SepiaTown

“From here to then” reads SepiaTown’s tantalizing tagline. Powered in part by Google Maps, SepiaTown compiles historic images from both personal and institutional archive collections in one easy-to-use interface .

From the about page:

SepiaTown is a cultural history project whose goal is to provide both a window to the past by merging photography, geography, and technology, as well as a forum for institutions and individuals to share and map historical images.

Photos in the SepiaTown collection appear as thumbnails on a map.

Type in a place name or browse a zoom into a spot on the map to explore historic photos. The map employs Google’s standard, intuitive navigation functionality, and locations with photos available are clearly marked with image thumbnails.

Users can also toggle between then and now. SepiaTown uses Google Streetview to compare historic images to the same spot, present day. Click on the “then/now” button on the lower right to marvel at how much a landscape has changed (or, sometimes more impressively, how it hasn’t).

This idyllic scene in Bruges, Belgium remains virtually unchanged since the turn of the 20th century

While the majority of pictures collected in SepiaTown are concentrated in major cities and population centers, the fact that it’s user-driven and open to amateur image collectors means that you and your patrons can adapt this site to your needs.

Would you like to create a virtual tour of your hometown or the community around your library? Why not invite patrons to bring in and share their old photos. In addition to displaying these resources locally, you can upload them to SepiaTown, instantly generating content that will extend beyond the library walls.

One of the potential shortcomings of the site is the restricted search functionality. Users will quickly see that the site is geared toward browsing for images or searching by location; photographs lack the rigorous metadata that would allow for more advanced image searches. You will quickly be able to find all the photos associated with Christchurch, New Zealand, but good luck finding photos of churches. However, the easy, interactive browsing is well suited to SepiaTown’s primary purpose of mapping historic images. So go ahead and take that virtual tour; the best traveler knows that getting lost is half the fun.

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