Summer is over and winging birds are flying toward the south

That's an old song that comes into my head about this time of year. It's from a play at the Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park, a Museum Exhibit in Seattle's Pioneer Square. I worked there as a "Cultural Interpreter/Historian" when I first came to Seattle in 1979. One of my photographers recently found a picture of me in my park ranger uniform out front of the exhibit hall during opening ceremonies when he did a Google search on my name. I had no idea it was even there!

(I'll save you the time of searching for it yourself. Click here to see the photo in a new window. It's the top photo-I'm on the right.)

I was first brought to Seattle to do research to edit historic images for the Klondike Gold Rush exhibits that were being developed. Spending time in the dusty archives of Suzzallo Library at the University of Washington enabled me to relate to what so many researchers have done in the past with the Bettmann Archive, when it was still in New York, or with the existing archives at the Smithsonian. While serving as the National President for ASPP, several of us met with one of the curators at the Smithsonian and got the behind-the-scenes tour of their archives. It was all in the interest of education—so that our membership could be better informed about the state of historic collections throughout the world and how they need to be preserved.

One of the historic collections represented on my website is from the Ancient Art & Architecture collection in the UK. I'm always pleased that these historical photos sell so well. I knew when I was first introduced to them that this collection would be especially nice for my textbook clients! Further, during our trip to Europe this summer, we met with the ladies at AAA and had an opportunity to see their operations and learn more of how their collection came to be. It seems that one of the owner's husbands traveled around the world as a roaming photojournalist a few decades past. Although the material is dated a bit, it is still valid in that he was able to get into museums and visit significant sites that today are closed to photography. Furthermore, they scan other historic sources regularly and provide me with the digital files. The value of the AAA collection is being recognized by many of my textbook and educational clients. Even though some of the images aren't "perfect" it seems that through the skilled hands of Photoshop pros, they can be revived and given facelifts on many levels.

Throughout the busy month of October, my capable staff will be holding down the fort and ready to help out in any way that you need them. We now have over 100,000 high-res images available on our site covering a myriad of subjects!

Thanks in advance for keeping our site in mind as you search for new images for your projects!

Enjoy the Fall!