Edward S. Curtis / George Eastman House via Google

On The Shores of Clear Lake ca. 1896, printed 1924

Dorothea Lange / George Eastman House via Google

Damaged Child, Shacktown, Elm Grove, Oklahoma, 1936

The world’s oldest collection of photography is now just a click away.

Google's Art Project has partnered with the George Eastman House to display a selection of their remarkable images from the invention of photography through the 19^th century. The gallery allows viewers to virtually visit a museum they may not otherwise have access to, but what truly sets apart the experience from any other online museum gallery is the ability to zoom in and see details of iconic photos. In a “real” museum you would be tackled by the security guard before you could get close enough to see the grain of the film.

Additional information is provided alongside the photos, including a map of where it was taken as well as the location of the artist’s birth and death. In one click you are able to see if the photographer’s journey kept him in his home town, or took him around the world.

George Eastman was the founder of the Eastman Kodak Company in Rochester, New York. His photographic collection and home were opened to the public in 1949.

Walker Evans / George Eastman House via Google

Roadside Stand, vicinity Birmingham, Alabama. 1936, printed ca. 1971 by Jim Dow.

David Guttenfelder / AP

Executive Chairman of Google, Eric Schmidt, right, tries on 3-D glasses as he looks at North Korean-developed computer technology during a tour of the Korean Computer Center in Pyongyang, North Korea on Jan. 9. At left is Kun "Tony" Namkung, a North Korea's expert and member of the traveling delegation.

David Guttenfelder / AP

Eric Schmidt, back row left, and former Governor of New Mexico Bill Richardson, back row right, look at North Korean soldiers working on computers at the Grand Peoples Study House in Pyongyang, North Korea on Jan. 9.

By Jean H. Lee, The Associated Press

David Guttenfelder / AP

Eric Schmidt stands on a balcony at the Grand Peoples Study House overlooking Juche Tower in Pyongyang on Jan. 9.

A private delegation including Google's Eric Schmidt is urging North Korea to allow more open Internet access and cellphones to benefit its citizens, the mission's leader said Wednesday in the country with some of the world's tightest controls on information.

Schmidt, the executive chairman of the U.S.-based Internet giant Google, is the highest-profile American business executive to visit North Korea since leader Kim Jong Un took power a year ago.

On Wednesday, Schmidt toured the frigid quarters of the brick building in central Pyongyang that is the heart of North Korea's own computer industry. He asked pointed questions about North Korea's new tablet computers as well as its Red Star operating system, and he briefly donned a pair of 3-D goggles during a tour of the Korea Computer Center.

Schmidt has not said publicly what he hopes to get out of his visit to North Korea. However, he has been a vocal proponent of Internet freedom and openness, and is publishing a book in April with Google Ideas think tank director Jared Cohen about the power of global connectivity in transforming people's lives, policies and politics. Continue reading.

David Guttenfelder / AP

Eric Schmidt, second from left, and former Governor of New Mexico Bill Richardson, second from right, look through an information technology text book at the Grand People's Study House in Pyongyang, on Jan. 9. At left is director of Google Ideas think tank, Jared Cohen. The textbook is titled "Aries Net Certified Technician First Edition Version 3.0."

Related content:

• North Korea marks the anniversary of Kim Jong Il's death
• Thousands rally to celebrate North Korea rocket launch
• Glimpses of North Korean life exposed by AP photographer

Slideshow: Journey into North Korea

David Guttenfelder / AP

Jean H. Lee, The Associated Press bureau chief in Seoul, and David Guttenfelder, AP's chief Asia photographer, have made numerous reporting trips to North Korea in recent years. They were granted unprecedented access on their latest journey to Pyongyang and areas outside the nation's showcase capital.

Launch slideshow

Google via AP

A Google data center in in Douglas Country, Ga.

AP reports -- Google is opening a virtual window into the secretive data centers where an intricate maze of computers process Internet search requests, show YouTube video clips and distribute email for millions of people. The unprecedented peek is being provided through a new website unveiled Wednesday.

Where the internet lives - Google data centers

The photographic access to Google's data centers coincides with the publication of a Wired magazine article about how the company builds and operates them. The article is written by Steven Levy, a journalist who won Google's trust while writing "In The Plex," a book published last year about the company's philosophy and evolution.

As Google blossomed from its roots in a Silicon Valley garage, company co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin worked with other engineers to develop a system to connect low-cost computer servers in a way that would help them realize their ambition to provide a digital roadmap to all of the world's information.

Initially, Google just wanted enough computing power to index all the websites on the Internet and deliver quick responses to search requests. As Google's tentacles extended into other markets, the company had to keep adding more computers to store videos, photos, email and information about their users' preferences.

Read the full story.

Google via AP

A Google technician works on some of the computers in the Dalles, Ore., data center.

Google via AP

A Google data center in Hamina, Finland. Google is opening a virtual window into the secretive data centers that serve as its nerve center. The unprecedented peek is being provided through a new website unveiled Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2012. The site features photos from inside some of the eight data centers that Google Inc. already has running in the U.S., Finland and Belgium.

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Pauline Willrodt / EPA

A young Thai Sunni Muslim demonstrator holds a sign as he takes part in a protest with 250 other demonstrators outside the United States Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand, on September 27, 2012.

The protesters from the Muslim Group for Peace later moved on to the Thailand office of Google Inc. to demand it withdraw the controversial film "Innocence of Muslims" from its YouTube service.

Slideshow: Anger over film spreads throughout Muslim world

Khaled Abdullah / Reuters

Protests ignited by a controversial film that ridicules Islam's Prophet Muhammad spread throughout Muslim world.

Launch slideshow

Google Street View

Street scene in Ishinomaki, Japan.

Click on the composite photo to go to the interactive version on Google's site.

From the "Memories for the Future" site:

To help people in Japan share their photographs and videos that did survive the tsunami, Google created a website, “Mirai e no kioku” (text is in Japanese only), which means “Memories for the Future”. Through this site, people have been able to rediscover lost memories of their homes and towns.

Google is now also providing thousands of miles of Street View imagery in the affected areas that were collected before and after the disaster.

Related:

msnbc.com original PhotoBlog series "After the Wave"

PhotoBlog images from the tsunami.

Follow @msnbc_pictures