Local historic photos to be archived online

In less than a year, students will be able to view more than 7,000 photographs online… In less than a year, students will be able to view more than 7,000 photographs online depicting historic Pittsburgh: the steel industry, public schools and black urban life.

With a $240,000 grant, Pitt’s Archives Service Center, in collaboration with the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania and the Carnegie Museum of Art will make their photograph collections available on the historic Pittsburgh Web site, http://digital.library.pitt.edu/pittsburgh/.

The photographs will be a part of the Historic Pittsburgh project, which allows public access to important materials recording the evolution of Pittsburgh in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Ed Galloway, head of Pitt’s digital research library, said the significance of this project is that people will be able to search across numerous collections and institutions for photographs.

“The collaborative nature and cross collection of this project is not typical of most institutions,” Galloway said. “Users will have an incredible access to a large amount of images.”

The Charles “Teenie” Harris Collection will be one of approximately 20 compilations featured in the project. According to Galloway, the Harris Collection has been considered one of the most abundant visual records of black life in the 20th century.

Other collections include the Allegheny Observatory, Pittsburgh Public School and Pittsburgh City Photographer Collection, which documents the neighborhoods, construction projects and disasters of the Pittsburgh area.

Dr. Edward Muller, who teaches a Pittsburgh history course, said the collection would help students from elementary to college levels with projects and research.

While he suggests books and movies as additional resources, he said he never directed students to view photographic collections because “most students don’t have time.” Now, he said, they will because the illustrations will be at their fingertips.

“When this project is up and running,” Muller said, “I will put it on my syllabus. Students will look at it.”

Galloway said the project begins Nov. 1. It will take anywhere from eight months to a year for the first images to be posted. He said the thousands of photos will not be put up all at once, but the institutions involved will be responsible for submitting them on a continual basis.

He also said there is an opportunity for students to become involved with the project.

“The grant allows for three staff members to be hired,” Galloway said. “And that can certainly mean students.”