Announcing the Flickr Foundation.

Imagine if we could place ourselves 100 years into the future and still have access to the billions of photos shared by millions of people on Flickr, one of the best documented, broadest photographic archives on the planet.

The Flickr Foundation represents our commitment to stewarding this digital, cultural treasure to ensure its existence for future generations.

Sally K. Ride, sitting the pilot chair of a space craft.
Astronaut Sally K. Ride, mission specialist on STS-7, monitors control panels from the pilot's chair on the Flight Deck. Floating in front of her is a flight procedures notebook. Photo from NASA on the Commons.

The Foundation’s first initiative.

Renewing the Flickr Commons.

blackl and white half-length portrait, standing, facing front, holding a white House cat.
interior of Chinese American pharmacy
American soldiers on a Navy vessel cheering upon their return home, circa World War 2

Left: Benj. Fink, half-length portrait, standing, facing front, holding "Tige" the White House cat.

Middle: Photolithograph shows interior of Chinese American pharmacy.

Right: Photograph shows American soldiers cheering upon their return home.

These three photos are from The Library of Congress.

The Flickr Commons program was launched in 2008 and has become a unique collection of historical photography shared with the Flickr community by 114 cultural institutions around the world.

This year, 13 years after it launched, we’ve taken time to evaluate the program and figure out how to reinvigorate it after a period of neglect. We have an opportunity to preserve the Flickr Commons collection resolutely and use techniques and tactics we develop to protect the longevity of the larger Flickr corpus.

Further reading

Why start a foundation?

Building for the very long term.

We believe the establishment of a non-profit Flickr Foundation will combine with Flickr to properly preserve and care for the Flickr Commons archive, support Commons members to collaborate in a true 21st-century Commons, and plan for the very long-term health and longevity of the entire Flickr collection. We’re also in the early stages of imagining other educational and curatorial initiatives to highlight and share the power of photography for decades to come.

All photos provided by The Library of Congress.

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