Options for getting prints of local historical photos?

Albany looking north from State Street.jpgDave emails:

I live in Albany in a craftsman style home circa 1911, and would like to add some historic Albany photos as decor in my home. I've heard there are free archives of photos that can be obtained somewhere online? Any ideas where/how I could find some photos?

There's been a boom in online collections of historical photos over the past decade, with sites such as New York Heritage working with local organizations to digitize and post thousands of images.

The thing is that often the rights issues around these images are a little murky. Some collections -- such as the New York Public Library -- make it explicit which images are in the public domain. Others allow them to used for educational purposes, but require written permission for other uses. Others leave things kind of vague. (Some works are in the public domain because of when they were published.)

It's also worth mentioning that there are places to sell local historical photos -- example: At The Warehouse/Silver Fox Salvage in Albany usually has a large of selection.

So, all that said, got an idea or suggestion for Dave? (Or maybe even idea for how local orgs could make it easy for people buy copies of historical photos in their collections?) Please share!

photo via Albany Public Library - Pruyn Collection of Albany History

Comments

https://www.flickr.com/photos/albanygroup/

You'll have to untangle the rights issues yourselves, just trying to get all this stuff out of captivity.

Cheers!

It's not free, but it's definitely quality, and they have an awesome collection...

http://www.albanyinstitute.org/about-ordering-fine-art-archival-prints.html

For print resolution, not-for-profit Albany-specific historic images (photos. prints, paintings and advertising) Dave's best bet would be the Albany Institute's website. They have a collections database of thousands of images to choose from, and depending on the size, reproductions can be made in a price range of $15 to $55 dollars.

A similar idea - local postcards.
A lot of vintage/antique shops in the area have large selections of area postcards. (Some of those postcards are photographs, but most are not.)
They fit right into photo frames, so a set of those could look really smart as well.

Check Etsy and Ebay for vintage postcards and reproductions.

I've seen prints of of the more popular old Albany photographs, like of Nipper, for sale at some shops downtown -- Steuben Street Market and Cider Belly Doughnuts on N. Pearl Street. (I think they were in the size range of 8"x10")

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