ClassyArts Blog

I was a bit preoccupied with my new genealogy website – Erie County New York Genealogy – which is to be an example county for my Rec2Gen genealogy system. Think of it as facebook for dead people. When done, each person mentioned in the database will have their own blackboard page, where their descendants can write about them, insert photos, etc. People will be able to ‘claim’ their ancestors and collateral relatives, and communicate with others researching the same lines.

Meanwhile, here at ClassyArts, I did manage to finish updating and simplifying the photograph data entry system. I re-entered 180 of the 302 in the current datbase. Once all the current listings are in the new version I’ll switch over — so hopefully next month will begin to show regular progress on getting more photos indexed. That process is integrated with the photographer database, so that will be growing as well.

I mentioned last time that I had 25 volumes to go on the Pennsylvania photographers project, I should have said 26 because there are also some Pennsylvania listings in the ‘unknown’ microfilm roll. If I do that last I should be able to clue out which dates and locations it fills in. Three and a half more volumes were completed in August — though they were larger than average because they cover part of Philadelphia county. So 22-1/2 volumes to go on that.

Despite all these distractions, the photographer database grew by another 479 records, so we should easily reach 65,000 by the end of this month. Unlike so many other lists of photographers available now, every one of those entries includes a source citation, so you can find out exactly where the information came from. The importance of that will be obvious in an upcoming post here where I correct some widespread misinformation about Napoleon Sarony.

So the stats for the site as of August 31st, we had:

64,539 photographer records [479 increase]
302 photographs
21,402 artists records

I spent most of July working on a new genealogy site — but more about that in a future post. Even so, I managed to add 573 more photographer records. Also, I continued working on my list of photographers from the 1862-1866 tax records for Pennsylvania. There I finished the 86th of 111 volumes. That means I’ve scanned over 17,000 pages. I have found about 1700 references so far — many of those are duplicates of course, since the same photographer may be listed up to five times at the same location, and more if they owned more than one location. In practice it averages out to about two references per photographer, so I have about 850 separate photographer listings. Those have not been added to the database yet, as I need the complete sequence to be sure I can combine the data, showing where each photographer was listed when they moved, as well as those who stayed in the areas already covered.

So in August I continue to whittle away at the remaining 5,000 pages or so, and hope to have the project done before the end of the year. Then I will add all the records to the database at once, just one consolidated record for each photographer.

So the stats for the site as of July 31st, we had:

64,060 photographer records [573 increase]
302 photographs
21,402 artists records

Well I have been neglecting this blog lately, but that does not mean I have been neglecting the associated ClassyArts website. Actually I have been quite busy on that, though much of the progress is still ‘behind the scenes.’

I am still adding names to the photographers database on a regular basis, though the total numbers are getting big enough that the progress isn’t too impressive by comparison to the whole. So, just to keep track, beginning with this post I plan to post monthly statistics on the three database on this site.

First and foremost is the photographer’s database, of course. We also have a small collection of old photographs archived — that it where I have been doing much background work, in regard to programming. I’ve completely re-written the data entry section for the photographs, and now full details of the cardstock, photographer’s imprint, and stylistic characteristics will be included in the database. In the future, members will be able to look up sample imprints for a particular photographer, for example, with both actual and estimated dates applied to each.

It will also be possible to search for particular motifs, such as imprints with cherubs and artist’s pallet — and pull up the associated photograph records. That will be a great aid in dating when the photo database is large enough.

The down side of all this is that I need to do-over the cataloging of the 300 or so images already in that database. I’ve just begun that process, so the photo database itself will not be growing until I catch up to the former level, and swap over to the new database.

Finally, the artists database has not been getting much search activity, so I haven’t been much inspired to improve upon it. I have a lot of data, international and American, that needs to be added — and will be eventually.

So, as of July first 2010, the database counts are:

63,487 photographer records
302 photographs
21,402 artists records

Next month, we will begin listing the monthly change, as well as totals, so we can all track the development of the site…

Just a quick announcement that the prices at ClassyArts.com have been changed — subscription prices remain the same, but you now get TEN TIMES as much data for that same old price. One-time project prices have been changed from one credit per dollar to ten credits per dollar (still a $5 minimum order — any less is not worth processing after PayPal fees).

Subscriptions

Subscribers now get 250 credit for $9 per month, and premium subscribers 1000 credits for $18 per month. Remember, each credit buys one record from the photographer’s database (or one record from the Artists database when that goes on-line, very soon!), and photographs are five credits.

That works out to:

• 10 cents per credit for one-time projects
• 3.6 cents per credit for budget monthly subscribers
• 3.0 cents per credit for budget annual subscribers
• 1.8 cents per credit for premium monthly subscribers
• 1.5 cents per credit for premium annual subscribers

Local Photographers Data eBook

Or, for those who want a lot of data but don’t want to subscribe, we have location-based ebooks of photographer data. (See the small sample issue). Those used to cost $3.95 plus 2 cents per photographer’s record — now they are just $4.95 plus 1/2 cent per record. So a book with 1000 records, that used to cost $23.95 is reduced to just $9.95.

Confession

So why the sudden price reduction? This information is valuable — why the bargain prices? Well, honestly now, the sad fact is that we never sold many ebooks nor had many subscribers at the old rates. Maybe that is due to the sad state of the economy. If this site is to survive we need to do better.

That is why the amount of data per dollar has been greatly increased. That is also why the artists database will be combined with this data, rather than continue to sell as a separate product (though that sold very well on its own, it needs updating and expansion). And that is also why ClassyArts subscribers will have access to our new Photo-Dating sub-site, which we plan to put online before the end of January — for subscribers only.

A J Morris and his lovely spouse

Welcome to our new ClassyArts blog. Our goal for this part of the site is to keep you informed on what is happening on the main site, and discuss the various topics of interest to users of that site.

Among those topics, dating and identifying old photographs will be a prominent feature. We will discuss here our ongoing research into the various characteristics and features that provide clues to when and how a particular photograph was taken.

Of course historic photographers have always been an important part of the ClassyArts site, and we will mention some of those here as well, with discussion on how and where we find the information about these — sometimes obscure — artists. The biographical details of some of the more colorful and interesting characters will also be featured in this section.

Various other topics related to the history of photography will be fair game for this blog, including topics like photo preservation and restoration, copying and digitizing old photographs, and copyright issues.

As we prepare an updated version of the ClassyArts site, to be introduced early in 2010, we have begun expanding and transferring our data on Little Known American Artists to a database that will be made available on the new site. So some discussion of 19th century American artists other than photographers will also find its way into these pages.

We also want your feedback and suggestions, which you can post as comments. If you have a particular photo you want help identifying, see the ‘about us’ page to find out how to submit it.

So be sure to bookmark this site and visit often. Over time, you will find tons of information here, and lots of pretty pictures.