Winter seems to be a bit “off” in the Northern Hemisphere this year — too little snow in the British Columbia mountains, too much snow in Oklahoma, and much too cold in the UK. But winter in the Commons? It’s always wonderful! See more winter and snow in the Commons.

Carol and Bobbie Ann’s February 1953 snowman, in Richmond, Virginia. (Where are Carol and Bobbie Ann today?)

The Library of Virginia

A snowman on the *other* side of the “pond”, in Wales.

LlGC ~ NLW

It’s a much colder winter in Antarctica – or it certainly was in the 1910s.

State Library of New South Wales

The city of Montreal may be saving on snow-clearing costs this year, but this is what we expect a Montreal winter to look like, even 120 years later.

Musée McCord Museum

Snow-clearing out west — the heavy-duty way.

Galt Museum & Archives

Where little snow fell, in London, there was work for the street sweeper.

George Eastman House

It may be work to clear later, but when the snow makes the city nearly disappear into white, that work is more than repaid by beauty.

Library of Congress

Had enough snow? Maybe it’s time for a visit to Florida …

State Library and Archives of Florida

Adolph B. Rice Studio
Hotchkiss Field, Halloween, October 31, 1959
Library of Virginia: Rice Collection 2564A

view + comment on Flickr

Wedding party

The Library of Virginia isn’t one of the bigger streams in the Commons, but their 400+ photos since joining the Commons on October 6, 2008, have a lot to say. They, with the State Library and Archives of Florida, represent the American South in the Commons. The bulk of Virginia’s collection is from the Adolph B. Rice Studio of Richmond, and documents 1950s Richmond, Virginia: buildings going up and falling down, beauty parlors and department stores, bowling teams and wedding parties — the regular life of regular people.

Who was Adolph B. Rice, anyway?

The Library of Virginia explains:

Born in 1909, Adolph Bransford Rice grew up in the Oregon Hill neighborhood of Richmond, Virginia. The son of an elevator inspector, he originally worked as a mechanic for Otis Elevator. In the 1940s Rice briefly owned and operated a small family business known as the Rice Elevator and Engineering Company. He changed careers and became a professional photographer at the age of forty and established the Adolph B. Rice Studio at 14 N. Auburn Avenue….

Founded in 1949, the Adolph B. Rice Studio addressed a wide variety of photographic needs in Richmond, Virginia. It specialized in aerial and commercial photography and worked for nearly every major business and organization in the city during the 1950s. Clients included department stores, real estate developers, food service companies, television and radio broadcast companies, car dealerships, construction firms, and state and city governments. The resulting images document much of the growth and commercial development of the region in the mid-twentieth century.

Join us in wishing the Library of Virginia — and the people of Richmond, VA — a happy Commons anniversary!

Ball game

Lowes of Richmond, woman in bunny suit showing a stove

Bowling team

Le-Wood Homes prefab church

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

Jeff Tinsley
July 4th fireworks highlight the Washington Monument and the Smithsonian Folklife Festival’s Philippines Chapel in 1998, 1998
Smithsonian Institution: 98-8774

Happy 4th of July to the United States of America!

This is a national holiday for the US, celebrating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence — a great day for BBQs, picnics, baseball, and, of course, fireworks. Of this occasion, President John Adams stated,

The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.

We celebrate across the Commons …

with pomp and parade …

Library of Congress

& we’ll gather for speeches …

Brooklyn Museum

and shows …

Library of Virginia

and songs.

State Archives and Library of Florida

We’ll fly the flag from trains …

Nantucket Historical Association

with plenty of food under Old Glory!

Library of Congress

Tomorrow, we’ll debate a saner way to celebrate our liberty!

Library of Congress

Happy Easter to all!

State Library of New South Wales

Library of Virginia

George Eastman House

Library of Congress

More Easter photos on the Flickr Commons

Adolph B. Rice Studio
Nash car dealership, March 20, 1954
The Library of Virginia: Rice Collection 294F

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Adolph B. Rice Studio
Luke and partner, September 14, 1953
Library of Virginia: Rice Collection 181B

gitfiddlegregg attempts to identify the subjects:

“Luke” (the mandolin player) is definitely Luther Baucom, known as “Looney Luke.” He performed with a group called the Three Tobacco Tags (sometimes given simply as The Tobacco Tags) on a number of radio stations, including Richmond’s WRVA, and on records for Victor’s Bluebird label. I’m less certain of the guitar player, but I think it’s “Roly-Poly Reid,” aka Reid Summey of the Tags. A check of the Library’s WRVA collection might confirm this. I’m working from the cover image on “The Tobacco Tags Book of Songs.

mwade303 fleshes out this story, saying:

You are correct. That is Reid Summey. The Tags ended in 1949. From the picture, I assume that Luke and Reid continued to perform together. My dad, George Wade, was one of the original Three Tobacco Tags, along with Luke and Reid. They took on another member later and changed the name to just the Tobacco Tags. The Tags members changed several times during their run. My dad left in the late 1930’s.

Some samples of Tobacco Tags songs are available on Rhapsody.com. They’re terrific!

view + comment on Flickr

The most commented photo from each Commons institution, collected using data from Patrick Peccatte.

Our celebration continues with part two of our Black History Month subcurated collection. We bring you a selection of images from renowned photographers of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Rosebud Denham in embossed dress and feather hat The State Archives of Florida holds a collection of images from noted portrait photographer Alvan S. Harper. Alvan S. Harper was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania, in 1847. Between 1870 and 1884, he was a professional photographer in Philadelphia. Harper moved to Tallahassee in 1884. He was soon advertising that he would take “artistic photographs” in his first studio, a room in the house he was renting. He moved twice before buying a house and building his own studio, where he worked between 1889 and his death in 1911.

State Archives of Florida

Man with sideburns wearing dark coat Some of Harper’s best negatives were lost when his studio was torn down in the 1920s. The negatives had been given to a Tallahassee historian who, because they were dirty, left them on a porch where they were mistaken for trash and taken to the dump. About 2,000 more Harper negatives were found in 1946 in the attic of the house he had owned. A Tallahassee photographer printed 250 negatives and circulated the prints in the community for identification.

State Archives of Florida

Navy Hill School At the Library of Virginia is the Adolph B. Rice Studio Collection, which constitutes a unique photographic record of life in Richmond, Virginia from 1949 to 1961. The collection consists of more than 16,000 4×5-inch film negatives from the commercial studio of Adolph B. Rice.

Library of Virginia

City recreation, tennis Adolph B. Rice Sr. (1909–1960) opened his first photo studio in Richmond in 1949. The studio remained on North Auburn Avenue until it ceased operation in 1961. His clients included businesses, industry, and state and local government. The Library invites the public to identify the images and provide captions for the more than 200 Rice Studio photographs on Flickr.

Library of Virginia

Going to town on Saturday afternoon, Greene Co., Ga. –by Jack Delano, May 1941. During the Great Depression, in 1935, the Farm Service Administration was developed as part of Roosevelt’s New Deal to to combat American rural poverty. The Library of Congress is the repository for all of these now-famous images by the leading photographers of the era.

Library of Congress

Negro boy near Cincinnati, Ohio 6— by John Vachon, 1942 or ‘43. The FSA is famous for its small but highly influential photography program, led under the auspices of Roy Stryker, that realistically portrayed the challenges of rural poverty. Check out the comments on this photo as a leading example of the power of the Flickr Commons to encourage healthy debate and community.

Library of Congress

Bayou Bourbeau plantation, an FSA cooperative, Natchitoches, La. A Negro family (?) seated on the porch of a house — by Marion Post Wolcott, 1940. As an FSA documentary photographer, I was committed to changing the attitudes of people by familiarizing America with the plight of the underprivileged, especially in rural America … FSA photographs shocked and aroused public opinion to increase support for the New Deal policies and projects, and played an important part in the social revolution of the 30s. —Marion Post Wolcott.

Library of Congress

Negro school children, Omar, W. Va. — by Ben Shahn The New York Public Library also has some FSA holdings. Its collection on Flickr does not overlap the LOC’s (so far!). Learn more about the NYPL’s holdings by visiting their Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture website.

New York Public Library

Omar, mining town, West Virginia, 1935 —by Ben Shahn. Throughout the Great Depression, Stryker provided photographic evidence for exhibition and to the media of the living and working conditions throughout America. The Roosevelt administration believed these images were useful for persuading not only voters but members of Congress to support federal relief and recovery programs. As the Depression wore on it was important to illustrate the positive effects of these programs. Shahn traveled to several planned communities in the south, where he photographed people engaged in productive activities and thriving because of government assistance. —Susan H. Edwards

New York Public Library