Photographs and the Web

19/07/2010 by Bertha.

One of the great strengths of the Internet is the ability to find information about virtually anything. Personally, being a photographer, looking through photograph collections, especially older ones, is one of those things I do to idle away time.

You’d be surprised just how many photographs there are available and where they crop up.

National Libraries and Museums all hold extensive collections though some are better at giving access than others. The US Library of Congress is up there with the best and not just with photographs but everything, you can loose yourself for hours HERE. A couple of photographers with collections in the archive worth browsing through are Roger Fenton (the first war photographer) and Dorothea Lange ( dust bowl photographer). Perhaps Lange’s most famous photograph is shown below.

George Eastman House (as the founder of Kodak) have a huge collection of photos. Among them is a superb collection of P H Emerson’s East Anglia photos. In similar fashion (and date) Whitby’s Frank Meadow Sutcliffe was a prolific photographer. Some of his work can be viewed and bought HERE.

In Bradford, the National Media Museum hold a large collection of photos (obviously) which can be viewed HERE as does the Imperial War Museum. The IWM archive can be searched HERE though it must be said that it isn’t the easiest collection to meander through.

Commercial sources are often a good source of photos (and other resources). Francis Frith have online sales of photos, maps and even books all searchable by town name.

Other enthusiast type of sites are also a good place to find old photos. A couple of examples are Old Airfields and Disused Railway Stations. Often such sites have a mix of old and new photos along with other things like maps and other memorabilia.

Finally there is always Google. If you search Google in the normal way all you get is the usual list of results. Look up at the top left of the page and you’ll see "Web" "Images" "Videos" "Maps" etc. Click on Images and Google will show all the pictures it can find related to your search. Often a good place to start.

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