ArtsBeat

In an initiative co-sponsored by the online photo sharing Web site Flickr and the Library of Congress, some of the best historical photography collections are now inching their way onto the web. Though a wealth of 19th century photographs are available on many sites across the web, there has until now been no central location for photographs of historical significance. Enter the Flickr project, dubbed "The Commons," an effort described by the Yahoo-owned site as a way to "contribute to describing the world's public photography collections."

Rochester's George Eastman House, which houses the most extensive and important collection of photography in the world, recently joined the project. So far, it has contributed 219 images taken from the museum's collections of early autochromes, dauggerotypes and photographs by the likes of Charles Chusseau-Flaviens, Albert Sands Southworth, Josiah Johnson Hawes and the famed Edward Steichen, whose stunning early images of a Buffalo woman the museum acquired last year.

Here are a couple of the photos the museum has uploaded so far:

A daugerrotype of Albert Sands Southworth, by Southworth and Hawes, ca. 1848. George Eastman House collection.

Autochrome of a woman in pink cape and bonnet, by an unknown photographer, ca. 1915. George Eastman House collection.

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--Colin Dabkowski