I could see that the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog was very different from Flickr. I was looking for pictures that would show the house, gardens, and plantations of Monticello. These are the search terms that I tried:
- Monticello
- Home of Thomas Jefferson
- Thomas Jefferson
- Monticello Rooms
- Charlottesville, Virginia
- Monticello Plantation
- Monticello Gardens
- Monticello and Plantation
- Monticello and Gardens
- Monticello and Exterior
- Monticello and Interior
Using these search terms I found many pictures of Monticello, especially the exterior view of the house. I was able to easily find pictures of bedrooms inside the house, the study, statues in the house, the tomb of Thomas Jefferson at Monticello, and other items found inside Monticello. I was also surprised to find pictures of the servant quarters, stables, and ice house. Although there were many pictures showing the outside view of the house, I couldn't find any pictures showing the gardens or plantations. I was a little disappointed that I couldn't any pictures showing these aspects, because they are a big part of the property. Other than that I was very pleased with what I was able to find on Monticello. I was not expecting to find pictures on things like the stables.
To be honest this site is not one of my favorites. I can see how it would be very useful in certain situations, for example if you were doing some kind of historical report or something to that extent. However, before I decided to do this assignment on Monticello I was just browsing around typing in certain terms and had trouble trying to find photographs on specific things. For example, I wanted to see if the site had any pictures on the All American Girls Professional Baseball League. This was during the time that women played professional baseball, because the men were fighting in the war---think "A League of Their Own." I tried various search terms, but could only find general pictures of women playing baseball, none that showed any sign of the league. I decided to try Google next to see what it would come up with and all I had to do is type "Girls Baseball" and information and pictures on the league came up. I spent so much time looking for pictures of this nature on the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog and was able to easily pull it up on Google. With Google you can also sort through just images and with the online catalog you had to sort between images and documents. I tried finding some way to just bring up photographs, but could not figure out how to do it. I may use this site again if I am searching for photographs on a very specific historical topic, but even then I will probably still check Google as my first step.
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