Photo by George

The Commons

Help us catalog the world’s public photo archives.

The Commons Help us catalog the world’s public photo archives.

Welcome!

The key goal of The Commons is to share hidden treasures from the world's public photography archives.

Please help make the photographs you enjoy more discoverable by adding tags and leaving comments. Your contributions and knowledge make these photos even richer*

Participating Institutions

FAQ

Rights Statement

A random sprinkling of our participating institutions...

  • The Gallen-Kallela Museum
  • Dundas Museum and Archives
  • California Historical Society Digital Collection
  • Local History & Archives, Hamilton Public Library
  • State Records NSW
  • Riksarkivet (National Archives of Norway)
  • San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives
  • Australian National Maritime Museum on The Commons
  • NASA on The Commons
  • Miami U. Libraries - Digital Collections
  • Provincial Archives of Alberta
  • Internet Archive Book Images
  • Biblioteca de Arte-Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian
  • National Library of Ireland on The Commons
  • bibliothequedetoulouse
  • Getty Research Institute
  • Law Society of Upper Canada Archives
  • Regionaal Archief Alkmaar Commons
  • The U.S. National Archives
  • The Finnish Museum of Photography
  • Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office Commons
  • Public Record Office of Northern Ireland
  • National Library of Norway
  • LSE Library
  • National Archives of Estonia
  • State Library of New South Wales collection
  • Swedish National Heritage Board
  • National Library NZ on The Commons
  • Royal Australian Historical Society
  • American Aviation Historical Society
  • Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland
  • The Graduate Institute, Geneva
  • Library Company of Philadelphia
  • National Library of Australia Commons
  • Australian War Memorial collection

A Commons Sampler

More about The Commons

A new way to share photos on Flickr

The Commons was launched on January 16 2008, when we released our pilot project in partnership with The Library of Congress. Both Flickr and the Library were overwhelmed by the positive response to the project! Thank you!

The program has two main objectives:

  1. To increase access to publicly-held photography collections, and
  2. To provide a way for the general public to contribute information and knowledge. (Then watch what happens when they do!)

FAQ

I work for a cultural heritage institution that would like to be a part of The Commons. How do we do that?

Please let us know you're interested by registering here. It helps a lot if you let us know some background about your institution, and direct us to any online photo collections you already have.

How can I get involved?

We've already seen fantastic contribution from the Flickr membership. Your tags and conversations about the content in The Commons has been wonderful! The best way to get involved is to add a tag or two to the photos you see, and if you happen to know anything else about the subject, by all means add a comment.

What's "no known copyright restrictions?"

This new rights statement is being contained to the institutions participating in The Commons, at the account level. It is a requirement for participation in the program that institutions may rightly claim "no known copyright restrictions" on the content they share. More information.

*Any Flickr member is able to add tags or comment on these collections. If you're a dork about it, shame on you. This is for the good of humanity, dude!!