Old photographs are gold for a genealogist. Some we inherit from family and friends, others we may be lucky enough to find again in online image databases. Slekt1 has compiled a list of several Norwegian image databases that may contain photos of one of your relatives.
The chances may not be great, but if you’re lucky or have a somewhat high-profile relative, there may be more images to discover in many of the online image databases.
All images are not yet scanned in
A number of photo collections across the country have long since taken the plunge into everyday digital life. But despite several years of online experience, very few people have a complete online collection. It may therefore be a good idea to check the same database several times at regular intervals if you have a particular suspicion that your relative is depicted in a specific image database.
Trondheimsbilder was an image collection that, after several years online, had to throw in the towel when new systems did not interact as well as old systems. Actually, it would be wrong to say that this is an image collection. An image portal is a more accurate description as the website is a joint venture between Sverresborg Trøndelag Folk Museum, Trondheim City Archives, Trondheim Public Library and the University Library in Trondheim.
If you have a relative who was active in the polar regions, it may be worth your while to visit the image database at the Polar Institute in Tromsø.
If you find a family member with a photo, the chances are that you’ll have to pay to get a copy for your living room wall or family book. The use of the image often determines the price, so be aware that even if you bought the image for a specific purpose, you will often have to clarify the use again with the owner of the original if, for example, you want to post the image online.
Overview of Norwegian image databases
- Historical photos from the Digital Archive
- The National Library’s scanned images
- Photographs in Digitaltmuseum
- The Vestfold Museums
- Historical photos from Tønsbergs blad
- Trondheim pictures
- The Polar Institute
- NTB historical images
- NTNU historical images
- Oslo pictures
- Aftenposten’s photos from April 9, 1940
- Agder pictures
- Historical photos from Kongsberg
- Historical photos from Larvik
- Perspektivet museum in Tromsø
- Stavanger pictures
- Historypin
- The time machine
How to find more databases
There are, of course, a number of other online photo databases, but it’s not always easy to find them. The most important thing to keep in mind if you’re looking for family history photos is that the web is divided into two parts. The surface web is the part of the web that is searchable in Google and other search engines. The opposite of the surface web is the deep web, which contains content that has not been made searchable (indexed) by search engines.
What many databases have in common is that they are located in the deep web, which means that you can only find their content by searching in their search engines. A search for a relative’s name or farm will therefore not necessarily result in a hit in Google. However, this does not mean that the images of the person or farm do not exist, but rather that you have to try to find relevant image databases that may contain the images you are looking for.
