Category: Images on the Web

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Images on the Web Medieval

History of the Book Photostream on Flickr

The Chair of the History of the Book at the University of Amsterdam has created a Flickr photostream, including typographical material with a focus on the Netherlands from 1470-1800. The collection is a work in progress, created in collaboration with Special Collections, Amsterdam, and also with the Royal Library, The Hague and the Archive at Alkmaar. Over the coming year, project collaborators hope to extend the collection to more than 20,000 photographs of initials, ornaments and type. Descriptions to facilitate searching will also be enhanced through the use of the Iconclass database.

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Images on the Web Innovative Technology Museums

Hidden Gems at the Indianapolis Museum of Art

The Indianapolis Museum of Art‘s website includes Tag Tours, or online tours by IMA staff that provide unique and unexpected connections to the museum’s extensive collection of art. These online tours include works that are not necessarily on display in the galleries. Examples include “Happy Hour” (works of art that feature wine, beer, and other libations), “WTF” (“What’s this for?” – works of art that are thought-provoking, quirky, odd, funny and potentially, from another planet), and “Impress my Boss/Grandma/Hot Date” (works from around the world and featured in the galleries so you can “study” before your next visit to the museum). You can also add your own tags.

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American Images on the Web Photography

National Archives Joins Flickr Commons

The National Archives and Records Administration is now a member of Flickr Commons, a website for cultural institutions to share their photograph collections with the public. The National Archives joins the New York Public Library, the Smithsonian, the Library of Congress and many other archives, libraries and museums in sharing their collections with Flickr. Visit NARA’s photostream by clicking here.

To mark the opening of its photostream in the Commons on February 4, 2010, the National Archives has posted a new photo set containing more than two hundred photographs of the American West by renowned American photographer Ansel Adams.

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Images on the Web Innovative Technology Medieval Modern - Contemporary Museums Renaissance - Baroque

Interactive Timeline from the British Library

Timelines: Sources from History, available on the British Library’s website, allows you to explore British Library collection items chronologically. It includes items from the medieval period to the present, and a diverse array of items from everyday life (handbills, posters, diaries) and from political events (charters, speeches, campaign leaflets).

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Images on the Web Islamic

Harvard’s Islamic Heritage Project Now Online

“Through a new collaboration among Islamic-studies scholars, librarians, and curators, Harvard University has cataloged, conserved, and digitized Islamic manuscripts, maps, and published texts from its renowned library and museum collections. The result is a new online collection comprising more than 145,000 digital pages available to Internet users everywhere.”

The collaboration, known as the Islamic Heritage Project, includes materials that date from the 13th to the 20th centuries CE and include various regions, languages, and subjects. More informaton about the scope and content of the project is available here.

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Images on the Web Innovative Technology Presentation Software

VoiceThread Used by NYPL Picture Collection

The New York Public Library’s Picture Collection uses a collaborative web-based discussion and presentation tool, VoiceThread, to show images from their collections to the public and to students in classrooms. VoiceThread allows users to make comments on presentations by webcam, computer microphone, text, or telephone. If leaving a comment by computer, users may also draw on an image to illustrate their opinions.

For more information about VoiceThread, click here.

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Images on the Web Moving Images Museums

Cross Collection Searching at the Smithsonian

The Smithsonian Institution recently released their Collections Search Center online tool which searches over 2 million records with 265,900 images, video and sound files, electronic journals and other resources from the Smithsonian’s museums, archives and libraries. You can specify that the search return only results with online media. It is also possible to browse by topic, as well as by place, culture, language, and more.

A list of currently available collections is available here, and more collections will be added over time.

Above image: The Gopis Search for Krishna from a Bhagavata Purana, ca. 1780. Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery.

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Images on the Web Innovative Technology Medieval Moving Images

The Bayeux Tapestry Comes Alive

The Bayeaux Tapestry, one of the most important chronicles of its day, offers a vivid depiction of the events leading up to the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. A video available on YouTube from PotionGraphics brings the tale to life through animation and sound effects. The clip begins about halfway through the tapestry, at the appearance of Haley’s Comet, and ends at The Battle of Hastings.

Video discovered via Open Culture. The entire scroll is available to view here.

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Images on the Web

behold! Search Free Flickr Images Easily

The behold search tool provides access to over one million Flickr-hosted images that are available free of charge. You may specify image results that can be modified and/or used for commercial purposes. For more information and Terms of Use, click here.

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East Asian Images on the Web

Harvard and National Library of China to Digitize Rare Books

One of the most extensive collections of rare Chinese books outside of China will be digitized and made freely available to scholars worldwide as part of a six-year cooperative project between Harvard College Library (HCL) and the National Library of China (NLC)…

…The first phase, beginning in January 2010, will digitize books from the Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties, which date from about 960 AD to 1644. The second phase, starting in January 2013, will digitize books from the Qing Dynasty, which date from 1644 until 1795.  The collection includes materials which cover an extensive range of subjects, including history, philosophy, drama, belles letters and classics.

For more information, visit Harvard College Library’s article describing the project.