Very busy month here at ClassyArts.com in September, completed 75% of the site revisions planned out a couple months back. First, we replaced the artist section with one on dating photographs. Still less than 25% done, that section is at least (and at long last) online. We will trace its growth in future monthly summaries like this.
September also saw the initiation of the Dated Imprints Collection — the photographer imprints from our dated images collection. So far, those only span 1851-1892, but that collection is also a work in progress, with more un-entered imprints available than there are in the database so far. The plan is to take that forward to 1920, and include foreign dated imprints as well as the US and Canada ones entered to date. This too will be tracked in future monthly updates, to mark our progress in that department.
Another new section added in September is the Pending Images collection. The Image Archives continue to grow, but it is slow and tedious, with no more than a few hundred new images added in even our best month. So now there is a second database, Pending Images, which do not have the thumbnails and full descriptions of Archive images. The first month (actually, the last three weeks of the first month) over 750 images were listed in this new database. It should grow much faster than the main Archives, and provide access to images that would otherwise remain hidden in the files. Of course we will continue to track future progress on that project too.
Business, however, has been very slow. The economy is uncertain, and so people tend to more cautious with their cash, foregoing spending on such luxuries as hobbies, history-genealogy and art projects. My wife and I, however, have become fond of regular meals and a roof over our heads. All our income comes from this and other Internet-based projects. If this one does not contribute its fair share to that income, I have to devote less time to it — though it is my favorite site to work on. So until that turns around, expect future monthly reports to show slower progress, while we slog away at some more lucrative ventures.
Here is the progress summary for September:
2011 Sep 30
- 83,432 Photographer records [4150 increase]
- 2279 Digital Images archives [159 increase]
- NEW! 753 Pending Images collection [753 increase]
- 835 Dated Photograph Imprints from 681 photographers [44 imprints / 34 photographers increase]
- NEW! 26 Pages (of 82 planned) Dating Old Photographs (132k) [26 pgs / 132k increase]
