Next to coffee, public domain images are my favorite addiction. The New York Public Library introduced a way to get your public domain fix when it announced its enhanced public domain collections–making it easier for users to search, remix and create with the rich offerings of images, manuscripts, sheet music, and even data–all free of copyright restrictions.
For the genealogist, this means even more opportunities to find great images, such as stereoscopic photographs, menus, sheet music, and even medieval illuminations, to illustrate an ancestral experience video. Users searching the NPYL digital collections can filter with an easy “Search only public domain materials” checkbox that appears magically when clicking in the search box.
Even better, the item descriptions offer citations in MLA, APA and Chicago/Turabian format. I love you New York Public Library.
A search on “Savannah” led me to a collection of stereoscopes that includes the view at right of a man standing on the wharf by the Savannah River. The 3-D effect really pulls you into the shot.
GIF made with the NYPL Labs Stereogranimator
Enable your public domain habit. Learn more at nypl.org/research/collections/digital-collections/public-domain. Before you go there, download some helpful worksheets at http://bit.ly/AncestorTools to brainstorm some ancestor story ideas and generate some search terms.
Source citations:
Kimball, Shana. “Free for All: NYPL Enhances Public Domain Collections For Sharing and Reuse.” nypl.org. New York Public Library, 5 Jan. 2016. Web. 8 Jan. 2016. http://www.nypl.org/blog/2016/01/05/share-public-domain-collections
Rare Book Division, The New York Public Library. “Coffee House” New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed January 10, 2016. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/af816b78-c712-c09e-e040-e00a18062945
The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Photography Collection, The New York Public Library. “Along the wharf of Savannah River, Savannah, Ga.” (1895) New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed January 11, 2016. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e0-596a-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99