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...

  • The National Archives UK
  • National Media Museum
  • nha.library
  • Australian National Maritime Museum on The Commons
  • LlGC ~ NLW
  • The Library of Congress
  • Museum of Photographic Arts Collections
  • DC Public Library Commons
  • Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library Archives
  • UW Digital Collections
  • Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest
  • Musée McCord Museum
  • Swedish National Heritage Board
  • Australian War Memorial collection
  • Museum of Hartlepool
  • Getty Research Institute
  • San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives
  • Riksarkivet (National Archives of Norway)
  • IWM Collections
  • OSU Special Collections & Archives
  • SMU Central University Libraries
  • Bergen Public Library
  • Ljósmyndasafn Reykjavíkur / Reykjavík Museum of
  • Bibliothèque de Toulouse
  • UA Archives | Upper Arlington History
  • Smithsonian Institution
  • The Royal Library, Denmark
  • JWA Commons
  • National Galleries of Scotland Commons
  • National Library of Ireland on The Commons
  • LSE Library
  • Biblioteca de Arte-Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian
  • George Eastman House
  • National Maritime Museum
  • Stockholm Transport Museum Commons

A Commons Sampler

Coach Jake Gaither (standing, middle, white shirt) in the locker room with his Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) football team: Tallahassee, Florida
Coach Jake Gaither (standing, middle, white shirt) in the locker...
from State Library and Archives of Florida

Thos. E. Lake (LOC)
Thos. E. Lake (LOC)
from The Library of Congress

North American, FJ-3, Fury
North American, FJ-3, Fury
from San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives

Martin, 4-0-4
Martin, 4-0-4
from San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives

Bundle Day H'dq'rs [i.e., headquarters] (LOC)
Bundle Day H'dq'rs [i.e., headquarters] (LOC)
from The Library of Congress

The Famous Blockade Runner "Hornet." Aransas Pass, Texas.
The Famous Blockade Runner "Hornet." Aransas Pass, Texas.
from SMU Central University Libraries

Borås, Västergötland, Sweden
Borås, Västergötland, Sweden
from Swedish National Heritage Board

Medford Relief Cannery
Medford Relief Cannery
from OSU Special Collections & Archives

Joachim Prinz speaking at March on Washington, with Bayard Rustin pictured, 1963
Joachim Prinz speaking at March on Washington, with Bayard Rustin...
from Center for Jewish History, NYC

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!!