In its blog NARAtions, the US National Archives interviews Flickr member (and Indicommons contributor) Penny Richards:

Why do you think sharing historic photos on a social media site, like Flickr, is important?

It’s an amazing resource for folks who use images, and for users to give back stories, links, tags, comments, and context.  People like to learn, to tell stories, and to help–that’s the basis of any good crowdsourcing project.

Read the whole post — Suffragettes, Wearable Art, and Flickr — for more of Penny’s thoughts on Flickr, the Commons, and things that can be done with historical archives.

creator: Transocean (Photographic company, Berlin)
Portrait of Marie Curie (1867-1934), Physicist
,
creation date: Prior to 1934

Smithsonian Institution: SIL14-C6-05

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In memory the late Elizabeth Taylor, SMU (Southern Methodist University) Central University Libraries has uploaded a set of photographs of a visit she made to Dallas, Texas, in 1987:

creator: Johnson Studios
Helen M. Hierholzer,
creation date: unknown
Smithsonian Institution: SIA Acc. 90-105 [SIA-SIA2008-3852]

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Elizabeth Sabin Goodwin (1902-1980)

An article in today’s New York Times shines a light on the difference that social media is making today to an institution as venerable as the Smithsonian Institution, highlighted by Commons fans’ identification of Elizabeth Sabin Goodwin. Find out how many more ways social media is increasing the knowledge possessed by the Smithsonian, in “Smithsonian Uses Social Media to Expand Its Mission.”

More Women’s History Month content from Flickr Commons — this time, a diverse collection from the Center for Jewish History NYC: Meet baseball players and judges, actresses. and “the Angel of Ellis Island”:

creator: Carl Curman
Hästholmen and Omberg, Östergötland, Sweden,
creation date: c. 1890
Swedish National Heritage Board: cc000507

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March 8 is International Women’s Day. International Women’s Day was first observed in the 1910s, in various countries, and 1911 has been chosen as the recognized starting year — which means this year is the centenary of the first widespread observance. Flickr Commons happens to be especially rich for public events of the 1910s, so here’s a suffragette slideshow with images from across the Commons, just for the occasion:

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creator: Bain News Service, publisher.
Italians taking possession of Tripoli (LOC),
creation date: [between ca. 1910 and ca. 1915]
Library of Congress: LC-B2- 2311-11

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