I was born and grew up here and eventually moved here, and later to south of here and then for the last years here. I work for those guys, but also spent some time working here, here and west of here. Now I'm back where I started. Sometimes I take my own pictures.
I spend some of my spare time sifting through the digital attic of the U.S. Library of Congress and other free online repositories, trying to find pictures that are historical or peculiar, or historical and peculiar, or just plain odd. This collection is a "best of" of four years of browsing. Pictures here are taken from the original tiff files (often 50MB and bigger), cleaned up, and converted to high quality jpg.
Some of the major collections
Photochrom postcards from the Detroit Publishing Co. collection
Collectibles on early flight themes from the Tissandier collection
Early baseball cards from the Benjamin Edwards collection
Great Depression & World War 2, photographs from the FSA-OWI collection
Portraits of Ziegfeld girls by Alfred Cheney Johnston
Portraits of Native Americans by Heyn Photo and others
Black & white photographs from various collections
Random advertising posters and signs
Posters from the Works Progress Administration
Color separation photographs of Russia by Sergei Prokudin-Gorskii
Photographs from the National Child Labor CommitteeAll pictures have links to their original descriptions. Please use the occasion and visit the Library of Congress and other collections. The Library of Congress also has a Flickr site.
Thank you for all comments, but I will only leave those up that do not use distracting graphics.
<legalese>All pictures posted here are assumed to be in the public domain in the U.S. and the originating country, based on the assessment of the Library of Congress and my own research. No research is perfect though and if new evidence comes to light that there are valid copyright claims on a picture I will remove it on request. My research also does not relieve anyone else from doing their own due diligence if they want to make use of any of the pictures here in a way that would, if copyright existed, constitute an infringement.</legalese>
trialsanderrors' favorite photos from other Flickr members (783)
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Kye Lee
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The Field Museum...
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Art & Vintage
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Groups (50)
- WANE Magazine 197 photos, 584 members
- Geotagged : Vintage photographs 550 photos, 63 members
- Weeki Wachee Springs 158 photos, 90 members
- Games, Board and Otherwise 2970 photos, 772 members
- Arete Photography 194 photos, 16 members
- Not Exactly Chopped Liver 1149 photos, 277 members
- Holland before the year 1920 / Nederland van vóór 1920 982 photos, 57 members
- Canada from Sea to Sea 76695 photos, 3515 members
- France on Postcards 2319 photos, 194 members
- Paysages de Normandie 5085 photos, 438 members
- 150 Years Old 229 photos, 84 members
- Italy Postcards 1690 photos, 164 members
- Vintage Albums: Covers and Cards 727 photos, 87 members
- Paris Belle Époque 396 photos, 51 members
- Vintage Photographs [Directory] 657 photos, 297 members
- Piazzas, Plazas, Town Squares, Market Squares, Village Greens 3384 photos, 208 members
- Journey to the Old Orient 486 photos, 172 members
- Roma / Rome 10882 photos, 1126 members
- U.S. Presidents (no photos!) 2749 photos, 419 members
- What's that picture? 455 photos, 64 members
- "The Virgin Suicides" - photos inspired by the book or film 1539 photos, 382 members
- Bridges and Tunnels 73939 photos, 10800 members
- PORTRAIT [expressive,emotional,creative] 6975 photos, 1163 members
- screen goddess 2194 photos, 449 members
- Vintage Parasols 113 photos, 198 members
- ANYTHING GOES ENGLAND,VINTAGE PHOTOS,POSTCARDS,EPHEMERAetc... 5430 photos, 354 members
- Black and White 2077385 photos, 130726 members
- Flickr Commons 503 photos, 1140 members
- LIGHT 光[expressive,emotional,creative] 11266 photos, 1364 members
- People looking right at you 2509 photos, 428 members
- Downtown 31180 photos, 1321 members
- Animals in Advertising 355 photos, 80 members
- Panoramic Colorado 253 photos, 69 members
- Old Photos With Dogs 1830 photos, 311 members
- Agriculture 5117 photos, 432 members
- Chicago Rails 8703 photos, 709 members
- The South 33945 photos, 1170 members
- Chicago... 65059 photos, 5775 members
- b&w new york city (& the people in it) 3788 photos, 882 members
- Vintage Kids 18222 photos, 2434 members
- Baseball Unlimited 12252 photos, 1188 members
- Rust Belt (Industrial Midwest USA) 3623 photos, 370 members
- Women at Work 4598 photos, 680 members
- Vintage Bikes 7239 photos, 1688 members
- Early Advertising (pre 1920) 2388 photos, 349 members
- Flappers and the Jazz Era 1488 photos, 667 members
- Vintage Cigarette Ads 544 photos, 260 members
- Visual Candies 7757 photos, 985 members
- Funfairs, Fairgrounds and Circuses 18206 photos, 2879 members
- Vintage Illustration 17975 photos, 3337 members
Testimonials (3)
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morluna says:
"This stream is chock full of delicious vintage photos, advertisements, and other artwork. I spent most of an afternoon just going through and favoriting nearly every single picture. Every item listed here is a treasure!
Thank you so much for taking the time to gather and list all of these pieces in one accessible collection!"23rd March, 2009
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Ruben Las Palmas says:
"An awesome stream. I visit it on a daily basis and I've never felt I was losing my time. Your dedication to disseminate those 'hidden' archive treasures is nothing but admirable. For those who love historical and vintage photos, this is the place."
6th November, 2008
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Thunderoni says:
"Your stream got me hooked!"
13th October, 2008
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