THE AMERICAN LANDSCAPE PROJECT

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THE AMERICAN LANDSCAPE PROJECT

The American Landscape Project is a free, online, archive of photograhic images chronicling the built environment of the United States, and increasingly the rest of the world. Most of the photos were taken by professional geographers and they include a stunning variety of landscapes, topics, regions, and eras. Much of the imagery is mundane, ordinary, vernacular and wonderful. Some of the collection chronicles the unique, different, exotic and weird. Some of the photography is quite good, but some suffers from the limitations of the photographic technology of the past. Nonetheless, this is a valuable archive of photos that students of the built landscapes will find useful, educational and fun. 

 The site is under construction and will remain under construction for the foreseeable future as the collection is placed online.  A Google Site has been constructed in parallel to this site.   

HOW TO ACCESS AND USE THE ARCHIVE

The most effective way of searching the photo database is through the Google Photos site. This photo browsing web site allows visitors to navigate photos largely through the use of "tags" or key terms applied to each photo. Photos are organized into albums, but may be in multiple albums if multiple subjects or concepts are evident in the photo. Photos are largely geo-referenced as well, so the viewer can tell roughly (and sometimes very precisely) where the photo was taken. Picasa also includes a search function that allows you to type in key terms. You can search within only the photos in the American Landscape Project collection, or all the photos in all the the Picasa public galleries. What sort of photos are archived at this site? Much of what is archived at this web site are photos of the American vernacular landscape. There are lots of photos of ordinary buildings, folk architectures, gas stations, motels, road signs, churches, parks, restaurants, etc. To those who have learned to see as a geographer, there is much more; infinitely more. What happened to this site? A few years ago, just as this site was beginning to get visitors, it became clear to me that this web site was badly failing to comply with proper accessibility standards. My web authoring skills, limited as they are, prohibited me from making the needed upgrades. Several things have changed making a rebirth of this web site possible. Look for additions to the collection and a much better search interface in the future.

LARRY FORD COLLECTION 

 Dr. Ford was a well-respected geographer who traveled extensively and used his keen eye for landscapes to chronicle important aspects of American and World geography and history. We present Dr. Ford's photo collection as monument to his brilliant career, and an enduring legacy to his power as an educator and mentor.

Go to the collection (Google Site)

WARREN D. KRESS COLLECTION 

The Warren D. Kress photo gallery includes a significant number of digitally reproduced photographic slides from the collection created by North Dakota State University, Professor of Geography Warren Donald Kress (1921-2001).

Go to the collection (Google Site)

ROCKY NUNGESTER COLLECTION 

Rocky Nungester was a Geography major at CSUN in the mid-1970s. For his senior capstone project, Rocky photographed nearly 300 historical landmarks around Los Angeles County during numerous field visits. In 2020, after a long career as a city planner in Ventura County, Rocky gifted the Department of Geography and Environmental Planning his outstanding collection of over 400 35mm photographic slides documenting hundreds of Los Angeles landmarks, as they appeared in the mid-1970s.

Go to the collection (Google Site)

RALPH PIERCE COLLECTON

The Ralph Pierce collection includes several hundred digital reproductions of photographic slides created by Louisiana Tech University Professor of Geography Ralph D. Pierce (1931-2009).

Go to the collection (Google Site)

TOPICAL COLLECTIONS 

ADDITIONAL COLLECTIONS