Today, as we head home for that most romantic of holidays and Oregon’s 150th birthday celebrations, the Oregon State University Archives will become the 21st institution to join The Commons.

[Yes, it’s true, it really still is Friday the 13th … But rather than court disaster, we’re pretending it’s tomorrow!]

Not only are we joining noteworthy North American institutions like the Library of Congress, Smithsonian, New York Public Library, and George Eastman House, we will sit next to international libraries and museums such as the National Library of New Zealand, the Powerhouse Museum, National Galleries of Scotland, and Bibliothèque de Toulouse. If that wasn’t exciting enough, the OSU Archives is the first university to join The Commons!

Please join us for our official launch open house celebration on Monday, February 16th, 2009 from 2:00PM to 4:00PM in the Autzen classroom on the 2nd floor of The Valley Library. We’ll be there to answer questions about The Commons and the Archives, show off our images, and learn from you—please drop by and introduce yourself!

What will you find here?

Our contribution to Flickr Commons will focus on the history of conservation, natural resources, and agriculture. This is a history OSU is proud to celebrate; a complex story with chapters on forestry, geology, environmentalism, and the people that have inhabited and worked this land. As time passes, the OSU Archives will be digitizing and releasing other images in our collections that showcase some of the amazing items that illustrate the complicated intersection of culture, natural resources, and history.

We’re delighted to start our Flickr Commons adventure with a set of depression era images of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) from the Gerald W. Williams Collection. The photographs in the Williams Collection reflect a range of amazing images, we plan to highlight in the coming months, including the photos of CCC camps and activities; shots of the WWI era Spruce Production Division; Northwest Oregon logging photos taken by John Fletcher Ford; and slides of Celilo Falls taken by Williams’ father, Jack Williams, in September 1956 — only a few months before the falls were inundated by The Dalles Dam.

How did we get here?

In order to celebrate and publicize photographic collections that showcase Oregon State University’s rich heritage, the OSU Archives joined Flickr in the summer of 2008. We found it was a great place for pictures of current events, virtual tours and instructions for using microfilm machines, and assorted historic photos; though after seeing the real impact the historic photographs in The Commons were having on both Flickr users and the larger community, as well as the great personal connections between people and pictures that emerged, the OSU Archives was more than eager to join the project.

We’re always uploading more online images, and Flickr gives us another avenue to share our remarkable collections. You’ll find images specific to forestry and natural resources on our Flickr Commons page, current and historic images related to OSU on our osu.archives Flickr page, and a wonderful assortment of digital collection projects on the OSU Digital Collections page.

Still Can’t Get Enough?

Check out some of our other resources.  We love them — and you just might, too.

• Read our blog
• See what’s happening on our Facebook page
• Check out our website, specifically the page “OSU Archives: The Flickr Commons Experience”