iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Flickr Foundation @flickrfdn.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Hello -- it's possible it may have been a temporary server thing. Can you try doing a shift-reload and see if you can see them? Should look like this.

A screenshot of the blog post showing a fully-loaded image

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Flickr Foundation @flickrfdn.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

The "Spruce Girls" were a group of women who wore wood veneer bathing suits to promote the timber industry, circa 1929. The only result for Flickr's woodenbathingsuits tag. From the University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections, on Flickr Commons www.flickr.com/photos/tags/...

Three women at the ocean shore gallivanting around in wooden bathing suits (which look more like pleated barrels that are somewhat form fitting) There is whale vertebrae here for some reason.

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Flickr Foundation @flickrfdn.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Automatic Picture Transmission (APT) enabled meteorologists to obtain immediate local area cloud pattern photographs when the Nimbus satellite was within a 1700-mile range of a receiving station. The APT subsystem pioneered on Nimbus 1, which was launched August 28, 1964. #NASA #photography

A machine which looks like a fax machine but seems older and more mechanical than a fax machine. It is printing a picture of, I think, clouds.

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Flickr Foundation @flickrfdn.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

Zimble’s Rubber Chicken: An Overlooked Symbol in a Navy Surgeon General’s Portrait. www.med.navy.mil/Media/News/A...

A formal portrait of a man in a formal Navy Uniform. He is sitting in front of two flags and a globe and has many medals and other indications of rank on his jacket. There is a very small rubber chicken in the lower left of the painting.

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Flickr Foundation @flickrfdn.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Carl Rich’s Stratospheric flight suit. It was... not a success. From the State Library of New South Wales, on Flickr Commons. www.flickr.com/photos/state... More info: geoffbarker.wordpress.com/2026/06/30/s... #photography #flight

Black and white photograph of a person in a large ungainly rubber outfit with cables and pressure gauges around them. They are seated on a stuffed chair in a living room setting.

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Flickr Foundation @flickrfdn.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

The Meltickian Collection documents the lives of the Armenian diasporan life in China from 1915 - 1953 www.flickr.com/photos/armen...

Sepiatone photograph c. 1915 showing Mr. Krikor Kassiants on horse and buggy in front of his grocery store named after him, in the city of Hailar [Haelar], Manchuria, China

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Flickr Foundation @flickrfdn.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

Grace Sutherland (1854–1946) was part of a singing group, the Seven Sutherland Sisters. Together they had over 36 feet of hair. They toured with Barnum & Bailey and sold hair growing tonic. From the George Eastman Museum: www.flickr.com/photos/georg... More info: newengland.com/yankee/histo...

A cabinet card of a very dreamy looking seated woman in a photography studio staring into the distance. The most notable feature is her hair which is dark and wavy and nearly reaches the ground. The caption reads Miss Grace Sutherland

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Flickr Foundation @flickrfdn.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

Street harpist opposite Mark Hopkins Art Institute. (All remember him.) From the California Historical Society #SanFrancisco www.flickr.com/photos/99278...

A photograph of a man playing a harp outdoors. He is wearing a dark jacket and bowler hat. The caption is written underneath the image and is also the text in this post: Street harpist opposite Mark Hopkins Art Institute. (All remember him.)

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Flickr Foundation @flickrfdn.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

There are many ways to honor and celebrate May Day. Here are a few.

Striking Garment Workers, May 1 1916, a black and white image of people gathered in a street holding a 48 star American flag and a banner saying "Long Live the Cloak Makers Union"

Black and white image of a group of young girls in short white dresses with full skirts dancing on a lawn while grown-ups watch them.

United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America on May Day parade, 1930s, a group of men in suits talking in a parade on the street. They hold a banner with their union affiliation.

A woman in a dress with a very long skirt moves her arms so the skirt flies up to both sides of her looking like large wings. She is standing on a lawn outdoors with her face tilted up towards the sky

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Flickr Foundation @flickrfdn.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

Back when Bay Area Rapid Transit only used to go to Dublin, Richmond, Fremont, and Daly City, and people read newspapers on public transportation. More Bay Area Rapid Transit images from the San Diego Air and Space Museum Archives, on Flickr Commons. www.flickr.com/search/?user... #Photography

Black and white image of a very full BART train with people seated and standing. At least four people are reading newspapers.

Black and white image of a man on a BART train setting up some sort of fancy camera on a tripod. Over his shoulder you can see the BART map which shows a much smaller system than the one we have today.

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Flickr Foundation @flickrfdn.bsky.social · 18/04/2026

How we used to make phone calls in airports. From the San Diego Air and Space Museum Archives, on Flickr Commons. www.flickr.com/photos/sdasm...

Five stewardesses in work outfits occupy five adjacent phone booths smiling while making phone calls.

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Flickr Foundation @flickrfdn.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

How we used to sell tires. How we used to sell natural gas. How we used to sell furnaces. From the Provincial Archives of Alberta on Flickr Commons www.flickr.com/photos/alber...

Black and white photo of a woman in a bathing suit standing with a rifle at a product display for tires from Edmonton Tire Company. There is fake turf under her and two fake ducks.

Black and white photo of a billboard with a woman eating a hamburger and smiling as her hair whips around her. The caption reads "Swing to gas, it's the savingest" there is a couple dancing some new=fangled dance in the background.

Black and white image of a woman in a sparkly spandex bodysuit holding a very sparkly helmet standing in front of an industrial blower for a furnace of some kind

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Flickr Foundation @flickrfdn.bsky.social · 01/03/2026

Sawmill photos from Ontario in the early 1900s. From the Cloyne and District Historical Society, on Flickr Commons. #Flickr #photography #Ontario

Two men in a wooden building with a large log that has been partially sawn, The pulleys and the belts which help the sawmill run are visible at the edges of the photo.

Two men in a wooden building standing near a very large blade which has no guards or anything on it. the caption at the top of the image reads 1917.

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Flickr Foundation @flickrfdn.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

Helen Keller (2nd from left in both) spent two days in 1945 visiting men at the US Naval Hospital in Kittery, Maine with her secretary Polly Thompson. #Flickr #Photography

Black and white photo of a man in a hospital bed attached to an IV talking with two women while another younger woman smiles directly into the camera

Black and white photo of four people sitting in wooden chairs in front of a fireplace. The man on the left, governor of Maine, is wearing a suit, the man on the right is wearing a naval uniform. The two women in the center are wearing dark dresses and one is fingerselling into the hand of the other.

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Flickr Foundation @flickrfdn.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

Not all historical photos are from the early days of photography. This album taken two years before the state of Michigan legalized recreational marijuana shows many dispensaries and growing operations some of which came and went very rapidly #photography #marijuana www.flickr.com/photos/cadl_...

Photograph of Lansing's Green Mile Meds, a small corrugated metal building with graffiti on the site with the name of the shop in large colorful stylized letters.

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Flickr Foundation @flickrfdn.bsky.social · 16/01/2026

Flickr Commons is eighteen today. We started in 2008 in partnership with the Library of Congress and today we're an archive of 1.9 million digital images. Please enjoy a few random images and explore on your own using our Commons Explorer tool. commons.flickr.org

two women stand in front of a small airplane smiling at one another. One of them is wearing a pilot outfit

Black and white photo of men staffing a fishmongers cart at a marker. All the men are wearing hats.

Astronaut Neil Armstrong cuts a slice out of a cake while other people look on.

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Flickr Foundation @flickrfdn.bsky.social · 12/12/2025

The sun, the moon, and spiders. A set of glass "magic lantern" slides from 1922, from Flickr Commons partner Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira. www.flickr.com/photos/auckl...

The slide shows a pink/orange tinted plate depicting two swirling columnar forms with burnt details representing solar explosions 124,000 miles high, a small dark circle in the upper left corner of the plate represents Earth to scale.

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Flickr Foundation @flickrfdn.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

How we used to adjust railroad tracks. Image from SMU, on Flickr Commons. www.flickr.com/photos/smu_c...

super-saturated photograph of a train track somewhere with beinge plateaus right next to it. Two lines of men with tan skin wearing work clothes--overalls and dungarees--are holding crowbars under each track. There are maybe ten men in each line. It's a bright sunny day.

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Flickr Foundation @flickrfdn.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

Introducing Data Lifeboat beta! We are continuing to improve our new Flickr archiving tool so saving your Flickr memories is easier than ever.

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Flickr Foundation @flickrfdn.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

Airline buffs might enjoy the San Diego Air and Space Museum Archives' collection of Airline Luggage labels, back from the golden age of airplane travel. CW: some stereotypical imagery of local people and one tiny swastika on a blimp #airplanes #Lufthansa #airbus www.flickr.com/photos/sdasm...

Luggage label showing a plane which has landed on water which has 4 or 5 engines on the top of the plane's wing. Caption reads: Lufthansa Flugshiff "DOX" Passagiergepack

Yellow luggage label which is a yellow circle with the word FLY in chunky red letters and the letters KLM right on top of it in thinner black letters.

Luggage label which is a blue circle with a DC-10 in the middle flying off over the mountains in the distance. Caption reads: Mcdonnell Douglas DC-10 "I like it!"

Luggage label which is a horizontally aligned oval which is grey and reads Airbus Industrie on top and A300 on the bottom. In the center is a side view illustration of an airplane with stripes that go the length of the plane which are yellow, orange, red and blue. The plane says "A300" on the tail

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Flickr Foundation @flickrfdn.bsky.social · 24/10/2025

Happy Spooky Season! We made a gallery with some of our favorite Halloween images on Flickr Commons. You can archive Flickr galleries using Data Lifeboat - give it a try! Visit datalifeboat.flickr.org today! Spooky Gallery lives here: flic.kr/y/3QJSNbn

A woman in a black bathing suit, witch’s hat and cape is floating underwater in a natural ocean environment, creating the illusion she is levitating while sitting on a broomstick.

A smiling child in a witch’s hat and cape is on top of a broomstick with a Florida license plate attached to the handle reading “ARRIVE ALIVE.”

A woman sits next to a skeleton. Both are holding teacups and appear to be in mid-conversation.

A child grins while hoisting a pumpkin twice the size of their head onto their shoulder. A stack of equally large pumpkins are in the foreground.

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Flickr Foundation @flickrfdn.bsky.social · 17/10/2025

A technological revolution! This incredible image from the State Library of New South Wales captures a man getting a permanent wave in 1938. It's one of over 1,000 images added to Flickr Commons this week. Explore more newly added imagery at commons.flickr.org/recent Image: flic.kr/p/2ryXc9C

A large contraption of wires, plastic and metal components is attached from above to a man's head. With a towel wrapped around his shoulders, the man sits with an unremarkable expression on his face.

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Flickr Foundation @flickrfdn.bsky.social · 25/09/2025

As part of the launch of the Data Lifeboat, we will be sharing some examples of Data Lifeboats. The Commons 1k Data Lifeboat is a collection of 1,000 of the most liked and talked about images from Flickr Commons. You can see the full Data Lifeboat and datalifeboat.flickr.org/showcase

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Flickr Foundation @flickrfdn.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

Even great code has some bugs! Be among the first to try out our new Flickr archiving tool Data Lifeboat, and help us find those bugs! Head over to datalifeboat.flickr.org to get started. Original images from US National Archives and State Library of NSW on Flickr Commons.

A man in a suit makes an exaggerated - possible exasperated or confused -- facial expression with eyebrows arched and and eyes looking down and to the side.

Three children running and smiling in bug-like costumes that include antennae. Transcript: Calling all bug hunters! Data Lifeboat Alpha Release is live!

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Flickr Foundation @flickrfdn.bsky.social · 19/09/2025

This photo of Tatiana Riabouchinska as the Golden Cockerel in Le Coq d'or, uploaded by the State Library of New South Wales captures the magic of Colonel de Basil's 'Original Ballet Russe' during their Australian tour. One of our favorites from the 1,469 new photos added to Flickr Commons this week.

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Flickr Foundation @flickrfdn.bsky.social · 10/09/2025

What's happening in this photo? A Flickr member shared a story giving context to this photo uploaded by the National Library of Wales: “I was an apprentice tailor in 1955 and that is how we worked - sitting cross legged on the bench - your knee is perfect for shaping shoulders and collars etc.”

A man sits with legs crossed on top of a work bench next to a window with various tailoring tools on the surface around him. He is working on a piece of fabric shaped over his knee.

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Flickr Foundation @flickrfdn.bsky.social · 06/09/2025

Our humble submission to #caturday comes from Schlesinger Library on the History of Women (@rad-institute.bsky.social) in America on Flickr Commons.

A woman at the turn of the 20th century in black period appropriate dress standing on a street with brick wall holds a long haired white cat.

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Flickr Foundation @flickrfdn.bsky.social · 05/09/2025

A poet's "mugshot" from @cabhc.bsky.social and two men keeping watch over a fairy bridge in County Donegal from the @nlireland.bsky.social were among our favorites of the 1,457 new photos this week on Flickr Commons.

Two men in the distance are atop of naturally created rock bridge that connects two sections of land. The coastline of a body of water can be seen through the arch.

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Flickr Foundation @flickrfdn.bsky.social · 06/08/2025

What do canned hammed displays, rodeos, and donut shops have in common? They are all part of the culture and history preserved in the Provincial Archives of Alberta of course.

Five women wearing leotards acrobatically pose visually creating a A-frame pyramid by posing on stacked ladders.

An older woman pauses to look at a circular display of canned ham in a grocery store.

A group of women and young girls pose for a wedding photo in a period specific living room. The bride is wearing a white wedding gown holding a bouquet of red flowers and is surrounded by her bridesmaids wearing matching blue dresses.

The corner storefront sign for Dolly Donut is illuminated at twilight, with a billboard peaking out behind it. A few customers can be seen sitting inside.

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Flickr Foundation @flickrfdn.bsky.social · 22/07/2025

Today is World Brain Day established by the World Federation of Neurology in 2014. This year's theme is Brain Health for All Ages. Enjoy your brain today and these brainy images from Flickr Commons!

poster shows a drawing of a man in uniform, either military or a sea captain, with a light blue and orange fish on his head. He has his hand to his chin as if pondering an idea.

Medical illustration showing a human head cutaway with numbers and pines pointing to various parts of it surrounded by words in italian.

Drawing of a human brain exposed by retracting the membranes and showing the two cerebral hemispheres separated by the median plane. There is Japanese writing around it

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Flickr Foundation @flickrfdn.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

In our latest blog post, research lead Fattori McKenna sifted through Flickr Commons for daybooks throughout history to consider what can be gained by keeping a Flickr Foundation daybook. Image from LSE Library on Flickr Commons. www.flickr.org/looking-for-...

A man wearing a suit carrying a stack of books looks at a large bookshelf filled with encyclopedias. Behind him a woman is standing reading a book and another man browses the shelf in the distance.

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Flickr Foundation @flickrfdn.bsky.social · 24/06/2025

Make Pride 365! Come through @lselibrary.bsky.social‬ with these vintage buttons from the Hall-Carpenter Archives, 1970s-1980s.

Pink badge pin with a bold graphic arrow pointing up at a diagonal with text reading "Gays Against Nazis"

White badge pin with bold red text reading “LESBIANS UNITE.”

White badge pin with green silhouette of a limp-wristed foppish man with a hand on his hip reading “Queens rule OK?”

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Flickr Foundation @flickrfdn.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

For Juneteenth we're sharing the Black Women Oral History Project Interviews. Supported by The Schlesinger Library @rad-institute.bsky.social, this project recorded women who made significant contributions to American society in the early 20th century. Photos: Judith Sedwick. flic.kr/s/aHsjUYmeH1

Etta Moten Barnett, actress, concert artist, and radio personality, smiling and leaning against and open iron gate in front of a stone building.

Transcript: Project Spotlight. Black Women Oral History Project, 1976-1981 on Flickr Commons

Mother Waddles, ordained minister, pastor, and published author, smiling mid-dance below a sign for Mother Waddles Medical Center.

Pleasant Harrison, accomplished artisan and caregiver, sitting in a home environment, looking into the distance with hands folded on a blue and white patterned table.

A group of portraits including Alice Dunnigan, schoolteacher, political activist, and journalist and Zelma Watson George, sociologist, diplomat, and opera singer Kathleen Adams, teacher and historian. Transcript: Black Women Oral History Project, Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in American, see the full gallery on Flickr Commons in the link.

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Flickr Foundation @flickrfdn.bsky.social · 18/06/2025

We are just weeks away from the alpha launch of Data Lifeboat, and are feeling GREAT. Image from State Library of Queensland on Flickr Commons

Vintage photo of a child in a toy car wearing driving goggles, a hat and white lace neck ruffle text overlayed "Rolling into summer like"

Upside down vintage photo of a child in a toy car wearing driving goggles, a hat and white lace neck ruffle text overlayed "Rolling into winter like."

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Flickr Foundation @flickrfdn.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

IDLE CLOAKMAKERS IN MAY DAY PARADE; To Make 5th Ave March Today a Demonstration of Strength and Unity. $500,000 IN STRIKE FUND Manufacturers Tell the Public They Must Be Masters in Their Own Shops and Attack Union. www.nytimes.com/1916/05/01/a... 1916 parade photos. www.flickr.com/search/?sort...

Black and white photograph of people in Chicago dressed in suits and long dressed holding banners which say May Day and a few other things which aren't legible

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Flickr Foundation @flickrfdn.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

"These designs are among 18 ornamental patterns and decorative objects based on Kunstformen der Natur, the biologist Ernst Haeckel’s book of sketches of microscopic organisms." part of Het Nieuwe Instituut's Design by Architects album www.flickr.com/photos/nai_c... #illustration #design

Illustration of a circular object which looks like a Haeckel object on one side and a fancy dinner plate on the other.

A colorful pattern in bright blues and oranges and reds mimicking a Haeckel biological drawing.

A colorful pattern in bright greens pinks and yellows mimicking a Haeckel biological drawing.

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Flickr Foundation @flickrfdn.bsky.social · 26/03/2025

👋 You might want to try the Commons Explorer which has a decent search and a fun "show me a random image" feature commons.flickr.org From there you can also keyword search images from, among other places, the British Library which also has a lot of scanned books commons.flickr.org/members/brit...

an RSU test set which is a metal box with a lot of input jacks for testing stuff, like maybe a few dozen little holes, a few switches and I don't know what any of this stuff is.

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Flickr Foundation @flickrfdn.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

"These initiatives are extensions of a broader project developed by the Access in the Making Lab called Mobilizing Disability Survival Skills for the Urgencies of the Anthropocene (MDSSA)." The final research report from our research fellow Prakash Krishnan www.flickr.org/developing-a...

angular photo of the border wall between the US and Mexico

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Flickr Foundation @flickrfdn.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

Our Flickr Commons Explorer now has a "show me some random photos" feature. You never know what you'll find! commons.flickr.org #photography #flickr

Screenshot from Flickr Commons Explorer showing six very random images: a greeting card, a historical building, women in gas masks, a man at a desk, a comedic photo of men in a fake boat, and some images from a scrapbook

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Flickr Foundation @flickrfdn.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

We are always looking for more Flickr Commons members. Our 2025 outreach plan includes outreach to Africa, South America, and Asia as well as smaller historical societies and archives. www.flickr.org/programs/fli... Let us know if you might be interested forms.gle/JxCc23q5973g... Please share 💗

Two men standing on a wheeled cart in the middle of a field with some apparatus which has four large cones of the type you might see on an old Victrola.

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Flickr Foundation @flickrfdn.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

It is hard to be humble when you are this good at speed skating. Oscar Mathisen with his medals. Flickr Commons has photos of him held by the Library of Congress, the Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology, and the National Library of Norway. #Flickr #Photography #Norway

A man with a mustache wearing a suit that is covered from hips to shoulders in medals of various shapes and sized.

Postcard showing three men in speed skating outfits standing outside. They are listed as Sigurd Mathisen, Martin Sæterhaug and Oscar Mathisen

A man with a mustache in a speed skating outfit with a large wreath which he is wearing around his supper torso. He has a flag which I think is the Norwegian Flag on his chest

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Flickr Foundation @flickrfdn.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

"Our hearts go out to you in the form of posters, prints, photos and drawings from the Prints & Photographs Division's collections." Happy Valentine's Day from the Library of Congress www.flickr.com/photos/libra... #flickr #ValentinesDay

an animated root vegetable, possibly a beet, with a human head wearing a tall top hat, and carrying a walking stick and a heart fashioned out of soil, from which a plant is growing. The vegetable is walking from left to right.

Padlocks adorn this heart-shaped artwork on a brick wall in the Overton Square arts and entertainment district in midtown Memphis, Tennessee

A street sculpture modeled after Valentine's Day candy hearts in Springfield, saying I [heart] U, XOXO and SMILE

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Flickr Foundation @flickrfdn.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

After a few minutes poking at it, it looks like this is both working and not. After trying a few times I was able to get a search to work and I *think* the "Oops no matches" is an error message that is not accurate to whatever is going on. Will mention it to the Flickr folks but also, keep trying!

screenshot showing a set of search results for the word "buzzard" on the Internet Archive Book Images account showing some pages with pictures of bird heads mainly and one turtle for some reason.

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Flickr Foundation @flickrfdn.bsky.social · 24/01/2025

We’re stoked to be on this amazing bill of organizations archiving important cultural things in a decentralized archiving environment, alongside Internet Archive, Smithsonian Institution, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and others. www.prnewswire.com/news-release...

Photograph of Rosa Parks looking out a window. She has grey hair arranged on her head and is wearing glasses and a serene expression

Black and white photograph of two babies in a double stroller wearing sunglasses with white frames

70s era photograph of a longhaired man in hippie garb (patched jeans and a striped tank top that says USA) standing barefoot. He is holding a small black puppy

Stereoscope of the moon from the Yerkes Observatory

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Flickr Foundation @flickrfdn.bsky.social · 19/01/2025

When your mom says you have to get your hair cut for class pictures but you're not feeling it. www.flickr.com/photos/8623220@N02/3…

Stereogram of US president Abe Lincoln with an uncharacteristic brush cut

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Flickr Foundation @flickrfdn.bsky.social · 18/01/2025

Flickr Commons turned seventeen years old this past week. Our executive director George Oates talks about the past, present, and future of Flickr Commons www.flickr.org/happy-17th-b...

A dozen women in fancy dresses and hats surround one woman who is blowing out candles on a birthday cake

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Flickr Foundation @flickrfdn.bsky.social · 17/01/2025

"Henri Gilbert, French journalist, who attempted to walk across the world, 1897" Some of solution to the mystery of "What happened to that guy" take place in the blog's comments. Flickr Commons image: www.flickr.com/photos/32605... Library's blog post: www.slq.qld.gov.au/blog/french-...

Black and white image of a man with a long beard wearing outdoor trekking gear and holding what looks to be a sword standing in a studio meant to mimic the outdoors.

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Flickr Foundation @flickrfdn.bsky.social · 17/01/2025

So much new news! We have an RSS feed, if you'd like to follow along with us that way. www.flickr.org/feed Image credit: State Library of New South Wales, on Flickr Commons www.flickr.com/photos/29454...

Black and white photograph of a small child holding up a large fish in front of several interested-looking cats.

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Flickr Foundation @flickrfdn.bsky.social · 15/01/2025

Please welcome our new tech co-lead Dan Catt "I’m Dan Catt and I’d much rather be taking photos, editing videos, getting absolutely covered in ink, making robots draw with fountain pens and most importantly, being elbow-deep in writing code than writing about myself" www.flickr.org/welcome-dan-...

Photograph of Dan Catt a white man with a white beard wearing a reddish orange toque outdoors and looking off to the side. There is some bit of technology attached to his hat.

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