Kory and Kelly

I stumbled across something truly unique in my web wanderings today: photos from the Library of Congress on Flickr.

Those of you who frequent our blog know I keep all my photos on Flickr, and now the Library of Congress does, too! Not only does this make the Library of Congress more “cool,” it is also very interesting to see these historical photos presented in a modern context. The pictures are all of very high quality and have been preserved remarkably well, so I didn’t get that feeling of “oldness” I usually get when viewing historical pictures. It gave me a weird feeling of multiple universality … Instead of visiting the life of one of my friends through Flickr, I was visiting 1940.

The pilot project contains two sets. There is a collection of color photos from the 1930’s and 1940’s, which was the most visually intriguing. I don’t think I’ve ever seen color photos from this period. There is also a collection of black-and-white news photographs from earlier in the century. Here’s hoping they add the entire Library!

http://flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/sets/72157603671370361/