Culturegeeks

Okay, last post today, I promise! But how can I not share this amazing news via the Library of Congress Blog:

The Library Of Congress joins Flickr!

Yes. We really are THE Library of Congress.
We invite your tags and comments! Identifying information is also appreciated–many of our old photos came to us with very little description.

What are photographs doing in a library?
We’ve been acquiring photos since the mid-1800s when photography was the hot new technology. Because images represent life and the world so vividly, people have long enjoyed exploring our visual collections. Looking at pictures opens new windows to understanding both the past and the present. Favorite photos are often incorporated in books, TV shows, homework assignments, scholarly articles, family histories, and much more.

The Prints & Photographs Division takes care of 14 million of the Library’s pictures and features more than 1 million through online catalogs. Offering historical photo collections through Flickr is a welcome opportunity to share some of our most popular images more widely.

Pictured: Barker at the grounds at the Vermont state fair, Rutland. 1941 Sept.

This guy makes me want to start taking pictures again. And also go back to Italy. Maybe permanently.

Pixar artist and toy collector Jeff Pidgeon has a beautiful flickr profile dedicated to his amazingly extensive toy collection. Each figurine, mini-figure, and maquette (apparently there are distinctions there) is meticulously posed, photographed, categorized and archived. We might need a ‘geek’ category for this one.