Photo by George

The Commons

Your opportunity to contribute to describing the world's public photo collections.

The Commons Your opportunity to contribute to describing the world's public photo collections.

Welcome!

The key goals of The Commons on Flickr are to firstly show you hidden treasures in the world's public photography archives, and secondly to show how your input and knowledge can help make these collections even richer.

You're invited to help describe the photographs you discover in The Commons on Flickr, either by adding tags or leaving comments.*

Participating Institutions

FAQ

Rights Statement

A random sprinkling of our participating institutions...

  • Keene and Cheshire County (NH) Historical Photos
  • Fylkesarkivet i Sogn og Fjordane
  • The U.S. National Archives
  • Powerhouse Museum Collection
  • National Library of Scotland
  • UA Archives | Upper Arlington History
  • Nationaal Archief
  • The Royal Library, Denmark
  • DC Public Library Commons
  • Bergen Public Library
  • Biblioteca de Arte-Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian
  • The Library of Virginia
  • Australian National Maritime Museum on The Commons
  • Galt Museum & Archives on The Commons
  • Museum of Hartlepool
  • bibliothequedetoulouse
  • Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest
  • OSU Special Collections & Archives : Commons
  • Getty Research Institute
  • Museum of Photographic Arts Collections
  • NASA on The Commons
  • SMU Central University Libraries
  • National Media Museum
  • Swedish National Heritage Board
  • Riksarkivet (National Archives of Norway)
  • Center for Jewish History, NYC
  • New York Public Library
  • Texas State Archives
  • Musée McCord Museum
  • Brooklyn Museum
  • The National Archives UK
  • National Library NZ on The Commons
  • Smithsonian Institution
  • National Maritime Museum
  • UW Digital Collections

A Commons Sampler

Hilda Wierum -- Greta Torpadie (LOC)
Hilda Wierum -- Greta Torpadie (LOC)
from The Library of Congress

Operation Chastise
Operation Chastise
from The National Archives UK

Staff from Stockholm Transport visiting London Transport 1948
Staff from Stockholm Transport visiting London Transport 1948
from Stockholm Transport Museum Commons

Oessterr. Gefangene
Oessterr. Gefangene
from SMU Central University Libraries

Blanco State Park SP.7.45
Blanco State Park SP.7.45
from Texas State Archives

[Street scene in Yekaterinoslav]
[Street scene in Yekaterinoslav]
from SMU Central University Libraries

[Concert on the Dnieper]
[Concert on the Dnieper]
from SMU Central University Libraries

96 Abercrombie Place - East side between Bank Street and Bartley Steet, The Rocks (NSW)
96 Abercrombie Place - East side between Bank Street and Bartley...
from State Records NSW

Triple execution in Mexico
Triple execution in Mexico
from SMU Central University Libraries

More about The Commons

A new way to share photos on Flickr

The Commons was launched on January 16 2008, when we released our pilot project in partnership with The Library of Congress. Both Flickr and the Library were overwhelmed by the positive response to the project! Thank you!

The program has two main objectives:

  1. To increase access to publicly-held photography collections, and
  2. To provide a way for the general public to contribute information and knowledge. (Then watch what happens when they do!)

FAQ

I work for a cultural heritage institution that would like to be a part of The Commons. How do we do that?

Please let us know you're interested by registering here. It helps a lot if you let us know some background about your institution, and direct us to any online photo collections you already have.

How can I get involved?

We've already seen fantastic contribution from the Flickr membership. Your tags and conversations about the content in The Commons has been wonderful! The best way to get involved is to add a tag or two to the photos you see, and if you happen to know anything else about the subject, by all means add a comment.

What's "no known copyright restrictions?"

This new rights statement is being contained to the institutions participating in The Commons, at the account level. It is a requirement for participation in the program that institutions may rightly claim "no known copyright restrictions" on the content they share. More information.

*Any Flickr member is able to add tags or comment on these collections. If you're a dork about it, shame on you. This is for the good of humanity, dude!!