[lownote]

Most of you may already know about this, but maybe not. The Library of Congress has a remarkable digital collection, "American Memory," which includes some terrific images of railroading from the 19th and 20th century. Many of them are available in extremely high resolution versions: all are free for the public's use. For example:

or this
http://memory.loc.gov/award/ndfa/ndfahult/b300/b350r.jpg
or this
http://memory.loc.gov/service/pnp/pan/6a25000/6a25000/6a25016r.jpg>
or this
http://memory.loc.gov/service/pnp/fsac/1a34000/1a34600/1a34653v.jpg

or this

The key to getting the best from this collection is to start at the home page (http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html) and then choose "browse" from the menu at the top. Then choose "photos and prints" from the list that appears on the right side, and enter your search terms. There are great images of rustic western stations and bustling seaport cities, from all over the country. It's easy to overlook the "browse" feature and it's important to restrct the search to photos and prints. Oh, and then choose "gallery view" after you do your search

 

[Matt Vogt]

Wow, Lownote! What a resource! The wife will be really grateful for the hours I spend looking at it, instead of spending quality time with her. (Read dripping with sarcasm)

 

[lownote]

There's just some amazing stuff in American memory, and it gets overlooked because their search engine is so cumbersome

I like this one:




Or this of a wheel being re-tired:



Here's the sf Super chief and some heavyweights

 

[blackburn49]

Posted By lownote on 05/12/2008 4:17 PM

Most of you may already know about this, but maybe not. The Library of Congress has a remarkable digital collection, "American Memory," which includes some terrific images of railroading from the 19th and 20th century. Many of them are available in extremely high resolution versions: all are free for the public's use. For example:

 

I have used this resource for years. But it is good to be reminded about such a fine free-use data bank from time to time. The photos you have chosen to display are astounding. Thanks for sharing those.

 

[lownote]

Just to make it clear I'm going to step through it. I use American memory ALL the time in my work, so I know it well.
The home page--choose "browse" at the top
Then choose "photos and prints"
The you can search an individual collection (FSA/OWI is GREAT), a set of collections, or search all collections with photos and prints

I figured maybe people already knew about it--just sharing our enthusiasm!

 

[wildbill001]

Lownote,

Gee thanks. Now the wife will have one more thing to complain about that I'm wasting time on. /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/angry.gif /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/w00t.gif


BTW, what do I look for to find the 2nd to last picture. The one with the ground-level shot in the roundhouse with the cauldron/pot and fire?


REALLY cool resource. Thanks for making us aware.

Bill W

 

[lownote]

Bill that's in the FSA/OWI collection (Depression Era to World War II ~ FSA/OWI ~ Photographs ~ 1935-1945). It's from the color photo section. Search for "locomotive and it's on the second page of results

You can also ask the Library of Congress to make a print of any of these images, from either the original negative or a copy negative.

Here's another from the same series:

 

[tbug]

Another site to widdle the hours away! Thanks for posting. Should be some excellent reference pic's in there.