Monday, March 29, 2010

I've mentioned the Charles W. Cushman Photograph Collection on this blog before, but again, it is a collection of photographs taken by an Indiana University alumnus that has been made available as a digital collection. While Cushman generally provided good descriptions of the subjects of his photographs, people who have come across the site sometimes contact Indiana University to offer further identifying information for particular images. The University Archives is collecting this information, and it will ultimately be made available in a separate notes field on the website along with the images and Cushman's metadata.

Several of Cushman's images of Ireland in the 1960s were recently published in a Dublin magazine, and this has generated a lot of interest in the collection from people in Ireland. In addition to requests from other Irish publications and organizations to use the images, we have also received emails from several people in Ireland with more information about the locations shown in the images. In each case, we have investigated the information provided to us to make sure it is accurate and saved it for eventual inclusion on the website.

One of the emails we received today offered further information about this image of an island off the coast of Ireland. (I've also included a small version of the image at the end of this post, because this blog has been picture-less for too long.) Cushman simply identifies it as an "Islet in Irish Sea near Irish Coast," but the person who emailed us indicated that it was Lambay Island. Comparison of Cushman's image to Lambay Island on Google Earth and maps like this one confirmed its identity. The island has an interesting history, which is outlined in this Wikipedia article on the island.

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