Another year gone bye, let’s look at our progress. First, just for the month of December, as I try to report each month. As with November, I have been preoccupied with work on the new Antiques and Collectibles website, which I hope to announce in the next few weeks. So ClassyArts has been on the ‘back burner’ — but even so we get some new work done on it from time to time. We added nearly 1,000 photographer records and 130 images to the databases. No new work on the dated images or photograph dating sections, but I have continued to collect more dated images and other relevant data, there just has not been time to integrate it all into the site yet. By February, I hope to begin splitting effort between this site and the antiques site 50/50, and we should begin to see more progress then. Here is the December report:
2011 Dec 31
86353 Photographer records [995 increase]
2393 Digital Images archives [29 increase]
1429 Pending Images collection [105 increase]
835 Dated Photograph Imprints from 681 photographers [no increase]
26 Pages Dating Old Photographs (132k) [no increase]
Now let us turn our attention to the year in review. I added almost 20,000 names to the photographers database. If I manage to do anywhere near that in 2012 that database will exceed the 100,000 landmark. I added over 3,000 images to the databases, almost as many in the pending images collection as in the main archives — even though the pending images collection was only begun in September. The dated imprints and photography dating sections were also both new in 2011, so the progress there will serve as a benchmark for future efforts. Here are the same totals as above, but the increase measure is for the year, rather than one month:
2011 Total Change For The Year:
86353 Photographer records [19,422 increase]
2393 Digital Images archives [1763 increase]
1429 Pending Images collection [1429 increase] (since Sep)
835 Dated Photograph Imprints from 681 photographers [835/681 increase] (since Jun)
26 Pages Dating Old Photographs (132k) [26 increase] (since Sep)
I hope everyone who reads this has a prosperous, healthful and enjoyable 2012.
Development of this site continues to proceed very slowly, as I continue to work on my ‘other project’ — I had intended to wait until the site was up to describe that project, but you’ve wheedled it out of me. It is a site for antiques and collectibles. Membership is free and members will be able to post comments, images and videos about their favorite items, or even offer items for sale. There will also be a directory of shops and dealers. The tricky part is, I have divided the field up into about 300 categories, like Blue Willow china or Automatons or Antique Furniture. I’m programming the site so that members will be able to select whatever sub-set of those 300 categories are of interest to them, and see only material relevant to those categories of interest. Of course I’ll let you all know the location when it is online.
So, since antique and collectible photographs will be one of the categories, I’m sure everyone reading this site will be interested in that one. Here on this blog I have been adding more photograph posts lately, hope you like them.
Here are Novembers stats:
2011 Nov 30
85358 Photographer records [820 increase]
2364 Digital Images archives [29 increase]
1324 Pending Images collection [181 increase]
835 Dated Photograph Imprints from 681 photographers [no increase]
26 Pages Dating Old Photographs (132k) [no increase]
Well, behind schedule as befits such a dismal report, but as I warned in my last report time has come to turn toward more profitable enterprises. As it turned out, that other effort become more time-consuming than I expected. I had hoped to split my time 1/2 and 1/2, but instead have managed only one day per week to devote to photohistory, and almost all of the rest to the commercial enterprise. Now and then I snatch a half hour to enter more photographers in the database, or work on one of the image archives, but substantial progress requires more effort than that.
It will take another month or two to launch the new effort, then I may be able to achieve the 50-50 time split I originally hoped for. Until then, expect progress reports like this one for October:
2011 Oct 31
84538 Photographer records [1106 increase]
2335 Digital Images archives [56 increase]
1143 Pending Images collection [390 increase]
835 Dated Photograph Imprints from 681 photographers [no increase]
26 Pages Dating Old Photographs (132k) [no increase]
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]
As mentioned in earlier posts, I have begun a quick-and-dirty photo index, to supplement the Archives, which are just growing too slowly. The Pending Images archive just lists a title for the image, the full photographer’s name and address, and the estimated or inscribed date. For some images there are also additional comments. All this information is shown in the index.
For now, there is a link to the new database on the main image archives page, but in the near future I will be re-doing the whole header to give more navigation options.
As you can see from the over 700 images in the Pending Images Collection already, data entry is going much more quickly for this database, so that more of the ClassyArts collection is accessible. As with other images, you may purchase a single image if that is all you are interested in — but it is much less expensive (per image) to subscribe. Subscription also gives you access to the photographers database, and the dated images collection. Why not subscribe now? Prices will be going up in a few months, but existing subscribers will be locked-in at the lower price. Your support is essential for the continued growth of this site, and is much appreciated.
