Your weekly update of newly uploaded images to the Flickr Commons is here, inviting you to take a trip on some legendary trains and ships of yore… but beware of hazards!

Oregon State University Archives reveals a magnificent set of Western U.S. travel lantern slides, depicting missions, universities, and scenic views found along two well-known rail routes in Arizona, California, and Oregon. Be sure to read all the links they provide as this is a really informative set.

Shasta and Sunset Routes

Delightful ships abound in the National Maritime Museum’s photostream! See London, destroyers, barques, and great figureheads.

Port Cities London

Perhaps you fancy a flight on a hot air balloon? Enjoy stereoscopic travel images, from the National Library of New Zealand.

Stereographs

Nature is a formidable opponent, though, so beware of flooding. Images from the State Library of Queensland, Australia.

Floods

Keep your hands and arms inside the boat, kids! The State Archives and Library of Florida show off their photos of when disaster struck.

Hurricanes in Florida

Escape back to civilization with the State Library of New South Wales to enjoy new uploads from Sam Hood.

Discover Collections – Theatre in Sydney

Then it’s on to Lisbon, Portugal with the Biblioteca de Arte-Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian to see photographs from the Estúdio Horácio Novais.

Lisboa: perspectivas gerais e parciais

Don’t miss their exquisite images of Portuguese tiles found in Luanda, Angola.

Angola

We’ll wrap up this week with 50 more Bain News Service images from the Library of Congress. You know there are plenty of mustaches there waiting to be tagged.

News in the 1910s

Our weekly look around the Commons’ institutions to see what’s happening both digitally and brick-&-mortar.

Fill the Gap: Case 55B (Jul 09) by the Smithsonian American Art Museum

Help the Smithsonian American Art Museum find an object for this space by searching their online collections.

• RIP Michael Jackson. Some notes about his passing from the Brooklyn Museum and the Smithsonian.
• Gone, But Not Forgotten: Marvin Heiferman, Smithsonian Photography Initiative, laments the passing of Kodachrome.
• m-Libraries 2009 coverage by the New York and D.C. Public Libraries.
• PandaCam at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo!
• Wayne Clough, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution discusses how the Smithsonian is using new technology tools in support of the Institution’s 163-year-old mission: the “increase and diffusion of knowledge,” in this CSPAN video.
• Did you know that the Smithsonian streams live events on ustream?
• Vote for the best dressed in red, white, and blue in the Smithsonian National Museum of American History 4th of July contest!
• Intern opportunities are available at that museum, too. Check out this write-up of what it’s like to intern for them.
• Guinea pigs wanted for the D.C. Public Library’s Google Voice platform! Check out the DCPL’s other projects, too, including an iPhone app.
• You can learn a language at the D.C. Public Library, too.
• 8 finding aids for the Oregon State University Archives collections were completed or updated in June 2009.
• Judith H. Dobrzynski had lunch with Arnold Lehman, director of the Brooklyn Museum; they discussed the problem of permanent collections.
• Hey U, Tune In: The Library of Congress is now on iTunes!
• Learn about the people that make the stacks come alive in this Library of Congress post.
• Is a Bad Economy Ever ‘Good’? Read this LOC post about public service announcements, the Ad Council, and the donation of ad inventory by papers struggling to stay afloat in the new economy.
• Learn more about the global recession and the arts in this round-up from The Source, National Library of New Zealand.
• Find, Out. NLNZ’s discovery service is now in beta!
• See Old McDonald … and Dick and Jane, a favorite of Jay Vissers, New York Public Library.
• The delphiniums are in bloom at the George Eastman House! Check out their trials with email in Picturing Rochester: Behind the Scenes.
• Keep up to date on all the happenings of the Swedish National Heritage Board during Almedal Week. Lots of information and presentation info, and links to translate it all into English.
• Museums as soup kitchens for the soul, from the Powerhouse Museum.
• These podcasts from the State Archives and Library of Florida will brighten any day. I’ve been listening as I compile this. :)
• Download the National Media Museum’s film schedule.
• First World War diary record series passes 400,000 images at the Australian War Memorial.
• The History of the John Oxley Library – Part Five, by the State Library of Queensland, Australia.

Friday Fun!

Astoria, Oregon, Oregon State University Archives

Take a trip with the Oregon State University Archives! People and Places: Early “Oregon” – a great overview of OSU Archive’s latest release to the Commons.

Go Visit!

Ending July 5 - Caillebotte: The works of impressionist painter, Gustave Caillebotte, exclusively at the Brooklyn Museum. Brooklyn is the final stop on this tour and the only American venue for this exhibition.

Ending July 5 - Masterpieces of Ancient Jewelry: Exquisite Objects from the Cradle of Civilization at Chicago’s Field Museum.

Now through July 11 - Foundry to Finish: Making of a Bronze Sculpture at the Getty; This exhibition and accompanying photographs and videos demonstrate the process of bronze casting as Adriean de Vries practiced it for Juggling Man.

July 20-24 - Summer School – How Do You Make Powerful Art? at the National Galleries of Scotland. Investigate art from Raphael to Damien Hirst, looking at why artists make art.

Friday Fun!

The Brooklyn Museum engaged in live tweeting on 23 June when they took four mummies from their collection to be CT scanned at the North Shore University Hospital in Long Island. They used hashtag #mummyCT: their Tweets and with everyone!
See more photos and videos here.

Heard around the Commons:

• The Brooklyn Museum’s 1stfans Twitter Art Feed Artist for July 2009: Ranjit Bhatnagar’s “Exquisite Sonnet.” 1stfans members, get yer tweet on for this one!
• The 2nd International m-Libraries Conference in Vancouver is all a-twitter with updates: #mlib09.
• Make it Digital – DigitalNZ’s one-stop shop for questions about creating digital content in New Zealand! This site features questions, ideas, and guides; do drop by and check it out.
• Top museums on Twitter – Jim Richardson reports on how museums are using the popular micro-blogging website Twitter. The Brooklyn Museum is listed as #2.
• Be sure to make a visit to The Source: news about digital libraries and library innovations from around the web, brought to you every Friday by the National Library of New Zealand. Copyfights!
• What’s in the workshop #2 – Investigate the Powerhouse Museum’s fetish for strange things on wheels.
• The New York Public Library is gearing up for its new website launch. Yay! The NYPL also has some new things in the works and is looking for lab rats.
• Name that film! The George Eastman House shares sleuthing tips.
• NARA and MoMA – See what’s happening with the students of The L. Jeffrey Selznick School of Film Preservation, from the George Eastman House.
• Aquamarine crystals are the Gemstone of the Month at the Field Museum’s Grainger Hall of Gems.
• The National Librarian, Andrew Green, of the National Library of Wales, will be among those honored by the Gorsedd of Bards at this year’s National Eisteddfod.
• Diwrnod agoriadol y Smithsonian – ahhhhh, no idea what this says, but I liked seeing the Smithsonian being discussed in Welsh. ;-)
• Watch the 2009 Smithsonian Folklife Festival webcasts this weekend! Welsh music, mariachis, storytelling and poetry.
• Suited for Space: Last Words from the Curator – An engaging blog post reporting on the tribulations of a traveling space exhibit by the Smithsonian Institution.
• SI also reports on how Google Street View was used to solve a crime.
• A Short History of Photography from Cigar Box to Cell Phone, by Merry A. Foresta of the Smithsonian Photography Initiative
• The Swedish National Heritage Board live blogs from its activities during Almedal week. The Board will organize a seminar on e-government and new social media July 2.
• Portraits — and Pot-Shots — in Song: A witty exhibit from the Library of Congress chronicling US Presidential campaign songs.
• Newstead – The State Library of Queensland, Australia, tells you all about this Brisbane suburb.
• Also, Picture Queensland images now available through One Search.
• The Oregon State University Archives reports that William Jasper Kerr, a biography, has been scanned and is now available on ScholarsArchive.
• Win one of the biggest Harry Potter posters in the world in the National Media Museum’s competition.

Go Visit!

12th June to 31st August: The Art Competition for Schools 2009 exhibition at the National Galleries of Scotland. See the 53 winning works of budding young talents.

24 June through 22 August: With Malice Toward None: Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Exhibit, a traveling exhibit from the Library of Congress at the California Museum in Sacramento, CA.

Throughout July: The July Film Series is announced at the Library of Congress’s Packard Campus Theater, including Key Largo, An American in Paris, and Chinatown.

2 July: Exclusive preview of Soul Power, a film by Jeffrey Levy-Hinte documenting a music festival that unites black American stars with African musicians in Kinshasa, at the National Media Museum.

Proving that we all enjoy a good party, The Commons has its own representative selection of great images of birthday celebrations.

Celebrate with Robert Louis Stevenson in Western Samoa …

National Library of New Zealand

What better way to mark 70 years than having your portrait painted? And should you risk forgetting, why not have a photo taken of the occasion too?

Nationaal Archief

You’ll want a party fit for a princess!

Library of Congress

Or just get together with some film-star friends. But don’t forget the decorations!

State Library of New South Wales

Finally, always remember others …

State Library and Archives of Florida

… and make sure you get their presents off to them in good time.

Smithsonian Institution

Our First Oldsmobile - 1897, New York Public Library

The headlines are filled this week with the news of General Motors, an American icon, declaring bankruptcy. The New York Public Library takes us on a stroll down memory lane with six sets of GM photographs, chronicling the storied manufacturers history, in their G.M. and Chrysler Cars and Trucks, 1897-1938 collection on the Flickr Commons.

Heard around the Commons:

• Help the NYPL! Donate today to the New York Public Library. Services there are now at risk; even throughout the Great Depression, The New York Public Library was able to maintain seven days of service.
• Read all about the Civilian Conservation Corps’s (CCC) 1933 Camp Arboretum, from the Oregon State University Archives. Sort of ties in with that whole Depression-era thing we have going on lately.
• Check out OSU’s new finding aids, too.
• Brooklyn Museum API: the iPhone app released on iTunes!
• Wales in Europe – art without frontiers – Read about the National Library of Wales’ contributions to EuropeanaTravel.
• WIGGLE! JIGGLE! Get jiggity with stereoscopic images from the National Library of New Zealand. Read more at our Flickr group.
• 1000th Tyrrell image in the Commons (1265 released in total) – Celebrate with the Powerhouse Museum on this milestone by commenting, tagging, and viewing!
• And check out their new Flickr group, Sydney Design.
• U. S. Copyright Office to Adjust Fees – Information from the Library of Congress.
• “Everything You Know About Indians is Wrong” – From Smithsonian curator Paul Chaat Smith (review by the Washington Post).
• Take a sneak peak of the a new D.C. Public Library Building.
• The George Eastman House asks for your help in moving them up the charts at CommuniCause’s $25,000 Social Media Makeover contest. Re-tweet early and often!
• Destroying Photographs? A decision made about old photographs for an exhibit by the GEH.
• Conserving Hollywood History at George Eastman House – an article about film preservation that includes some great old stills.
• Print of the Brisbane River donated by the Mackay Historical Society to the State Library of Queensland, Australia.
• The girl on the badge – A story of an Anzac Day donation to the Australian War Memorial.
• Being serious isn’t the whole answer – a great article by the Electronic Museum on Web 2.0 and museums.
• Everyone’s Smithsonian – an entry by Nina Simon on the Smithsonian Institution and multi-platform museum experiences.
• Celebrating 2,020 years of service – A tribute to the Smithsonian’s docents.
• Like birds? Apply to be an exhibit interpreter at the Bird House for the Smithsonian’s National Zoo!

Friday Fun!

Vote at Budget Travel for the squeeeelicious Clouded Leopard cubs at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo! See more of the cubs on Flickr.

Go Visit!

6 June 2009 - Target 1st Saturday at the Brooklyn Museum! Free entertainment.

9 June – The 31st Annual Museum Mile Festival in New York City. Free access to all museums along the mile, including the Smithsonian Institution’s Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum.

Heard around the Commons:

• Archives sharing content in the digital age — The Australian War Memorial summarizes an online research project by the Nationaal Archief, Afscheid van Indië (Separation from Indonesia).
• Graduate Student Projects — Take a sneak peak at the next Flickr set from the George Eastman House.
• Also, check out their blog post, Exploring the Archive.
• 1stfans Twitter Art Feed Artist for June 2009: Nick Fortunato — Read about a fun project from the Brooklyn Museum.
• Arts of the Islamic World Reinstallation — A quick tour of the behind-the-scenes goings-on at the Brooklyn Museum [video].
• The Source: news about digital libraries and library innovations from around the web — This Friday’s collection of links from the National Library of New Zealand includes articles on copyright.
• What Katie Does — A design and craft blog that discusses the coolness of the Flickr Commons.
• The Collective Picture — A blog about old photographs which weaves stories around them.
• Free Family Fun at the Getty — A round-up of all the cool and free things families can do at the Getty Villa.
• The Library of Congress posts resources for you to learn all about Justice Sotomayor.
• Ghost Remains After Black Hole Eruption — More exciting adventures in outer space from the Smithsonian’s Chandra X-ray blog.
• All about Astronomy Visualization Metadata, also from the Chandra blog.
• Owney! A very cool video of Owney, the US Postal Service mascot … from the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum.
• Everyone into the White House Photo Pool! Nice summary from the Smithsonian Photography Initiative on being a photographer for the White House pool. Includes Flickr photos from the White House!
• The History of the John Oxley Library — Part Four — The State Library of Queensland, Australia, continues its series on its history in celebration of its 75th year.
• The D.C. Public Library Social Sciences division puts Flickr Commons images to use on the blog. Yay!
• A big shout-out to the ROTC from the Oregon State University Archives.

Go Visit!

30 & 31 May — Treeless Mountain is showing at the George Eastman House DrydenTheatre. “Director So Yong Kim’s second feature is a gentle and restrained semi-autobiographical account of two little girls, told from a child’s perspective.”

31 May – Last chance to apply for Rock Camp 2009 at the D.C. Public Library.

Heard around the Commons:

• The Field Museum joins the Flickr Commons! Write-ups at Flickr and at LISNews.
• Give Mom a gift for Mother’s Day by donating to the Smithsonian in her name.
• Beyond the search box — an excellent slideshow from Paul Hagon on social media, APIs, and your collections.
• Picture Australia — wow, a very cool interactive site, and they have a Flickr group. Get inspired. Hat tip to Paul!
• New finding aids for April! — The Oregon State University Archives talks up its finding aids at the Northwest Digital Archives (NWDA).
• @nlnz — Learn how the National Library of New Zealand uses Twitter.
• Infomaki goes Open Source! – The New York Public Library’s usability testing tool is now released Open Source under the GNU General Public License.
• Photosynth — The Smithsonian Institution shows off its collections in a new way.
• America on the Move — A Smithsonian online interactive exhibit.
• Photography changes what we think “reality” looks like — From the Smithsonian Photography Initiative, non-camera-centric models for attaining realism.
• Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian — the back story about the props used in the upcoming movie.
• The Library of Congress Experience — A video demonstrating the LOC’s interactive exhibitions that integrate with their website at MyLOC.
• The LOC also picks up a new blogger!
• The Brooklyn Museum is the star of a new commercial.
• Behind-the-scenes — A look at the Powerhouse Museum’s photography studio.
• Stone’s Corner — The State Library of Queensland, Australia, provides insight into the history of this Brisbane suburb.

Go Visit!

• Now Open: Reflections on the Electric Mirror: New Feminist Video at the Brooklyn Museum.
• Throughout May: Asian Pacific American Heritage Month at the Smithsonian Institution.
• Throughout May: Jewish American Heritage Month at the Library of Congress.
• May 9: Gallery of Modern Art May Highlights Tour at the National Galleries of Scotland
• Opening May 9: Not a Cornfield, a photography/video installation at the George Eastman House. Catch a video of artist Lauren Bon and the installation team on the “Earth Pillow” piece. Also, Don McCullin — in England, images by the famed British photographer, and Animalism, “contemporary media responses to our complex and sometimes uncomfortable relationship with the animal world.”
• May 9 & 10: Mom’s Weekend at Oregon State University!
• May 13: Water: Sustaining Our Blue Planet at the Field Museum, a talk with Jeffrey Sachs and Peter Annin.

Your Friday Fun:

-hat tip to george for this one!