Shaffer, Melvin C.
Mount Vesuvius: Lava flows into village of San Sebastiano al Vesuvio one night, 1944,
1944
SMU Central University Libraries: itmcs081it.jpg

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Dorothea Lange would have been 105 today. We’re delighted to be able to celebrate this great and important photographer with photographs from the Commons. Though she died only 45 years ago, the work Lange did for the U.S. Government is in the public domain now, and you’ll find some of it in the Commons on Flickr. Here’s a selection from three different Commons institutions that hold some of her government work:

Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California (National Media Museum, UK)

Two Children of the Mochida Family, with Their Parents, Awaiting Evacuation Bus (U.S. National Archives)

Fourth of July, near Chapel Hill, North Carolina … They are Called the Cedargrove Team (Library of Congress)

Stongfjorden Songlag

We’re delighted to welcome to the Commons the County Archives of Sogn og Fjordane (Fylkesarkivet i Sogn og Fjordane), Norway. Sogn og Fjordane is on the western coast of Norway—and yes, the “Fjord” in “Fjordane” refers to the Norwegian fjords. The archives join the Commons with over 250 photographs of the county, from landscapes to portraits, in colour and in black and white, including lantern slides of the fjords and collections of photographs by Paul Stang and Andreas Mathias Anderssen.

Please come say “hei” to the Fylkesarkivet i Sogn og Fjordane. And then check the names of those choir singers … maybe you know one!

Margaret Wise Brown was born 100 years ago this month (23 May 1910). A tribute, using images from the Flickr Commons.

In the great green room …

Smithsonian Institution

… there was a telephone …

Genevieve Clark (Lib. of Congress)

… and a red balloon …

L. Stevens (Lib. of Congress)

… and a picture of a cow …

Pauline (DC Public Library)

… jumping over the moon …

Margaret Ballardini & Fred Watson (State Lib. of NSW)

creator: unknown
Cribb and Foote family photo set in an oval flowered mount, ca. 1898
State Library of Queensland, Australia: ID number: unknown

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A few highlights of recent uploads to the Commons, with more to come in the next few days …

From the U.S. National Archives, posters and photographs from the home front during World War II — and an early photograph of Dwight Eisenhower.

Saturday’s a Holiday for Most of the Nation’s Small Fry, but to These Youngsters of Roanoke, Va. It’s Fat-Collection Day. ca. 10/1942

While we’ve been quiet, the Biblioteca de Arte-Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian has been uploading dozens of images from the sketchbooks of João Cristino da Silva.

Álbum de Desenhos, Portugal

From the London School of Economics Library, early sports teams aplenty and some delicious dinners.

First LSE Annual Dinner, 19th February 1898 at Restaurant Frascati, Oxford Street

The Brooklyn Musuem has added a wealth of new photos to its Italian architecture collection … And meet the new interim membership manager!

St. Mark’s, Venice, Italy, 1895.

Drama in the skies from the Bergen Public Library!

Graf Zeppelin over Bergen

Recent uploads from New York’s Center for Jewish History include advertising material, paintings, and photographs of objects in member museum collections.

Torah shield

Missed Florida laughing? It’s still in the State Library and Archives of Florida stream, waiting for you to take a break and laugh!

Governor Chiles and his dog: Tallahassee, Florida

Demonstration of making rhubarb jelly. Photo taken by Troy in 1916 for Miss Canon

New to the Commons today is Cornell University Library, with a rich range of images, both photographs and images of artifacts, organized into several interesting collections. Among Cornell’s collections of note are

• photographs taken in Iceland and the Faroe Islands by traveller-photographer Frederick W.W. Howell (yes, that includes Eyjafjallajökull!);
• a wealth of Political Americana, including ephemera and a range of campaign materials;
• a sampling of the Cornell University College of Human Ecology Historical Photographs Collection; and
• a “small” sample from the Andrew Dickson White Architectural Photographs Collection.

Join us in bidding a warm welcome to Cornell University Library — and take some time out to explore (and tag for others!) this rich new Commons collections.

What, you didn’t get out to see a museum today? But you still can! Treat yourself to a museum visit, Commons style …

Smithsonian Institution: Samuel F. B. Morse’s Daguerreotype Equipment

Brooklyn Museum: Anonymous Man Re-Wrapping

Powerhouse Museum: Koala

Field Museum: Stanley Field Hall

National Maritime Museum: Turmoil & Tranquility framing

Australian National Maritime Museum: Model of RMS Britannic

Peter A. Juley & Son
Gwen Lux, American sculptor and designer, 1908-1986, in her studio
creation date: unknown
Smithsonian Institution: J0001886

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