Photograph database Searching
List of Photographs by Subject
Searching by keyword for photograph information
Use the search box below to search for Photographs or information about photographs on this website. One can search for keywords found in the photograph title or photograph description. Or, one can search by subject terms, date, geographical coverage, photograph identifier, or photograph category. Read the information below under searching for Photographs for assistance.
Searching for Photographs
When the database and the photographs are loaded on the server, we will be able to provide better explanations of the search engine for the public. The following is a short explanation based on currently available information. Note, the search box function does not work.
Viewing Photograph Lists
Click on one of the lists at the top of the page to view pre-sorted information about the photographs available on this website. Pre-sorted lists are available for photograph subject, Photograph Title, Date of photograph, or geographic location of photograph. viewing the pre-sorted lists will give a better idea of types of subjects, locations, dates, and titles used in the photograph database. This may be helpful when trying to decide terms to use in keyword searching of the photograph database. Currently, there are 499 entries in the photograph database.
Searching the photograph database
The Photograph database contains the following fields:
Photograph Identifier=standard number associated with each photograph
Photograph title=keywords identifying a photograph, some photographs may have the same title
Subjects=usually one field, but may include up to three fields of library of congress subject headings
photograph description on verso=a transcription of the handwritten comments located on the back of the photograph
photograph category=six standardized terms to describe categories: landmarks, landscapes, people, wildlife, culture, or NA
geographical location=four standardized terms are available to describe location: county, state; city, state; National park Name; or NA
date=standardized format yyyy/mm/dd
copyright statement=statement of ownership--MSU-Billings owns the photographs and content on this website
NA Designation
Some of the fields will have an "NA" designation which means not applicable or not available. If the appropriate information was not available or unknown, then this notation was entered in the field.
Photograph Title Searching
These are keywords describing the image of a photo. Some photos may have the same title and sometimes more than one copy of a photo is available.
Photograph description on verso Searching
This field includes the information on the back of a photo. If the handwriting is illegible, then a ? is noted in the field.
Subject Searching
To view of a list the list of subject terms used in the photograph database, view the list. Use this terminology when searching by subject.
Photograph Category Searching
The photograph categories reflect the major groups or types of photographs in the d. White Collection. There are five categories: people; culture; wildlife; landscapes; and historical landmarks and sites.
Geographic Location Searching
If the geographic location was not identified on the back of the photograph and a place name is associated with the photograph, The geographic location for the photographs were determined by using the USGS GNIS or the getty thesaurus of geographic names. Currently, there are very few photographs with geographic location information identified.
Date Searching
Dates in the photograph database are listed as year/month/day. For example, 1950/01/15 is January 15, 1950. Understanding how the dates are listed in the database may help you when searching for photographs by date. Many of the photographs do not have dates.
No date: 0000/00/00
only the year is known: 1945/00/00 (1945)
only Year and month are known: 1932/02/00 (February, 1932)
a range of years is known: 1932/00/00-1933/00/00 (the photo may be from 1932 or 1933)