The Commons Galleries: Early colour photographic processes in The Commons on Flickr – featuring Lú_’s curation

Applied colour, Southworth & Hawes, ca. 1850 … with additional colour provided by the effect of time on metal.

George Eastman House

Hand-tinted, ca. 1875

State Library of New South Wales

Photochrom prints, also called Aäc, are ink-based images produced though “the direct photographic transfer of an original negative onto litho and chromographic printing plates.” – Library of Congress

Library Of Congress

Hand-tinted, 1900

Brooklyn Museum

Autochrome, ca. 1910 Autochrome is an additive color ’screen-plate’ process: the medium contains a glass plate, overlaying random mosaic of microscopic grains of potato starch, with lampblack filling the space between grains, and an impermeable black-and-white, panchromatic silver halide emulsion. – Wikipedia

George Eastman House

Glass Paget plate phototransparency, Frank Hurley, 1915 The system used two glass plates, one of which was the colour screen plate while the other was a standard black-and-white negative plate. The colour screen plate comprised a series of red, green and blue filters, laid down in a regular pattern of lines to form a réseau, or matrix. – Wikipedia

State Library of New South Wales

Tricolor Carbro process, Nickolas Muray, 1931

George Eastman House

creator: unknown
Paris Exposition: night view, Paris, France, 1900,
creation date: 1900
Brooklyn Museum: (S03_06_01_015 image 2012)

view + comment on Flickr

Here’s the video presentation of the talk that Deborah Wythe, head of the Brooklyn Museum Digital Collections and Services, gave at their 1stfans meetup, on the same evening as the Common Ground community-curated event.

She discusses Brooklyn’s first curator, William Henry Goodyear, and the Paris Exposition of 1900. This a terrific talk about lantern slides, equipment, digitization, colorization and so much more. The insight into Brooklyn in the late 1800s/early 1900s is fantastic. It’s less than 10 minutes long, and worth the time to watch.

Brooklyn Museum

New York Public Library

Are you a Commons fan living in New York? Join the Brooklyn Museum and the New York Public Library to celebrate The Commons at their Common Ground event in Brooklyn this weekend, part of the Target First Saturdays series.

in Brooklyn, NY:

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

When she was photographed here, Mrs. Field was using a wicker wheelchair, pushed by the main standing behind her, apparently to tour the Bronx Zoo. Was Mrs. Field a wheelchair user?

Library of Congress

The answer isn’t obvious, because the zoo (like many zoos and other parks today) had wheelchairs for loan or rent. Notice the same model lined up behind Mrs. Gibson in this photo.

Library of Congress

Was this a common choice for tourists a century ago? The Commons has some tantalizing evidence that it may have been. Meet Madame Gardriol:

Bibliotheque de Toulouse

Another matron on holiday — this time, at a spa town in the Pyrenees. Her chair model is different, but again there’s a man pushing her and an umbrella handy for shade. Two could be a coincidence … are there other telltale images in the Commons? Look at this one, from the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893:

Brooklyn Museum

Flickr user Rob Ketcherside added a note marking the two people on the lower right of the photo, just below the pillars — that’s a man pushing a woman in a wicker wheelchair.

Wicker was, indeed, a common material for wheelchairs in everyday use, not just by tourists. Wicker wheelchairs are sometimes sold today as antiques (not hard to find online), and well into the 1930s wicker was considered a stylish, comfortable design element.

Walking in heeled shoes, in a corset, in heavy skirts and layers, balancing an impressive hat, as women of the era did, was no easy trick; for some, it was simply impossible to sustain for long periods. If Mrs. Field, Mme. Gardriol, and the Exposition-goer wanted to see the sights and dress like their peers, and they could afford to hire a chair, wheels were one realistic option.

Who are the men behind the chairs? These models are built to be pushed by a second person (not self-propelled). Were the men hired with the chairs? Or were they family, friends, longtime employees?

Whether or not these women were using the chairs as a temporary convenience or an everyday necessity, the spaces they traveled might reasonably have accommodated such conveyances, especially if the zoo, spa, or fair provided the chairs in the first place. How well? Were the pathways were smooth, the entrances to indoor exhibits wide, and the inclines gentle? If so, maybe the history of wheelchair accessibility in public spaces extends further back than the familiar symbols and features of recent decades.

The Smithsonian Institution’s brand-new Secretary, Wayne Clough, discusses the prospects of the 163-year-old largest museum and research complex in the world — including the long-term future of science and education.

Heard around The Commons on Flickr:

• Flickr Commons: It was a year ago…, a summary of the National Media Museum’s first year in The Commons. “100,000s of views, 1000s of comments, and 100s of arguments over whether they were fake or real, spooky or not. “
• The National Media Museum has podcasts! Check out their interview with the screenwriter and executive producer of ITV’s new adaptation of Wuthering Heights, held prior to a preview screening of the film.
• 1stfans Twitter Art Feed Artist at the Brooklyn Museum for September 2009: Duke Riley.
• They also release a nifty application, BklynMuse, a community-powered recommendation system for the objects that are on display there!
• Read the Wall Street Journal’s take on “state-of-the-art museum tours”; they talk to Shelley Bernstein at the Brooklyn Museum. The New York Post weighs in, too.
• artdaily praises the new exhibition at the Getty Museum, Drawings by Rembrandt and His Pupils: Telling the Difference.
• The Chicago Tribune writes about the acquisition of lynching victim Emmett Till’s casket by the Smithsonian Institution.
• The SI’s National Museum of American History launched a new exhibition earlier this year, On the Water: Stories from Maritime America. They also have a Flickr group for your images of maritime activities across the United States of America.
• SI experiments with ShareTabs, a quick way to share links.
• That Picture Looks Great On You: Marvin Heiferman, Smithsonian Photography Initiative, talks about the new ubiquity of photography.
• Photos, Guns, Africa, Stanley, & Kalulu, Catherine Shteynberg, Smithsonian Photography Initiative — a story straight out of The Commons.
• Bamboo, bamboo, bamboo bamboobamboobamboobam.
• Reading War and Peace, some advice on reading this classic literature, on the New York Public Library’s blog.
• The Library of Congress announces their September film series.
• Powerhouse Museum announces their Common Ground meetup in October!
• The U.S. National Park Service celebrated their birthday on August 25th. If you couldn’t get to a park this weekend, enjoy Yosemite — it’s in The Commons!
• The State Library of Queensland, Australia, hosted Commandant Henry Miller’s descendant, Quentin Miller, at Redcliffe, which was the first European settlement in Queensland, established as the Moreton Bay Penal Colony in September 1824.
• The butcher and the grocer: A Western Front story, by the Australian War Memorial.
• Oregon State University Archives reports on the 6-month closure of the The Southern Oregon Historical Society. :””(
• They also post a nifty history of Mazamas, a climbing club in Portland, Oregon.
• And! They announce their digitized book, Oregon, a story of progress and development, together with an account of the Lewis & Clark Centennial Exposition to be held in Portland, Oregon, from June first to October fifteenth, nineteen hundred and five, available on ScholarsArchive. Dang, Tiah, that’s a mouthful!

Monday Morning Mayhem!

Mehgan Murphy/Smithsonian’s National Zoo
Burrowing Owl Babies, August 28, 2009
Smithsonian Institution’s National Zoo

The Smithsonian asked last week if the tweeples following them on Twitter could identify these newborns. They did!

The Smithsonian’s National Zoo welcomed two burrowing owl chicks Aug. 2—the first hatching of this species at the Zoo in 30 years. The chicks’ parents, a 5-year-old male and 4-year-old female, have been at the Zoo since June 2006.

The last time burrowing owls successfully bred at the National Zoo was in the late 1970s. A recent population-management plan recommended breeding the Zoo’s current adult pair. The chicks are with their parents in the Zoo’s Bird House. Currently, there is semi-transparent filter paper covering their exhibit, providing the chicks with privacy. As they become more comfortable with their new surroundings, the paper will slowly be removed.

Archival footage brought to you by the Walt Disney Imagineers. Hat tip to the Getty Museum for this great web find. I got sucked into watching the whole series just now of time-lapse photography of the building of Disneyland in Southern California, circa the 1950s.

Heard around the Commons:

• Be a Friend with Benefits! the Brooklyn Museum tells how.
• Congrats to Smithsonian Science, Voice of America’s website winner of the week!
• When Good People Love Bad Pictures, some musings on photos and the internet, by Marvin Heiferman of the Smithsonian Photography Initiative
• How to build an 8-foot-tall light bulb out of LEGO bricks, from the SI’s National Museum of American History.
• The Prisoner of Zenda – read all about George Eastman House’s newest nitrate motion-picture acquisition (with great stills, too!).
• The Swedish National Heritage Board weighs in on social media. They also discuss bicycling to work.
• The New York Public Library has some tips for midlife job hunters.
• Read all about the White Gloves Tour in the Granite Belt region at the State Library of Queensland, Australia’s blog.
• Coming Soon: DCPL Discovery Packs for SirsiDynix Libraries, from the D.C. Public Library.
• Scientist Scott A. Braun Discusses “Peering Into the Storm: NASA’s Exploration of Hurricanes” on 16 September, at the Library of Congress.
• The Oregon State University Archives brings you The Legend of Llao Rock. Also, check out the story of Mt. Mazama.
• Put The Source from the National Library of New Zealand on your reading list; it’s news about digital libraries and library innovations from around the web.
• Starting 11 September, the National Library of Wales brings us Ken Elias: A Retrospective – a celebration of 40 years of painting.

Your weekly recap of happenings around the Flickr Commons.

The Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition Oregon State University Archives

Let’s start the week off with a challenge! The Oregon State University Archives just added a map to their 1905 Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition set on Flickr. Anyone feel game to create a mash-up similar to what we did with the Chicago Expo? Read more about the finding of this map at OSU Archives’ blog.

• The Museum Computer Network 2009 conference is being held November 11-14 in Portland, OR. OSU Archives will present its case study of the Flickr Commons!
• Speaking of Portland, anyone know anything about some of the rose gardens there? OSU wants your help!
• Some clarifications on our experience with ‘free’ content – Seb Chan at the Powerhouse Museum responds to a question about their experience with the Flickr Commons.
• Be sure to catch his presentation schedule, too. Lots coming up.
• The 2009 National Digital Forum conference will be held November 23-24 at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Courtney Johnson at the National Library of New Zealand has information on subsidies for small organizations.
• Stacking the Tech: The Library of Congress Talks Digital Initiatives with the folks at Library Journal.
• Catch this write-up, by L’Archivista of the Building, Managing and Participating in Online Communities session at the Society of American Archivists 2009 conference.
• The American Historical Association provides a Take Two of Snapshots of the Past: The Commons on Flickr, an overview of the institutions that have joined the Commons since their first article.
• Picturing Rochester: Got photos of Rochester, New York? George Eastman House wants ‘em!
• The Powerhouse Museum has labels! And they want your visitor labels for their Odditoreum!
• The National Library of Wales has new podcasts up! Great stories of the library from folks that used to work there.
• Astrobiology: Life in Space, a webcast from the Library of Congress of Daniel P. Glavin, an astrobiologist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, who says the possibility of extraterrestrial life in our solar system is not limited to Mars.
• You’ll like the preview of the D.C. Public Library’s new website!
• Read about the 50th anniversary of the closing of the Peel Island lazaret, from the State Library of Queensland, Australia.
• Not sure where to find the Smithsonian on the internet? Here’s a guide.
• The SI and the Chandra X-ray makes news about research on the birth of stars.
• Harewood House and some historic photographs of Yorkshire – a fun field trip with the National Media Museum!
• ARRRRRRRR! The Field Museum wants you to dress like a pirate!

The Brooklyn Museum Crew

Twitter was all up in arms last weeks with #dukeriley. Here’s the Brooklyn Museum’s battleship. The New York Times and WNYC explain.

The Commons has serious purposes and plenty of important content, but the folks in the Flickr Commons group still love spotting those adorable, irresistible animals! Wouldn’t you love one of these on a cushion or your morning coffee mug?

Two camels and a donkey!

Brooklyn Museum

Upside-down sloth!

Field Museum Library

Monkey on a rhino!

George Eastman House

A koala … yawning!

National Media Museum

Pig!	National Media Museum

Penguins in love! (okay, maybe not really …)

State Library of New South Wales

And baby barn owls!

Oregon State University Archives

Thanks to Nina, Ryan, 73939133 and Penny for the cuteness!