In addition to the outstanding images and photography collections available at community "oil patch" museums, the American Oil & Gas Historical Society recommends the following online resources for energy educators:
American Memory of the Library of Congress provides free and open access to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience. It is a digital record of American history and creativity. These materials, from the collections of the Library of Congress and other institutions, chronicle historical events, people, places, and ideas that continue to shape America, serving the public as a resource for education and lifelong learning. It includes spectacular stereoscopic views of the oil region of Pennsylvania and New York.
The Berkely Digital Sun Site provides a searchable database of early California history. Search “oil” and 260 high-resolution images from the “Oil Industry in California 1911–1914” are displayed with thumbnails.
This collection of photographs from the Detroit Publishing Company Collection includes more than 25,000 glass negatives and transparencies as well as about 300 color photo-lithograph prints, mostly of the eastern United States. The collection includes images from along railroad lines in the United States and Mexico in the 1880s and 1890s as well as views of California, Wyoming and the Canadian Rockies.
This University of Northern Iowa Library page provides a summary page of excellent web links (Digitized Primary American History Sources) that include photographs and other historical documentation. A section entitled Images /Cartoons offers a further breakdown of topics and sources with links to the Library of Congress, Smithsonian Institution and the National Archives and Records Administration.
University of San Diego History Department has an outstanding collection of web resources, including links to historical pictures collections such as the Library of Congress’s American Memory project, Presidential Library exhibits, local digital libraries, as well as links to commercial web sites. Links to the historical picture collection are organized by topic.
This site is part of the Oklahoma GenWeb project and features “Snapshots of the Past,” which includes photographs submitted by visitors responding to the sites query, “Do you have an Oklahoma photo online or a photo you'd like to scan or have scanned to put online? Know of an Oklahoma event or historical site online? Send the link and we'll add it to our ever growing list or contact us about including your photo on-line.”
The National Archives Library Information Center provides researchers nationwide with convenient access to content beyond the physical holdings of their two facilities in Washington, DC, and in College Park, MD. This site provides numerous links to information and images covering American history and government.
The David Rumsey Historical Map Collection has over 17,400 maps online. The collection includes rare 18th century and 19th century maps and other cartographic materials in resolutions which permit detailed searches. Maps are accessible through a keyword searchable database. Early Pennsylvania Oil Region maps and contemporary advertisements are well represented.
The Library of Congress Nineteenth Century in Print Periodicals includes 955 volumes and more than 750,000 pages from 23 19th century periodicals, including magazines like Atlantic Monthly, Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Manufacturer and Builder, and Scientific American. Many are text searchable.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office includes full-text and full-page image databases, but patents issued from 1790 through 1975 are searchable only by patent number, issue date, and current classifications. Attempts to search those patents by any other fields will result in an error message. The Google Beta Patent Search page is not so limited, but does not include trademark information.
New York Public Library Digital Gallery provides access to over 600,000 images digitized from primary sources and printed rarities in the collections, including historical maps, vintage posters, rare prints and photographs, illustrated books, printed ephemera, and more. Also included are excellent Pennsylvania oil country images from the Robert N. Dennis collection of stereoscopic views. This link to the New York Public Library Image Databases and Indexes Online provides easy access to a host of websites offering a broad spectrum of mostly text searchable sources of oilfield imagery. A full text searchable archive of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle (1841-1902) is just one of many provided website links that enable researchers to gather both images and text of news, advertisements, etc.
Abraham Lincoln signed the Pacific Railway Act on July 1, 1862, hoping to bind the Union's East and West. This site documents construction efforts and features an extraordinary collection of stereoscopic views of railroad expansion across America. The online Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum website, launched in 1999, has become a leading railroad image resource.
The Wikipedia public domain image resources listing provides comprehensive online sources of imagery with subheadings for history and specific periods of history. However, the presence of a resource on this list does not guarantee that all or any of the images in it are in the public domain. Users should verify copyright status of individual images selected.
The Wichita Photo Archives website is maintained by the Wichita Public Library Local History Section, Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum, and Wichita State University Libraries' Department of Special Collections. The partners in this project provide access to materials for educational and research purposes. Downloading materials for personal use with proper attribution of the source is permitted; however, this does not grant permission to publish. That permission must be sought separately.
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