanne Kramer-Smyth. She wraps the Commons into her final thoughts about the session.
• Did you know that the Getty Museum has audio tours you can listen to on your mobile phone? Check this one out.
• Smithsonian Museum Day is Saturday, 26 September 2009! Enjoy free general admission for you and a guest to hundreds of museums and cultural venues throughout the United States.
• How did you witness history on September 11, 2001? Share your story with the Smithsonian Institute’s September 11: Tell Your Story.
• Take This Job & Shoot It! by Catherine Shteynberg, Smithsonian Photography Initiative, discusses photography and the documentation of labor through the years.
• Here Comes the Revolution? Marvin Heiferman, Smithsonian Photography Initiative, reports on the new open source initiative for photographic technology that’s happening at Stanford University.
• The Powerhouse Museum is preparing a new exhibition From Earth to the Universe with Photographic Astronomer David Malin, featuring photographs showcasing the beauty and mystery of our Universe. Catch the previews on their blog.
• The new high-definition restoration of The Wizard of Oz was made possible in part because of George Eastman House’s safekeeping of the original materials!
• There is still time to check out the Field Museum’s Water exhibition, and Marisa Naujokas, Chicago Environmental Health Examiner, tells you why you should visit. Hurry! It closes 20 September 2009.
• The hugely popular and inspirational BP Portrait Award returns to Edinburgh and to the National Galleries of Scotland, beginning 12 December 2009.
• Love Letter Update, from the Australian War Memorial. Learn more about a mysterious love letter from a young French woman to her soldier sweetie.
• Here’s an Animal Mummy Update from the Brooklyn Museum.
• The National Media Museum posts their Film Guide – yay, go watch a good flick with them!
• Hey cool, the Getty has a Dorothea Lange photograph in their collection. Let’s tweet them to get that into the Commons with the other Lange images!

Overheard on Twitter

Paula Bray
A lightcycle goes down under
to visit the Powerhouse Museum

…turns out the #lightcycle has made it to Sydney where @paulabray and @erikajoy are cooking up something http://yfrog.com/5hfersj – Brooklyn Museum tweet

David De Maus
Ship Garthsnaid, ca 1920s
National Library of New Zealand: 1/2-014494-G

view + comment on Flickr

We told you a couple of weeks ago about Common Ground: a community-curated global Flickr Commons meetup. Now we know more!

So far, the event hosts on October 2-3 are:

in North America:

• Brooklyn Museum + New York Public Library combined, at the Brooklyn Museum, NY
• George Eastman House, Rochester NY
• Oregon State University Archives
• State Library and Archives of Florida

in  Australia & New Zealand:

• Powerhouse Museum + State Library of New South Wales combined at the Powerhouse
• State Library of Queensland
• Australian War Memorial

in Europe:

• Swedish National Heritage Board

Watch this topic for new announcements, or to find out how to host an event yourself!

And if you still haven’t put your votes in for what will be in the common slide show, you have more time!  Voting has been extended to September 16.

See you in October!