Don't know how to search for the right stock

[Scarlett]

Hey guys my google-fu skills lack. I need to find some good stock images for St Louis, Illinois early 1920s or before.

Could anyone suggest any good search terms or places I could look?

[hank_scorpio]

See if St. Louis has on an online library or an archive for Illonois.

I had to source a photo recently for something similar here in Ireland. I ended up going to the National Archives and finding the right image eventually. They didn't have the image in print, only on glass plates and had to a photographer to shoot the image.

It only cost €20 + €120 for the rights to use the image.

But sometimes you have to look beyound search engines, like google.

Image research is difficult and requires out of the computer thinking.

[garricks]

Scarlett, do you mean East St. Louis, Illinois or St. Louis, Missouri? Try http://www.mohistory.org/ and http://www.mohistory.org/buy_photos to start with. They have an awesome exhibit about the Civil War opening this week.

If you have trouble finding good photos, PM me with more details and I'll see what I can find for you. :)

[PrintDriver]

Image Acq is an artform. It's one of my day jobs and my library of sources is dwarfed by the people who do it full time. As in, that's their ONLY job (<sigh of envy there>).

Google is about the least helpful of engines for it.

Lucky for you a forum member from St L knows his stuff. ;)
Another source is:
http://shs.umsystem.edu/photograph/index.shtml

[garricks]

PrintDriver, you just made me think of The Merc!
http://www.umsl.edu/mercantile/

That's three awesome links for starters. :)

[Yossarian]

Can't guarantee anything, but also check out www.loc.gov. Lots of great historical resources there and often it's public domain. I've noticed over the last year or so that they're getting more and more of it scanned in high res too.

[Scarlett]

Thankyou so much guys!

And it's St. Louis Illinois. I've been digging through all the stock sites I can think of- free and not free. I think I just suck at searching.

Another thing that's got me caught is trying to find a particular image of an African American black teenage girl around 1920s. You type in 1920s girl and all the images produce caucasians, I feel so stupid for not knowing but I'm in Australia and this is the first time I've ever had to do anything like that.

Anyway- I keep trying and learning!

[garricks]

To my knowledge, and I've lived here my entire life, there is no city called "St. Louis, Illinois." There is a town called "East St. Louis, Illinois." It's directly east of St. Louis, Missouri.

[PrintDriver]

On your image, if it's an LOC photo, you may still have to try the unPC words "black" and "negro". Not all of their files are updated. Same for National Archives.
And as far as them digitizing their collection in 'high-res', don't make me cry. I had a couple long, commisserating chats with the poor techs at both the LOC and the National Archives just after they had their photo enlarging and duplicating equipment taken away. I can't get good scans very easily anymore (most stuff is, rightly, put away in cold storage now) and any photos they send out now are digital so I'd be scanning Epson dither dots. Very sad. The photo techs were very good. We could go amazingly large from scanning one of their 8x10 glossies or getting a duplicate neg. <sigh>

[PrintDriver]

As for a particular image, how do you know what to look for? Do you have a reference?

[garricks]

Oh, good point PD. In Missouri & Illinois you're likely to see "colored" as well.

There were "for white" and "for colored" rest rooms when I was a kid, and I remember the Fox Theatre had a "colored" entrance around to the side. Ironically, today that's the Fox Club's private entrance.

[Yossarian]

And as far as them digitizing their collection in 'high-res', don't make me cry. I had a couple long, commisserating chats with the poor techs at both the LOC and the National Archives just after they had their photo enlarging and duplicating equipment taken away. I can't get good scans very easily anymore (most stuff is, rightly, put away in cold storage now) and any photos they send out now are digital so I'd be scanning Epson dither dots. Very sad. The photo techs were very good. We could go amazingly large from scanning one of their 8x10 glossies or getting a duplicate neg. <sigh>

I'd just been noticing increasingly larger file sizes being available for download. I didn't know they weren't always from the originals. Too bad. Though as you said, it's good that they're being properly preserved.

Being as I rarely go larger than 11 x 17 for the stuff I make, I haven't really examined the largest photos.

[Audentia]

Anytime I need a photo that represents a specific place, that might be iconic or very recognizable (even if only to locals) I always look for a tourism bureau, chamber of commerce or some other entity that would have photographs of the area needed to dole out.

Another thing that's got me caught is trying to find a particular image of an African American black teenage girl around 1920s. You type in 1920s girl and all the images produce caucasians, I feel so stupid for not knowing but I'm in Australia and this is the first time I've ever had to do anything like that.
For an instance like this I would contact museums or historical societies for the area. They are likely to have things to share, and have the demographics that you want.

Stock sites are great if you need random massage girl, runner, creek, tree or bench. But they are not so great for specifics. Like 1920's coloured girl. That you are going to have to find someone in the "know" if you will.

[PrintDriver]

The large files ARE from original source scans. LOC is doing a good job with their material scanning. I'm just saying when you need something larger than 8" x 10" at 300dpi, it either takes a very long time to get it from storage because they no longer keep the copy negs handy, and today if you order a print, you get an Epson inkjet (or a digital contone photoprint), not an exposed photograph like you used to get as little as 2 years ago.

Still curious why a Particular image, and how you know when you'll find it.
Just a generic 1920's African American girl from St. Louis?