Photos of Bovina Houses in the late 20th Century

I have scanned a lot of pictures over the past couple of years of Bovina in the late 20th Century.  I've decided to share a series of images taken of buildings in Bovina on the Bovina History Flickr page.  As time allows I will add information to more clearly identify the photos, though many of you will easily recognize them.  If you have any comments to make on these, please do so.  There are four sets of images.  Three of the sets are photographs held by the Bovina Historical Society and were all taken at different points during the effort, ultimately successful, to put the Bovina Center hamlet on the National Register of Historic Places:

Bovina Center, 1984:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/30793716@N06/sets/72157632098465793/
Bovina Center, 1990:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/30793716@N06/sets/72157632098525627/
Bovina Center, 1999:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/30793716@N06/sets/72157632098588833/

The dates for these images is somewhat of a guess.  If you think a particular picture dates from a different year, please let me know.

The fourth set is from a series of photos taken in March 1989 for a historic resources reconnaissance survey conducted for the Delaware County Historical Association.  The survey was conducted to document all pre-1940 buildings in the county.  This set covers most of the houses and barns outside of Bovina Center.  The hamlet of Bovina Center was not included because of the aforementioned survey.

Bovina, 1989: http://www.flickr.com/photos/30793716@N06/sets/72157632102442050/

Latest updates to Bovina Families on Flickr - Miller and Burns

I've added two more sets of photographs to the Bovina families sets on Flickr. These sets include people related to me. Some come out of my photos and some come from others. Particular thanks to Jack Burns and David F. Hoy for providing me scans of their photographs.

The first set is the Miller Family, portraits of descendants of Thomas Miller and Nancy Laidlaw from Roberton, Scotland. The Millers saw four of their children emigrate to the United States. David Miller came first in 1815. His brothers William and Berry Shaw and his sister Christina came over in 1831. Only one brother remained in Scotland. See pictures of some of these descendants at http://www.flickr.com/photos/30793716@N06/sets/72157624388648928/ More pictures will be added to this set.

The other set now on Flickr are pictures from the Burns family, with whom I am also related. My grandfather LaFever's mother was a Burns. Most of the pictures are descendants of John Burns (1808-1896) and his wife Nancy Ormiston (1813-1877). This set is at http://www.flickr.com/photos/30793716@N06/sets/72157624388505564/

Nineteenth Century Bovina Records - a Sampling

I have just uploaded to my Flickr page 31 scanned documents from the Town of Bovina. You'll see several tavern licenses, a list of town accounts for 1840 totaling $165.88, the bill for surveying the town boundaries when Bovina was created (including a $10 math error in the surveyor's favor), Berry Shaw Miller's power of attorney allowing his father to vote for him in the 1864 Presidential election, a list of jurors from 1836 and the appointment of a new tax collector in December 1845, necessitated by the imprisonment of the incumbent, Edward O'Connor, for his part in the shooting of Undersheriff Osman Steele during the Anti-Rent War.

I hope to continue uploading more files as time allows. To see these documents, go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/30793716@N06/set

Wishing You Were Here - Bovina Postcards

I've created a new 'set' on my Bovina (NY) Flickr page called 'Bovina (NY) Postcards.' It's 24 postcard views of Bovina that I and others have scanned over the years - mainly Harlo Tim Bray and the late Alan Davidson. Check these out at http://www.flickr.com/photos/30793716@N06/sets/72157623971982414/. Some of them are numbered, but the numbering is not consistent - this could mean there were several different sets - and the sets may not have been just Bovina views.

Your comments are welcome, especially if you can help clarify where some of the images were taken. And if you have Bovina postcards views that are not included here, please let me know so I can arrange to get a scan of it.

Getting Pictures Up on Flickr

I'm starting work this weekend in preparation for putting some of the Bovina history images I've collected over the past few years up on Flickr. I attended an archives conference last month in Charleston, WV and went to a presentation on how archival institutions are using Flickr. There are a number of institutions utilizing this as a way to get images out to the public. Flickr has the advantage of allowing people to comment on the image. The Library of Congress is doing this and what they are finding is that people often can provide more information about an image or point out that an image is mislabeled. I thought this would be a great way to be able to share with a lot more people all the images I've collected in my five years as town historian while getting some useful feedback, particularly for those mystery images I have.

As an archivist, I've known for some time that the actual scanning of the photos is the easy part. It's getting down all the information about the image (known as meta data) that takes time - who provided it, what the picture is about, when it was taken, size, etc. I'm in pretty good shape in that regard, but also needed when you put an image on Flickr are keywords or tags so that people can find an image on a particular topic. I'm starting by creating a thesaurus or keyword index so that the terms I use are consistent. I'll need to sort out some issues, though. Do I use the term "Bovina United Presbyterian Church" or can I say "Bovina U.P. Church?" I'll likely use the full name, but there will be other quandaries that I'll have to get sorted out. It's easier to do it before you put the images on the web.

When I actually have some images on-line, I'll let everyone know. I hope it will be sometime this month.