The Library of Congress just spent our taxes in a way that we get maximum value from a government agency. I don’t think we’ve gotten this much bang for the buck since the old Space Age and NASA days. This is Big Big WIN!
It used to be hell searching the site for interesting things. Now they’ve gone and made explicit collections with tons of thumbnails on a page for fast browsing. Here’s an example of that from the Photochrom Print Collection.
About the Photochrom Prints
The Photochrom Print Collection has almost 6,000 views of Europe and the Middle East and 500 views of North America. Published primarily from the 1890s to 1910s, these prints were created by the Photoglob Company in Zürich, Switzerland, and the Detroit Publishing Company in Michigan. The richly colored images look like photographs but are actually ink-based photolithographs, usually 6.5 x 9 inches.
Some of the stunning images (click any to enlarge):
A house, interior, Marken Island, Holland
La grande rue (i.e., roue), Paris, France
Rue de la Republic, Lyons, France
Monks’ promenade, Mont St. Michel, France
Abbey from the ramparts, Mont St. Michel, France
Street in the old town, I, Biskra, Algeria
St. Hubert’s gallery, Brussels, Belgium
The fountain of Sultan Ahmed, Constantinople, Turkey
A Bedouin woman, Tunis, Tunisia
Cook in the rue de Stamboul, Constantinople, Turkey
Grindelwald Grotto, Bernese Oberland, Switzerland
Burn’s National Monument, Mauchline, Scotland
Music room, Neuschwanstein Castle, Upper Bavaria, Germany
A yoeman of the guard (Beefeater), London, England
The “Victory” (Nelson’s Flagship), stern, Portsmouth, England
A girl of Grodenthal (i.e., Grödertal), Tyrol, Austro-Hungary
The Market, Freiburg, Baden, Germany
Old houses in rue St. Pierre, Caen, France
Hotel des Guises, Calais, France
Old house in Rue St. Martin, Bayeux, France
For those of you who think every damn thing should be privatized, that there is no such thing as a greater common good, here’s a special treat for you. What one of these would look like privatized:
Now thank your taxes they’ve been spent well by the Library of Congress.
Mike Cane’s xBlog 
They’re great! Even better, I live in the UK :-)
It is only fair you can see them, in exchange for BBC!
Excellent. I knew you’d post a selection! Now I’ll go back myself…