November 26, 2008 by Matt Thomas
About two weeks ago Google announced that they had digitised around 20 per cent of the LIFE photography archive, making the images available to view using Google Image Search. The search engine giant plans to digitise the whole thing eventually, that’s around 10 million photos, most of which have never been published anywhere before.
The collection includes etchings and photographs dating back to the 1750s right through to modern day photos. If you haven’t had a browse through I wholeheartedly recommend it. It’s a fascinating journey through time that takes in some of the major events of the last couple of centuries as well as the figures that have shaped our cultural development, from Dr. Martin Luther King to Madonna.
It also contains some hugely interesting pieces for photography buffs. For example, the the life’s work of famous photographers like Nina Leen, Gjon Mili and Alfred Eisenatadt who bequeathed their photographs to LIFE before they died. The archive also holds London’s Mansell collection and the numerous other significant works.
All of the photos are available as a full screen versions and have been uploaded in high quality. LIFE have also made prints of the photographs available to buy by simply clicking a button from Google Image Search, should you fall in love with one though even if you’re not in the market for art, the images are fascinating; it’s like visiting a museum on your laptop.
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