I got an e-mail the other day from Eric Marth. At the end of his e-mail, Eric casually mentioned his “blog,” which he simply calls Pictures. “It’s updated as I find images,” he writes. “On occasion there’s the delightful accident like the pairing of Maude Schuyler Clay’s photo of Eggleston and one of Walker Evans’s images from Cuba, currently on the second page.”

I absolutely love it.

Popularity: 23% [?]

If you haven’t heard of the Prelinger Archives, now is the time to familiarize yourself.

Prelinger Archives was founded in 1983 by Rick Prelinger in New York City. Over the next twenty years, it grew into a collection of over 60,000 “ephemeral” (advertising, educational, industrial, and amateur) films. In 2002, the film collection was acquired by the Library of Congress, Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division. Prelinger Archives remains in existence, holding approximately 4,000 titles on videotape and a smaller collection of film materials acquired subsequent to the Library of Congress transaction. Its goal remains to collect, preserve, and facilitate access to films of historic significance that haven’t been collected elsewhere. Included are films produced by and for many hundreds of important US corporations, nonprofit organizations, trade associations, community and interest groups, and educational institutions.

Online, you can view nearly 2,000 of the films from the archive. There really are some interesting things to find on the site; everything from historic material such as Duck and Cover (1951) to “vintage erotica” of a woman named Sheree dancing (first in a tiger-print outfit, then in a bikini) to the top viewed film, Pick of the Pod (1939), “a peek inside the pea processing operations that culminate in Del Monte brand canned peas… With glimpses of 1930s kitchens and images of Depression-era California agriculture.”

Not sure where to get started? Try the Tag Cloud.

Popularity: 22% [?]

A little while back, I posted about an online archive of jazz LPs. I was thrilled to come across a similar collection of classical record sleeves. Love it.

Popularity: 17% [?]

When I was in New York last week, I visited Aperture with Michael. The Matthew Sleeth show that was up was pretty interesting in itself but I think both Michael and I were drawn to the Erik Kessels exhibit entitled In Almost Every Picture.

In Almost Every Picture is an idiosyncratic collection of found images from three volumes in the cult classic book series of the same title. The Spanish Woman features photographs taken by a husband of his wife during the years 1956–1968; Twins features pictures of two sisters, who always appear dressed in identical outfits, taken in Europe during the 1940s; in Dalmatian, a beloved dog and her owner grow old together while walking through various European locations; and Taxi is comprised of photographs taken by a taxi driver of his car and passenger at different “holiday spot” locations.

The collections that Kessels brings together all contain an intriguing back story. And the motivation is very specific, often obsessive on part of the photographer.

(from “In Almost Every Picture”)
© Erik Kessels

(from “In Almost Every Picture”)
© Erik Kessels

(from “In Almost Every Picture”)
© Erik Kessels

(from “In Almost Every Picture”)
© Erik Kessels

Kessels, the Dutch art director behind KesselsKramer, has been producing In Almost Every Picture as individual books for some time, all of which are sold out now. Fortunately, Aperture just released a limited edition box set of these books: In Almost Every Picture: Volumes One to Five.

Find out more here and here.

Popularity: 18% [?]

Check out Vintage Vanguard’s great online archive of record sleeves for albums by various jazz musicians. Nice use of color, image placement and typography in some of these LPs.

In case you were wondering, “ジャズレコード館” translates from Japanese to English as “Jazz Record Mansion.”

Popularity: 20% [?]