Research Guides: Guide to Primary Sources: Images

Historic Images Collections

Internet Archive
Internet Archive is a non-profit library of millions of free books, periodicals, movies, images, music, websites, and more.
“Books in this collection may be borrowed by logged in patrons for a period of two weeks. You may read the books online in your browser, or download them into Adobe Digital Editions, a free piece of software used for managing loans.”
Some books have long waiting lists (and maybe a single issue to lend)

Digital Public Library of America
Millions of photographs, manuscripts, books, sounds, moving images, and more from libraries, archives, and museums around the United States. Each record links to the original object on the content provider’s website.
flickr Commons
Historic photographs from several public archives, museums, and institutions, including the Library of Congress, Smithsonian, etc.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Catalog
Photographs, fine and popular prints and drawings, posters, and architectural and engineering drawings from Library of Congress collections. While international in scope, the collections are rich in materials produced in, or documenting the history of, the United States and the lives, interests and achievements of the American people.
New York Public Library Digital Collections
Prints, photographs, manuscripts, historical maps, vintage posters, rare prints, illustrated books, printed ephemera, streaming video, and more from the New York Public Library Collections.
Eastman Museum
Online collections from the George Eastman photography museum.
Shorpy Historic Photo Archive
Vintage photography blog featuring thousands of high-definition images from the 1850s to 1950s. The site is named after Shorpy Higginbotham, a teenage coal miner who lived 100 years ago.
Daguerreotypes at Harvard
Over 3,500 daguerreotypes from Harvard's photographic holdings.
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Includes early photographs of the moon, views of the first operations using ether as an anesthetic, rare portraits of African-born enslaved people, and more. Portraits include Horatio Alger, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry James, Jenny Lind, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and James McNeill Whistler. The collections represent the work of pioneering daguerreotypists Mathew Brady, Albert Sands Southworth and Josiah Johnson Hawes, John Adams Whipple, and others.
Historical Photos
Links to photo collections worldwide from AcademicInfo.
Life Magazine Historic Photos on Google
Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History pairs essays and works of art with chronologies, telling the story of art and global culture through the Museum’s collection.

Image Resources

Artstor
High-quality images of artworks and cultural objects from institutions and museums that have been rights-cleared for education and research.
Detailed Guide to this resource.

Artstor Access
Instructions on how to register with Artstor
Metropolitan Museum Open Access Images
The Metropolitan launched its Open Access Initiative that makes all images of public-domain artworks and basic data on all accessioned works in its collection available for unrestricted use under Creative Commons Zero (CC0).
Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History pairs essays and works of art with chronologies, telling the story of art and global culture through the Museum’s collection.
Smithsonian Open Access Images
Images from Smithsonian museums and institutions that can be freely used.
MOMA Collection Images
Artwork images from the Museum of Modern Art
Getty Search Gateway
Search several Getty repositories, including images, collections databases, library catalogs, collection inventories, and archival finding aids.
National Gallery of Art Open Images
Use and reuse art masterpieces!
Perseus Art & Artifact Images
Images and diagrams of artworks and sites from the ancient world
VADS Art Image Collection
140,000+ images from 300+ art & design collections across the UK, and are freely available for non-commercial use in education.
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Images include visual arts, applied arts, architecture, design, fashion, fine art, and media. Created by the Library at the University for the Creative Arts (UCA).

flickr Commons
Historic photographs from several public archives, museums, and institutions, including the Library of Congress, Smithsonian, etc.
Eastman Museum
Online collections from the George Eastman photography museum.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Catalog
Photographs, fine and popular prints and drawings, posters, and architectural and engineering drawings from Library of Congress collections. While international in scope, the collections are rich in materials produced in, or documenting the history of, the United States and the lives, interests and achievements of the American people.
Digital Public Library of America
Millions of photographs, manuscripts, books, sounds, moving images, and more from libraries, archives, and museums around the United States. Each record links to the original object on the content provider’s website.
Internet Archive Images
All types of photographs and images from a variety of digital collections. From the Internet Archive.
Life Magazine Historic Photos on Google
The Lively Morgue - News photos from the New York Times
Shorpy Historic Photo Archive
Vintage photography blog featuring thousands of high-definition images from the 1850s to 1950s. The site is named after Shorpy Higginbotham, a teenage coal miner who lived 100 years ago.
New York Public Library Digital Collections
Prints, photographs, manuscripts, historical maps, vintage posters, rare prints, illustrated books, printed ephemera, streaming video, and more from the New York Public Library Collections.
Fashion History Timeline
Source for fashion and dress history, featuring essays on objects and artworks from museums and libraries that span the globe. From the Fashion Institute of Technology.
Daguerreotypes at Harvard
Over 3,500 daguerreotypes from Harvard's photographic holdings.
more...less...
Includes early photographs of the moon, views of the first operations using ether as an anesthetic, rare portraits of African-born enslaved people, and more. Portraits include Horatio Alger, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry James, Jenny Lind, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and James McNeill Whistler. The collections represent the work of pioneering daguerreotypists Mathew Brady, Albert Sands Southworth and Josiah Johnson Hawes, John Adams Whipple, and others.
Luna Commons
Images of documents, artifacts, photographs, drawings, maps, & buildings from all periods of time.
Historical Photos
Links to photo collections worldwide from AcademicInfo.

Ad*Access
Free database of historical Advertising Images (1911-1955) from Duke University
AdViews: Digital Archive of Vintage Television Commericals
Vintage television commercials dating from the 1950s to the 1980s.
Emergence of Advertising in America: 1850-1920
Thousands of advertising items and publications dating from 1850 to 1920, illustrating the rise of consumer culture and the birth of a professionalized advertising industry in the United States. From Duke University.
Prelinger Archives
Thousands of "ephemeral" films (advertising, educational, industrial, and amateur) made from 1927 through the present.

Women's Magazine Archive
Complete archives of consumer magazines published for a female audience, including Good Housekeeping and Ladies Home Journal. These magazines cover family life, home economics, health, careers, fashion, and culture, and provide canonical records of evolving assumptions about gender roles and cultural mores. Publications are in high-resolution color.
Vogue Archive (1892 - current)
Digital Archive of the US edition of Vogue Magazine, from the first issue in 1892 to the current month.
Searchable archive of American Vogue, from the first issue in 1892 to the current month, reproduced in high-resolution color page images. Pages, advertisements, covers and fold-outs have been included, with rich indexing enabling researchers to find images by garment type, designer and brand names. The Vogue Archive preserves the work of the world's greatest fashion designers, stylists and photographers and is a unique record of American and international fashion, culture and society from the dawn of the modern era to the present day.
Vogue Italia Archive (1964 - current)
Digital archive of Vogue Italia magazine - all issues from its 1964 launch to the present.
Detailed Guide to this resource.

Pixabay
Stock images uploaded into the Public Domain.
Unsplash Visuals
Copyright free images and photos.
nappy
"Beautiful, high-res photos of black and brown people. For free."
Licensed under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license.
Pexels
"The best free stock photos shared by talented photographers."
License Information
WOCin Tech Chat
Stock photos of women of color in tech, now free to use.
Available under a CC-Attribution license.
Plus Size Stock Photos
Photos featuring plus-size people at home, with emphasis is on what the models are doing, not how big they are while they’re doing it. Photos available for all uses.
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While attribution is not required to use the photos, please credit AllGo and photographer Michael Poley of Poley Creative whenever possible so that others may find these stock photo collections.
Disabled and Here Collection
Disability-led project that provides free and inclusive stock photos and illustrations from our own perspective, featuring disabled BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color).
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Creative Commons attribution licensing, which means you can use, share, and adapt the images for free with appropriate credit.
Photos should be attributed to Disabled And Here. When possible, please link back to the Disabled And Here project page.
Free to Use Images from the Library of Congress
Images from the Library of Congress digital collections that are in the public domain, have no known copyright, or have been cleared by the copyright owner for public use.
Creative Commons Openverse
Search for openly licensed and public domain images and works.