Finding Resources: Library of Congress Flickr Commons
The Library of Congress collaborated with Flickr in 2007 to launch the Commons with the mission of providing another outlet for copyright free images from its collections and the goal of enjoining the Flickr community to contribute information about the sources: “Please help make the photographs you enjoy more discoverable by adding tags and leaving comments. Your contributions and knowledge make these photos even richer.”
Starting out with 3,100 images, the Library photostream has more than tripled in volume and includes all types of images as well as historical newspapers. Additionally, community captions have been incorporated back into the Library’s own source records. See what’s on offer and join in on the fun by clicking the links below.
Library of Congress Flickr Photostream
Library of Congress Flickr Albums
- 1930s-40s in Color (1,615 images; complete collection)
United States Farm Security Administration (FSA) and later the Office of War Information (OWI) color photos from the Great Depression and World War II - 220th Birthday Salute to the Library (16 images)
pictures about different aspects of the Library - Abraham Lincoln (22 images)
images that let you see how Lincoln looked over 20 years - America’s Cup (23 images)
Sail through nearly twenty years of America’s Cup challenges through these images selected by Flickr member Charley Seavey - Angels of the Battlefields: Nurses (35 images)
nineteenth century women who marshaled resources, medical skill, and courage to offer help in wartime - Animal Locomotion (images)
selections from photographer Eadweard Muybridge motion study photograph series - Baseball Americana (24 images)
pictures illustrate how baseball came to be known as the “national pastime” in the United States - Best of Civil War Faces (61 images)
selections from the Liljenquist Family Collection made by donor Tom Liljenquist - Bookplate Challenge (25 images)
original engravings, etchings, and lithographs are from the Ruthven Deane Collection - Child Labor & Lewis Hine (76 images)
images from the National Child Labor Committee Collection portraying working and living conditions of children in the United States between 1908 and 1924 - Civil Rights — A Long Road (20 photos)
selections from Farm Security Administration photos documenting social and economic conditions experienced by African Americans during the 1930s and 1940s that called out for redress - Civil War – 3D Viewing (20 photos)
stereo photography selections from the Stereograph Cards Collection - Civil War Faces (1,225 images)
selections from the Liljenquist Family Collection representing the impact of the war - Civil War Veterans (30 images)
portraits from the Liljenquist Family Collection highlighting ways in which the veterans’ lives were marked by their service, the ongoing bonds of the veterans, and how service was sometimes a multi-generational experience - Emily Howland Photograph Album (48 images)
abolitionists, suffragists, teachers, and statesmen gathered together in a photo album that belonged to Emily Howland—a lifelong advocate of freedmen’s schools and women’s rights - Frequent Flyer Favorites (29 images)
selections from core group of regular Flickr Commons contributors - FSA/OWI Favorites (25 images)
selections from the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black-and-White Negatives Collection - Flickr Commons 4th Anniversary: Great Comments! THANK YOU! (57 images)
to all the wonderful people who have contributed comments, tags, and notes . . . images enriched with personal memories, links to news accounts, and imaginative re-mixing - Flickr Commons 5th Anniversary: Celebrating the Commons (29 images)
- Flickr Commons 8th Anniversary: Bridges (14 images)
- Flickr Commons 10th Anniversary Countdown (10 images)
- Flickr Commons 11th Anniversary Countdown (22 images)
pictures having an “eleven-ish” connection - Flickr Commons 12th Anniversary Mystery Photos Countdown (13 images)
- Framing the West (22 images)
iconic landscapes from photographer Timothy O’Sullivan, from the Carson Desert sand dunes to the Canyon de Chelly, the dramatic Shoshone Falls, and more - Gardening in Color (682 images)
selections from the Johnston (Frances Benjamin) Collection - Gettysburg (16 photos)
selections from artists, photographers, and printmakers who documented the battle - Gilded Age Humor (25 images)
selections from Puck cartoon illustrations - Gottlieb Jazz Photos (1,601 images)
images from the William P. Gottlieb Collection document the jazz scene in New York City and Washington, D.C., during the Golden Age of Jazz” from 1938 to 1948 - Happy New Year! (26 images)
selections from Carol Highsmith photographs of the Mummers Parade in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - Illustrated Newspaper Supplements (463 images)
set of cover pages from the New York Tribune illustrated supplements beginning in the year 1909 - Japanese Prints: Seasons & Places (25 images)
woodblock prints from Fine Prints: Japanese, pre-1915 features seasonal festivals and celebrated destinations, traditional pastimes from firefly-catching to flower and moon-viewing, and an array of natural beauties - LOC Itself (35 images)
photos from the Carol M. Highsmith Archive - Meet More Treasures (26 images)
more from the Library of Congress’ remarkable visual collections - Mystery Houses (58 images)
help to identify 68 photos of historic structures -
Mystery Pictures – Solved! (29 images)
- News in the 1910s (25,436 images)
Bain News Service Collection photos circa 1910-1912 - Not an Ostrich (30 images)
selections from a lively exhibition hosted in 2018 by the Annenberg Space for Photography that reminds us to ask, “What are we really looking at?” - Photochrom Travel Views (2,403 images)
selections from the Photochrom Prints Collection show Europe, the Middle East, and Canada as they appeared around 1890-1900 - Photographer in the Picture (53 images)
- Purrfect Cats (48 images)
cat images from the 18th to the 21st centuries illustrate that felines have regularly provided inspiration to artists working in many media - Random Wonders (98 images)
an introduction to the fascinating pictures available from the many different collections at the Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs research center - Roadside America (2,305 images)
journey along U.S. main streets, byways, and highways through photographs taken by John Margolies between 1969 and 2008 | complete Library collection - Russian Empire in Color (38 images)
selections from the Prokudin-Gorskii Collection - Story of the Blue Garden (23 images)
strategies for “reading” photographs using Frances Benjamin Johnston’s lantern slides - Top Favorites (30 images)
member selections favorited the most during the first ten years - War of the Nations, 1919 (50 images)
Rotogravure prints from the Newspaper Pictorials: World War I Rotogravures, 1914 to 1919 track American sentiment about the war in Europe, week by week, before and after the United States became involved - What’s the Story? (45 images)
selections from the studio of Harris & Ewing depicting coverage of people, events, and architecture in Washington, D.C. during the period 1905-1945 - Women Striving Forward, 1910s to 1940s (42 images)
photos that show the resilience, determination, and humor that it takes to survive and flourish, sometimes against great odds - World War I Panoramas (15 images)
photographs show U. S. military personnel and camps, patriotic parades, and European battlefields and cemeteries - WPA Posters (50 images)
selections from the WPA Posters Collection - Your LOC Favorites (19 images)