I'm must confess, I'm a bit of a history junkie. I can often be found digging through The History Channel On Demand shows, all too often because we can learn valuable lessons from the mistakes we have made in the past. So when I recently discovered that The Library Of Congress was releasing hundreds of copyright-free images on Flickr, I just had to find out more.

On January 16th, 2008, The Library Of Congress made the following announcement:

...it is so exciting to let people know about the launch of a brand-new pilot project the Library of Congress is undertaking with Flickr, the enormously popular photo-sharing site that has been a Web 2.0 innovator. If all goes according to plan, the project will help address at least two major challenges: how to ensure better and better access to our collections, and how to ensure that we have the best possible information about those collections for the benefit of researchers and posterity. In many senses, we are looking to enhance our metadata (one of those Web 2.0 buzzwords that 90 percent of our readers could probably explain better than me).

The project is beginning somewhat modestly, but we hope to learn a lot from it. Out of some 14 million prints, photographs and other visual materials at the Library of Congress, more than 3,000 photos from two of our most popular collections are being made available on our new Flickr page, to include only images for which no copyright restrictions are known to exist.

I think what excites me most is the "no copyright restrictions" part. As some of you may know, I'm no fan at all of stealing any kind of media, be it music, movies or photographs. Not only is this a fascinating glimpse into America's past, you are also free to use these historic photos as you see fit.

Right now the range of photographs is a little limited, based in the early 1900's and then the 30's and 40's. However, the images are often striking, powerful and sometimes funny. As time goes on, more and more of the 14 million images in the collection will be released, with the goal being to help identify who and what is in some of the photos. What a great way to collaborate with the general public.

I know I'll be downloading several images for articles on Wisebread, but some of them also make beautiful prints. They would be great for student work, collages, documentary films and books. With no copyright restrictions, it's your call. If nothing else, just check out some great American history for free.

Here are some of my favorite images: