Digitizing History

The Library of Congress offers a peek into their historic photo collection. This project launched January 2008. Through a collaborative effort between Library of Congress and online photo sharing service Flickr, photos from the "Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information" to "the George Grantham Bain News Service, selected panoramic photographs, and other photos from the collections..." can be viewed. The photos can be found at the Library of Congress' photostream.

Nielsen Library also has hundreds if not thousands of rare and beautiful photos of people and places in the San Luis Valley. Reference Librarian Paul Mascarenas and Adams State College Student Bedawi Gomez have begun scanning these photos and posting them to Flickr. There are photos donated from local historian Ruth Marie Colville to pictures that have been stored in the archives for well over 25 years. Photos date from late 1800's & early 20th century. Pictures of downtown Alamosa in 1919 to Old La Veta Pass are now available on Flickr. This is a culturally significant project that gives the community of the San Luis Valley an opportunity to view, comment, and tag photos that might not otherwise be seen. Photos can be seen at Nielsen Library's photostream.

Paul