I'm a big fan of online exhibits. They offer instant gratification—I am able to take a second look at an artifact and see if there are details that I missed on my first viewing, and I get to pay as many visits and enjoy parts of the exhibit that I like best. There’s something else I like about online exhibits. They’re a great way for collections to be shared with folks who don’t have the time or money to travel and view these rare gems.
One nice little exhibit I found is the Photographs of the 1906 Disaster From the Studios of Espey and Rogers 
, hosted by then Oakland Public Library. It’s a collection of pictures taken by Charles Victor Espey, a refugee from San Francisco who settled in Oakland. The plate glass negatives were donated to the Oakland Library when he passed away. The exhibit's layout is simple, no-nonsense, but the selections it featured had a kind of poignancy to them which I found very moving.
One particular photograph that caught my eye depicts survivors scavenging the ruins for cooking utensils . While viewing it, I found myself feeling very grateful for not having lived under such dire circumstance.
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