A Huge Thank You (and update on DC Photo IDs)

You may remember that just over a month ago, we asked for your help ID’ing the locations of early 1900s DC spots from our new Martin A. Gruber set on the Flickr Commons. Well, you all sure did deliver! Because of your help, we were able to make positive IDs on ten unidentified photos in the set. Last week we made updates to the photo titles and descriptions on Flickr based on your keen eyes and research. A special thank you goes out to Flickr users MarisaBJR; mosley.brian; grits'n collards, friend to all; CaseySeanM; Wesley Paulson of the National Capital Trolley Museum; pixelwrangler; rockcreek; Robert Vogel (former curator of engineering at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History; and finally, Julia, and other blog commenters who made the positive IDs and provided us with lots of information about these locations.

We also asked for your Then & Now photos using images from this Flickr Commons set, and we were rewarded with a few gorgeous shots. Thanks Jason E. Powell and Brad Hartland for sharing your creative handiwork (check it out below). It’s a fact that we simply don’t always have the time and resources to promptly research and play in our collections. But fortunately, the Flickr Commons community has been invaluable in their aid with this (and other) Smithsonian photo collections—your knowledge and imagination make our collections richer and more accessible to both the public and other Smithsonian researchers. We look forward to tapping into your expertise again when we have more collection mysteries to solve! [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="410" caption="Then and Now Photo based on Luther Memorial Church, Martin A. Gruber, 1919, SIA RU007355, Smithsonian Institution Archives, Martin A. Gruber