News from around the web.
Go to Source
—

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
is joining Historypin, a
site that lets users virtually “pin” historical photographs, videos and audio recordings
to Google maps.

Users can enhance their pins with descriptions and stories, and compile them into
collections and tours centered around a place, time or storyline.

Visit
the National Archives on Historypin here. I scrolled down and clicked an image
of Samuel Morse’s 1848 patent for the electromagnetic telegraph, which opened information
about the patent:

Here’s the patent on a map of Washington, DC, at the location of the old Patent Office:

Another cool thing you can do is use a transparency slider to overlay a historical
image on top of a Google street view of the same scene today. This shows a view from
the old Patent Office toward the Treasury building:

Also in NARA’s collection, you’ll find Mathew Brady Civil War photographs; photos
of streets, buildings and historic events in Washington, DC; and images from the recently
concluded History Happens Here augmented reality contest. Future additions will
include Documerica
images, more Mathew Brady, and Brooklyn
Navy Yard photos collections.

Go here and type in a place your ancestors
lived to see what’s pinned there. You don’t have to join
Historypin to see the pins, but if you join, you can add your own images (you’ll
need a free Google account).

Historypin is also accessible via a Smartphone app. It’s a project of the British
non-profit We Are What We Do that
seeks to bring generations together around the history of their communities.

Here are images Historypin users have pinned around Cincinnati, where Family Tree
Magazine is located. Once I get started exploring these, I’m not sure how I’ll
stop myself: