15. Cat Pictures, Mostly

By Jessamyn West, Date January 16, 2024

15. Cat Pictures, Mostly

Since the internet is approximately 28% made of cat pictures, we would be remiss if we didn’t mention that Flickr Commons is a great source for quality archival feline photography. That is, photographs of cats, not by cats. Mostly.

In the Rogue's Gallery (LOC)

Camera with kitten

You may be familiar with Brunhilde.

Brünnhilde (LOC)

But did you know about Tige, the Coolidge’s cat in the White House which went missing (and got found)? The Library of Congress has the full story.

How did this cat make the news in 1924? (LOC)

Jessie Tarbox Beals who was the first published female photojournalist in the US, had a soft spot for cats and the Schlesinger Library has an entire album devoted to her photographs of them.

PC60-9-5

Here’s Jennie, a battleship cat.

WWI 140.B1.F2.7

And two other seafaring felines.

Seaman with a cat and kitten, c 1910

And Spark Plug, an airplane cat.

Mascot cat "Spark Plug" [on plane] (LOC)

And Timmie another Coolidge cat with his friend the canary, Caruso.

TIMMONS, MRS. BASCOMB N. (LOC)

Not all Commons cats are canary chums.

38. "Wot Canary?"

All we know about the cat in this photo was that it was “a dysenteric nuisance but certified non-amoebic.”

William Osler, Willliam Francis, H. A. Lafleur, and W. S. Thayer at Johns Hopkins Hospital

This photograph from the early 1900s shows us that cat toys haven’t changed very much. Nor have cats.

Nurse and a cat

It’s the same in Sweden.

Cat. Raivola

These men were Greek immigrants to Australia, working cutting sugar cane. They posed for this photo with their dog, kitten and accordion.

Cane gang at Childers, ca. 1918

A child swinging at a baseball in a small baseball field while people watch from the stands.

Welcome To Menlo Park Planning, Our Newest Flickr Commons member

The Planning Division of the City of Menlo Park in California has located and preserved several sets of old photos from the history of Menlo Park as it was being expanded in the 1960s and 1980s.

Screenshot of a Google doc (that is the report)

The State of Social Media Archiving

Read our market research on how social media platforms allow their users to download their stuff.

2026: Simplifying Our Strategy

We're making adjustments to our programming and team in the coming months to weather the current storm affecting nonprofits across the US and more broadly.