About this site

This site is an expanded and significantly upgraded version of the Flickr Commons based tool I created several years ago. As well as a major design/UX overhaul, it now includes data from further providers (see full list below). I'd welcome further suggestions as the harvesting tool and database are easily extendable.

For information, questions and bug reports please contact James Morley @jamesinealing | james@jamesmorley.net

Data sources

Update 16 October 2018

Addition of nearly 60,000 superb dated autochromes (one of the earliest commercial colour processes) from the Musée Albert Kahn, accessed through the Archives de la Planéte, Open Data Hautes-de-Seines

Complete refresh of Flickr Commons, Europeana, and National Maritime Museum data

Added pagination as many dates now have signifcantly more than 100 images!

Current totals by data source

Current totals by date accuracy

Precise date - 206835 items

Accurate to month only - 16699 items

Accurate to year only - 26764 items

*note that this figure will be inflated as I have currently not been able to differentiate dates within Europeana e.g. where a date is presented as 01-01-1876 but may well be 'some time in 1876' or even 'ca 1876'.

Breakdown of institutional data retrieved through Europeana

Het Nationaal Glasmuseum - 22336 items; Sjöhistoriska museet - 11809 items; Bohusläns museum - 7936 items; Vänersborgs museum - 7561 items; Kulturarv Västernorrland - 4090 items; Rijksmuseum - 3241 items; Tekniska museet - 2444 items; Armémuseum, Stockholm, Sweden - 2317 items; Karlsborgs fästningsmuseum - 2007 items; Miliseum - 1287 items; Örebro läns museum - 1254 items; Flygvapenmuseum - 1058 items; ModeMuseum Provincie Antwerpen - 1042 items; Marinmuseum - 735 items; Skansen - 629 items; Österreichische Nationalbibliothek - Austrian National Library - 579 items; Riksantikvarieämbetet - 381 items; Stiftelsen Nordiska museet - 288 items; Historisch Museum Ede - 254 items; Stedelijk Museum Zutphen - 221 items; Ajuntament de Girona - 106 items; CODA Museum - 103 items; INP - National Heritage Institute, Bucharest - 103 items; Upplandsmuseet - 102 items; The Archaeological Heritage Agency of Iceland - 95 items; Aaltense Musea - 58 items; Stadsmuseum Harderwijk - 56 items; Sundsvalls museum - 50 items; National library of Montenegro "Đurđe Crnojević" - 44 items; Länsmuseet Gävleborg - 37 items; Nederlands Openluchtmuseum - 31 items; Vasamuseet - 28 items; Images of Old Cluj - 27 items; Nederlands Tegelmuseum - 20 items; Postmuseum - 18 items; Δήμος Τρίπολης - 11 items; Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin-Dahlem - 9 items; Cluj County Library - 9 items; Slovak National Library - 8 items; Csorba Győző Könyvtár - Pécs - 7 items; Stadskasteel Zaltbommel - 7 items; Stichting Liemers Museum - 6 items; Lietuvos dailės muziejus - 4 items; Žemaičių muziejus „Alka“ / Samogitian Museum "Alka" - 3 items; Deventer Musea - 3 items; NOC*NSF - 3 items; Nationalmuseum, Sweden - 2 items; Wikimedia Commons Community - 2 items; Lietuvos švietimo istorijos muziejus / Museum of Lithuanian Education History - 2 items; Rippl-Rónai Megyei Hatókörű Városi Múzeum - Kaposvár - 2 items; Museum Elburg - 1 items; National Library of Bulgaria - 1 items; Horniman Museum and Gardens - 1 items; jNederlands Openluchtmuseum - 1 items; Lietuvos dailės muziejus / Lithuanian Art Museum - 1 items; Kauno IX forto muziejus / Kaunas 9th Fort Museum - 1 items; A. Baranausko ir A. Vienuolio-Žukausko memorialinis muziejus / Antanas Baranauskas and Antanas Vienuolis-Žukauskas Memorial Museum - 1 items; Slot Loevestein - 1 items; Museon - 1 items

Breakdown of institutional data retrieved through Flickr Commons

The U.S. National Archives - 1730 items; The Library of Congress - 1093 items; SMU Libraries Digital Collections - 1038 items; State Library and Archives of Florida - 912 items; State Library of Queensland, Australia - 891 items; Cornell University Library - 840 items; bibliothequedetoulouse - 821 items; Australian National Maritime Museum on The Commons - 567 items; Swedish National Heritage Board - 559 items; National Library of Ireland on The Commons - 494 items; State Library of New South Wales collection - 402 items; Vestfoldmuseene | Vestfold Museums - 385 items; MissouriStateArchives - 371 items; National Library of Australia Commons - 295 items; NASA on The Commons - 262 items; Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums - 249 items; National Library of Norway - 229 items; Royal Australian Historical Society - 216 items; Deseronto Archives - 183 items; Provincial Archives of Alberta - 177 items; Powerhouse Museum Collection - 170 items; UW Digital Collections - 123 items; National Library NZ on The Commons - 123 items; UA Archives | Upper Arlington History - 114 items; National Library of Scotland - 105 items; Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest - 89 items; Australian War Memorial collection - 88 items; Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office Commons - 78 items; National Archives of Estonia - 67 items; Museum of Photographic Arts Collections - 64 items; Stockholm Transport Museum Commons - 61 items; Liberas / Liberaal Archief - 59 items; National Museum of Denmark - 55 items; Costică Acsinte Archive - 49 items; The Gallen-Kallela Museum - 46 items; Archives of the Finnish Broadcasting Company Yle - 46 items; Museum of Hartlepool - 45 items; George Eastman Museum - 33 items; San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives - 32 items; The National Archives UK - 31 items; tyrrellhistoricallibrary - 29 items; Preus museum - 27 items; Fylkesarkivet i Sogn og Fjordane - 21 items; OSU Special Collections & Archives : Commons - 21 items; The Finnish Museum of Photography - 20 items; National Science and Media Museum - 17 items; Schlesinger Library, RIAS, Harvard University - 9 items; Huron County Museum & Historic Gaol - 7 items; Smithsonian Institution - 4 items; Getty Research Institute - 4 items; Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland - 4 items; The British Library - 2 items; Camden Public Library (Maine) - 2 items; Center for Jewish History, NYC - 1 items; Kalamazoo Public Library - 1 items; Aalto University Library and Archive Commons - 1 items;

Technology overview

The data has been harvested from providers using some custom php scripts to query respective APIs based on dates. Data is harmonised and stored in a local mySql database.

Additional jQuery plugins are used to enhance the display, including Masonry and Bootstrap Image Gallery (based on blueimp).

Licence

The website code and generated data is openly licensed so please feel free to copy, modify, distribute as you please (subject to any restrictions as imposed by the content and toolset providers).