It’s been one year since Sydney, Australia’s Powerhouse Museum became the second institution to join the Commons on Flickr — a year that’s clearly impressed the museum as much as it has its fans.

The Powerhouse today has, to celebrate its first year with the Commons, announced that it’s giving a gift back to the community it found there: a Commons photobook.

Then and Now: Stories from the Commons celebrates both the Powerhouse’s Commons collections and the greater life they gain on on the site, as Flickr users add their own comments and information about each image.

The Powerhouse’s anniversary photobook is not only a gift to us, though: it also gives new ways for Commons supporters to give back. Ten people who give back with words on the Powerhouse’s Photo of the Day blog will receive free copies of the book. And every person who purchases a book will be helping to digitize more of the Powerhouse’s photography collections — for the Commons.

So a happy first Commons anniversary to the Powerhouse Museum — with thanks for showing us again that the Commons is truly “for the win”, for everyone.

Girls skipping at an athletics carnival (Powerhouse Museum)

One year ago today, after an enormous amount of behind-the-scenes work, staff at Flickr and the Library of Congress held their collective breath while the first 3,150 digitalized photographs from two important archive collections were made publicly available for the first time in The Commons — the newest addition to the repertoire of the well-established online photosharing site. Users of the site were invited to visit the collections, view the images and, if they felt so inclined, leave comments or even tag those images with what they thought might be relevant information. Would the community respond to these images, or would they languish unseen on the Internet equivalent of a dusty shelf? They responded: Within two days, the collections had received 650,000 page views, with every image viewed at least once. Flickr members had commented on 420 images, and “faved” 1,200. In all, this activity amounted to a total of about 1.1 million views on the Library of Congress Flickr account.

So what had everyone been looking at on that first day of The Commons?

News in the 1910s

This first set (now of 1,500 images) is taken from the George Grantham Bain Collection of almost 40,000 glass negatives created by the Bain News Service. Most of these photographs arrived with little in the way of explanation or description, but provide a fascinating insight into the sporting, theatrical, criminal, celebrity and political world of New York.

Library of congress

As this is a post to celebrate the first day that archive photographs were made public within the auspices of The Commons, it seems appropriate to share this charming photograph from that collection. Documenting the 7th Annual Excursion Day of Brooklyn Orphans, it was in fact the first upload to the Library of Congress Flickr account. This excursion, according to the New York Times, was sponsored by volunteer drivers on behalf of the Automobile Club. An appropriate image then, to celebrate an act of sharing undertaken almost a hundred years later.

1930s & 40s in Color

The other set launched that first day one year ago (now containing 1,615 images) belongs to a collection of color transparencies created by photographers working for the US Farm Security Administration and later the Office of War Information (FSA/OWI 1939-1944).

Library of Congress

Most imagery at this time was still commonly viewed in black and white, rather than in the rich and vibrant tones we can now enjoy. This is what makes these photographs so special. Here, images of men and women taking part in the collective World War II mobilization effort sit alongside the important work undertaken by FSA photographers in the rural areas of the US.

Within months of uploading this richness of material, the Library of Congress’s Flickr account had recorded 10.4 million views and been made a “contact” by 15,000 people, and the library had enhanced 500 Prints & Photographs Online Catalog records with the valuable data provided by the Flickr community through its 7,166 comments and 67,176 descriptive tags — data that will now be passed down to future generations as part of their photographic heritage.

If you haven’t had the chance to explore these first collections yet — or the rest of the LOC’s 5,249 Commons photos — then perhaps it’s time to make your contribution, whether in information or, most importantly, in pleasure.

Library of Congress

Library of Congress

Yes, it was one year ago today that the Library of Congress pilot launched on Flickr, and The Commons was born.

When the LOC approached Flickr with an inquiry about uploading a large number of images, Flickr designer George Oates saw the potential and had a beautiful Big Idea.

Library of Congress

Instead of just another Flickr account, The Commons was created as an entirely new space with a unique solution to the copyright issues faced by museums, libraries and archives. The “no known copyright restrictions” rights statement allowed public institutions to share the millions of images stored in their archives for which they did not hold any specific rights, giving Flickr users access to their incredible photographic collections.

At the time of the launch, both Flickr and the LOC hoped “that the project will eventually capture the imagination and involvement of other public institutions as well”. I think it’s fair to say that neither Flickr nor the LOC was prepared for the tremendous reception they received from the Flickr community who welcomed them with open arms.

Barely one year later, the National Galleries of Scotland are the 18th public institution to join the Commons and share their amazing photos of Scottish life with us. The number of Commons photos now exceeds 12,000 and the number of tags and comments added by Flickr users are in their millions.

Over the past year the interest among the Flickr Community has grown with the announcement of each new Commons member in the Flickr blog. And over the past month the Commons Community has come together to share in the enjoyment of George Oates’s beautiful Big Idea. The excitement and passion for the Commons project can only mean that The Commons’ second year will bring even greater achievements.

Some things are guaranteed to happen. There will be ever more institutions joining the Commons, adding their photo collections into the mix and being welcomed by the Flickr Community. We will have our first ever Commons Flickr meetup and get to speak to some of the incredible people working behind the Commons accounts. And there will be ever growing cooperation between Commons partners and Commons fans.

So help yourself to a piece of Birthday Pie and join me in celebrating a very happy first Commons birthday!

Library of Congress

As part of the Indicommons marking of the first anniversary of The Commons, I interviewed Helena Zinkham, Acting Chief, Prints & Photographs Division of the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, to learn more about how The Commons came to be a year ago.

Let’s start with a bit about you. What’s your job title, and what do you do when you’re not doing things for The Commons?

My work as Acting Chief for the Prints & Photographs Division at the Library of Congress is a lively mix of activities. With 40 very capable colleagues, I’m trying to make the 14 million pictures in our care as available and useful as possible. I’m a communication switchboard, project coordinator, cataloging teacher, and paperwork scrambler. For fun, I write about ways to read and research photos, and, of course, I enjoy interacting with the Flickr members tremendously.

Celebrating the Commons launch!

After 30 years of working with old pictures, it feels like I’ve come happily full circle. From local historical societies in the 1970s, where we spent time poring over old photos with researchers, asking, “Could that be … ?” or “Do you see …?” then running to a crumbling city directory volume to check a street address. Now, it’s a vast virtual reading room where people all over the world can offer identifications and debate their ideas by tapping the new online info sources as well as their personal experience and expertise. Flickr Commons has a comfortably familiar feel while also expanding enormously the number of people who can participate. I’ve got tremendous respect for the Flickr members.

Most people on Flickr assume that Flickr came up with the idea for The Commons then called the Library of Congress with an invitation. What actually happened?

The Library of Congress initiated the contact with Flickr, but it was Flickr designer George Oates who had the brilliant idea to create a brand new community space — The Commons, where many cultural heritage organizations could offer photos. To be clear, LOC is far from the first library to participate in Flickr. We called Flickr up, though, because we wanted to load a fairly large quantity of images and invite lots of tags and comments to better identify the images. And we couldn’t do that with the available licenses for photos on Flickr.

Our relationship to the photos is that of a steward. Unlike photographers who load their own work to Flickr, we don’t own the copyright for images in our collections. We needed a new rights statement that became “No known copyright restrictions.” The rights conversation and other discussions over the summer of 2007 resulted in The Commons launch on January 16, 2008.

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This coming Friday on Indicommons and in the Flickr Commons group, we’re celebrating the first anniversary of the launch of The Commons, January 16, 2008. In the days leading up to that anniversary, we’ll be talking about the lead-up to that day, when the Library of Congress’s first sets of photos were released into The Commons and we were all invited to participate. On Friday, we’ll celebrate that first day and the Library of Congress’s Flickr photostream. And after Friday, we’ll follow up with a look at the LOC’s first major report on its Commons project. All week long, we’ll be featuring Flickr Commons group members’ favorite Library of Congress photos. We’re collecting them in the group, and you’re invited to join us!

Bain News Service
Martha Lachman(?) 100 yd. Swim, 1912?
Library of Congress: LC-B2-2300-9

Pennylrichardsca’s favorite Library of Congress photo is of a swimmer, probably Martha Lachman, looking truly happy with her 100-yard swim in 1912:

“Her hearty smile and comfortable stance just make me happy to see”.

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