Flickr & Photostreams: Connecting with
Your Past through Community Photo Sharing
Luana Darby, MLIS
luanadarby@gmail.com
Libraries and archives have begun placing their photo collections online at an ever increasing
rate. By learning how to harness the power of community through Flickr and other free photo
sharing sites we are able to identify orphan photos, share our collections with others, and make
vital genealogical connections.
Flickr
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Free image hosting site
Images are organized using tags (metadata), which enable
searchers to find images related to specific topics, such as
place names or subject matter
Flickr implement tag clouds, providing access to images
tagged with the most popular keywords, like genealogy or
family
Enables users to organize their photos into groups of photos called sets
Sets can be shared or displayed as slideshows
One photo can belong to many sets, thus increasing its visibility and chances of being
found
Geotagging can be applied to photos in set
Any set with geotagging can be plotted on a custom Google map using imapflicker (Free)
You can easily plot an ancestors journey through photo tagging
Archives and Historical Societies Using Flickr
Greene County Connections - http://www.flickr.com/people/greeneconnections/
Seattle Municipal Archives - http://www.flickr.com/photos/seattlemunicipalarchives/
Utah State Historical Society http://history.utah.gov/research_and_collections/photos/index.html
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Larsen Studio Negative Collection – MSS C 340 – studio portraits of men, women,
children and families of Utah County from 1947-1966
Library of Congress - http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/
Smithsonian - http://www.flickr.com/photos/smithsonian/
U.S. National Archives - http://www.flickr.com/photos/usnationalarchives/
State Library and Archives of Florida - http://www.flickr.com/photos/floridamemory/
Luana Darby ©2013
New York Public Library - http://www.flickr.com/photos/nypl/
UK National Archives - http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationalarchives/collections
Library and Archives Canada - http://www.flickr.com/photos/lac-bac/
Cultural Collections, University of Newcastle - http://www.flickr.com/photos/uon/sets/
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Doug Brown of Mayfield (NSW) Photo Album
The Hunter Valley Theatre Company Archives
Share YOUR Photo Collections
Flickr - http://www.flickr.com/
Photo Bucket – http://beta.photobucket.com/
TinyPic – http://tinypic.com/
Find or Identify Orphan Photos
Dead Fred Genealogy Photo Archive - http://deadfred.com/
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Over 180,000 Surnames, 1 million + records
Search by surname, state, country and date range
Ancient Faces - http://www.ancientfaces.com/
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Searchable by name or place
Has a presence on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/AncientFaces and Tumblr
http://ancientfaces.tumblr.com/
GeneaNet - http://www.geneanet.org/gallery/?action=about&rubrique=portraits
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Almost 100,000 images
Photos of headstones and memorials, postcards and family pictures
Postcards include many Europeans villages
eBay – http://www.ebay.com/ Collectibles  Photographic Images – you never know what you
may find!
Resources
Honoring Our Ancestors Genealogical Library – Megan Smolenyak http://www.honoringourancestors.com/library_orphan.html
Luana Darby ©2013