Jason English
Time for Another Photo Challenge
by Jason English - January 5, 2010 - 3:56 PM

young-clintons

Last month, our readers marched into the online archives of Presidential libraries and marched out with the best photos. We awarded a few t-shirts for the most enjoyable submissions.

We should do that again!

So, anybody have a good suggestion for a topic? The Presidential library hunt worked well because there were multiple places with thousands of public domain images (and the presence of public domain images is the key here). But I’m sure there are better ideas. And if I choose yours, you’ll get a free mental_floss t-shirt just for suggesting it.

The floor is yours…

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Comments (18)

  1. There are lots of great pictures on the Muppet Wiki, many of which are much more bizarre than you’d think.

    http://muppet.wikia.com

    posted by JoeH on 1-5-2010 at 4:30 pm

  2. How about something like “Famous University/College Photos”

    Although, I can’t find a nice depot of public domain pics like JoeH found

    posted by Scott on 1-5-2010 at 4:44 pm

  3. Oh sweet! I may not have won the t shirt, but here you are using MY pick from the Presidential Libraries’ Photo Challenge!

    I am flattered! :-D

    posted by Amy on 1-5-2010 at 4:51 pm

  4. Famous Individuals’ SELF- Posted pics that come back to ‘bite them in the a**’…

    ie, the Meghan McCain Twitter pic

    posted by Amy on 1-5-2010 at 5:04 pm

  5. Thousands of pictures from around the world (and time) at the New York Public Library Digital Gallery.

    I’ve used these with students, and there are truly some gems!

    http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgsubjectbrowseresult.cfm

    posted by CL Robertson on 1-5-2010 at 5:05 pm

  6. Worst celebrity photo on Wikipedia.

    All photos on Wikipedia are Creative Commons, and so there are some really wacky pictures there.

    posted by Witty Nickname on 1-5-2010 at 5:10 pm

  7. Addendum to my submission…

    these are photos that come back to bite in the a**
    not only that of the original poster , but THAT OF THOSE CLOSE TO THEM AS WELL (obviously *John* McCain in the above example)

    posted by Amy on 1-5-2010 at 5:17 pm

  8. How about old photos? Look for the oldest photographs you can find.

    posted by Jeff on 1-5-2010 at 5:23 pm

  9. Oscar photos. Pre, during and post ceremony.

    posted by John on 1-5-2010 at 6:02 pm

  10. How’s about a before they were famous hunt? Could be from when they were in College or high school (boy do I have a couple for that!)… or even YOUNGER (when they were just little stinkers).

    Would they HAVE to come from the internet though? How’s about straight form the source.. like a yearbook or two?

    posted by Mindy on 1-5-2010 at 7:32 pm

  11. Ellis Island immigration photos. Fascinating to see what immigrants looked like when they first stepped off the boat and instantly entered an exciting and terrifying new chapter of their lives. Link of some examples is with my name.

    posted by Lori on 1-5-2010 at 7:51 pm

  12. In my opinion, it would be great to see famous scientists when they were young. There are some very cool and interesting photos of scientists out there, sometimes depicting them while things that had no connection with the career they chose.

    posted by giecsar on 1-5-2010 at 7:54 pm

  13. I’d tap the Smithsonian’s Flickr archive http://www.flickr.com/photos/smithsonian/ (All public domain)

    posted by Lucky on 1-5-2010 at 8:38 pm

  14. The Duke University Digital Archives of advertising images

    This one deals with emerging advertising in America http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/eaa/
    from 1850-1920.

    posted by westfield on 1-5-2010 at 10:36 pm

  15. I like the University photo idea, we all take a photo of what we think characterizes our local colleges or Alma Maters.

    Either that, or we all take a photo of the oldest structure in our immediate areas. That would be super fun, because it’s a scavenger hunt!

    posted by Kieran on 1-5-2010 at 11:24 pm

  16. LIFE Photo Archive on Google? There are something like 2 million pictures on there.

    posted by Amanda on 1-5-2010 at 11:54 pm

  17. How about progression photos of a construction project (before and after?

    posted by Dave V on 1-6-2010 at 10:22 am

  18. http://contentdm.unl.edu/cdm4/browse.php?CISOROOT=/comics

    Government Comics Collection

    posted by blink on 1-9-2010 at 6:22 pm

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