This photo shows Studio 34's location in 1951. Our building came later, but the arches next door are still there.

PhillyHistory.org, the online repository for a small but growing proportion of the city’s archive of historical photos, is a wondrous thing. The archivists and interns at the city’s Department of Records have been working for the better part of a decade to scan and metatag a few hundred photos a week. These are added to a web site that allows the collection to be searched by keyword, date, location, or neighborhood. They even have a blog that notes photos and themes of particular interest.

But using the site is too often frustrating. Here’s some friendly requests of the good folks at PhillyHistory

(Update: Don’t miss PhillyHistory’s response!)

1. Remember my preferences. PhillyHistory allows you to choose how many photos are displayed as search results. The default is 12 photos per page; I always set it for the maximum 24 (and would prefer 200). But the site never remembers that. This is a simple fix via cookie or, for those who choose to register and log in, user preferences.
2. Don’t erase my results until I ask you to. When I use my mouse’s scroll wheel to look through search results, the cursor often drifts over the map, when promptly zooms in or out. Your site interprets that as a command to mount a new search. I’m sure this was meant as a feature, not a bug, but it’s annoying when one’s search results are whisked untimely into oblivion.
3. Use real windows, not silly popups. Did your search find an item you like? Click on it. Do you see the photo? No, you do not. You see a little popup window. If you want to, you know, see the photo, you must drag the popup’s scroll bar (or click “Printable Version”). This is ridiculous. Here’s an idea: why not just take me straight to the Printable Version?
4. Provide permalinks. Another thing about popups: they do not offer a permanent URL to bookmark, blogpost, or send to a friend. This is the Web; that’s what it’s for. (I know, there’s the vaguely worded “Share” button, but that only emails a nonpermanent URL.) Again, it’s Printable Version to the rescue!
5. Free your photos. PhillyHistory allows anyone to use its low-res photo files (which average about 600 pixels square); they ask in return merely proper attribution. They charge $10 for a 5×7 print, $20 for an 8×10 — not unreasonable for a city outfit that’s apparently running on a shoestring. But for a single high-res image, they want $100. One hundred dollars! How much money do you make from that, PhillyHistory? Is it enough to compensate for the tragic lost potential of these locked-up images yearning to be put to public use? C’mon, make them free, at least to non-commercial users. Reserve your rights by releasing the photos under a Creative Commons license, and go on charging commercial users $100 a pop. They’re the only ones who were paying a Benjamin per image anyway.
6. And finally, let your users help. Let us add comments and tags to the photos, as the Library of Congress does via Flickr. Let us correct your photos’ close-but-not-really location data, as Google does with addresses.

That last one is less a frustration than an invitation for PhillyHistory to better fulfill its mission of putting Philadelphia residents and fans in better touch with the history and heritage of their city. PhillyHistory, you’re doing a fine job — now let us help.