Photo Collections

[Delmonico]

Do you ever need photo's to study, if you are reading this ya must have one of the compooter things to use!

Ever hear of the Library of Congress, they gots lots of photo collections ya can get rights outa cyber space.

If'n this don't work let me know, just learnin' this stuff but try this:

www.memory.loc.gov 

That should get the Home Page of this site, check it out it has lots of stuff.  Click on "How to View.

Click on Photo and Documents

Click on Photo's not needing a special viewer.

Now look at all them collections you can play with, even got old Baseball Card collection's.

For "Old West" photo's try "History of the American West" this is the Denver Public Library collection.  Some photos here go to
WWII, but plenty of "Old West" photos.

Next try "Northern Great Plains" these date 1880 to 1920 are mostly in the Dakota's, if ya want to see some really good sodbuster pictures type in farm equpment on search, some of those guys bust sod with things that look like train engines, 12-20 bottoms on the plows.

Prairie Settlement is really cool, I often call this the drag everyting out in front of the sodhouse and get yer picture taken collection.  Yes the photo section of this is the Solomon Butcher collection.  Not all sodhouse, most 1880's in Custer County and Cherry county Nebraska.  Do the search, "cowboys" some things will surprise you.  Check out Charley Meeks in cowboy search, ready to help the Duke drive cattle, as soon as school is out for the summer.    Or maybe Little Joe the Wrangler himself, he's got the broogan shoes, Old Texas kack saddle.  Also his mama's bread knife in his belt.  Click on enhance lines after scrolling down below the full screen photo.  Wow 3300 pic per inch off of 8X10 negatives, ya can really see some detail in some of these.

On cowboy search check out the cowboy in the on titled "Skinning a brand on a heifer" check out those wild bib overalls that cowboy is wearing, yes look carefully, they are bibs, I never seen a pair like it.

This is my favorite collection at the site.  Not just cause it is from Newbrasskey, but my friend Dave Carter of NSHS put it up on the site. 

There are more collections than these 3 on the site.  This site will keep you busy for a long time.

If you find anything really cool post it and let us know what it is and how to find it.

[Delmonico]

I'm going ta ask ya, have any of ya been to this site, did ya find it interesting.  I find when I am a bit bored this can entertain me for hours. 

On the Prairie Settlement Collection do a search for watermelon, makes one think that eatin' watermelon was a requirement fer sodbusters.  Try windmills, check out the many different designs used in the Sandhills of Newbrasky.  In many areas of the state the counties still have more windmills than people. 

[Foothills Drifter]

Howdy......
I took a quick look around and I liked it very much! I will be investagating further..........

Good shootin......
Vern...

[Will Ketchum]

Great site.  Thanks

Will Ketchum

[Delmonico]

One note about the Solomon Butcher collection, the dates are very accurate, Solomon Butcher decided that taking pictures was better than homesteading, he traveled around taking those pictures and selling them to the folks he photographed, but unlike may photographers of the time he did not clean off his plates and use them again.  He kept fairly good records cause he knew he was photgraphing the end of an era.

His idea was to sell the negatives at a later date and get rich.  Well he sold them just before WWI to NSHS, but he did not get rich, he did help cataloge them though.  Even if he did not get rich we did, there is not a history book of the "Old West" worthy of the name that don't have atleast 1 of his photo's in it if it has photo's.

The enhancements that have been done with this collection are incredable, I have seen some where by doing computor things they can look in the doors and window of those sod houses.

As a NSHS volunteer I am just a bit proud of this collection and what my frien John Carter has done with it. 

[Delmonico]

I drug this up again cause the other day there was a thread about if cowboys wore suspenders on the SASS Wire.  I watched it a while but didn't answer cause I am not registared on it.  I did go to the SB collection and searched cowboys and looked at the pictures. 

With the thought that SB traveled around and most of his photos are intended to document history and most of his pictures are not studio pictures.  (A few are staged but they are so obvious that there is no doubt.)  I can say a lot of the cowboys in the Nebraska Sandhills in the 1880's ta 1890's wore suspenders.

[Capt. Hamp Cox]

Had stumbled across the Denver collection, but the rest are new to me.  Thanks for sharing, Del.

[Delmonico]

I needed to bring this to the top again and BTT just seems so, well, em,  computor geekey.

[Capt. Hamp Cox]

I thought BTT meant Back To Texas.

[Delmonico]

I guess it could since GTT means Gone to Tejas.

Just think to move a thread up BTT is tacky.  I mentioned this thread on TFS so I bumped it up to make it easy ta find.

[ladylaw45]

This is fascinating, thanks so much!