[via BoingBoing] The Smithsonian Institution has just uploaded a boatload of scanned photographs to Flickr. The best part is that the images are under no known copyright restrictions, i.e. they are free for our fair use. (Wow, this is a long way away from selling your legacy to a cable tv channel. Good on you, Smith!)
I'm especially enjoying this set of portraits of scientists and inventors. Love those moustaches!
The image above is titled Uniformed Letter Carrier With Child in Mailbag. Here's a short explanation:
This city letter carrier posed for a humorous photograph with a young boy in his mailbag. After parcel post service was introduced in 1913, at least two children were sent by the service. With stamps attached to their clothing, the children rode with railway and city carriers to their destination. The Postmaster General quickly issued a regulation forbidding the sending of children in the mail after hearing of those examples.
Someone tagged this photo "Stork?" Let's hear it for crowdsourcing.
