Databases & Collections
The library subscribes to or has built a number of image databases that are excellent sources of images you can download and add to your papers and other projects. You need to keep in mind that some of them have licensing restricts that prohibit the re-publication (including open web publishing, such as on a blog or on social networking sites) of images you download. There are also quite a few digital collections that are free and open on the web. Use the library Visual Resources page for links and information about how best to use ARTstor and other image databases.
Get help with digital images
Image Databases
- JSTOR imagesSearchable database of digital images and associated catalog data within the JSTOR database. Covers the fields of architecture, painting, sculpture, photography, decorative arts, and design, as well as many other forms of visual culture.
- Bridgeman EducationWith over 380,000 images from museums, galleries, private collections and contemporary artists all copyright cleared for educational use. Bridgeman Education gives you access to the visual culture of every civilization and every period from Prehistory to the present day across continents and civilisations.
- Flickr CommonsFlickr Commons provides a way for people to search public photography archives and allows people to add comments and tag information about the images.
- Google ImagesGoogle Images is an easy way to search broadly for material over the web. You can search using keywords or by image. Just specify an image, and you can find similar or related images. After doing a basic search, an advanced search can provide additional options for filtering results.
- UnsplashFree high-resolution photographs that do not require attribution.
Finding Images
_(V%26A).jpg)
Eric Gill, Alphabets and Numerals, 1909. Victoria and Albert Museum. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
Digital Collections
There are lots of great online collections that are free and open on the web, many of them on museum websites. Here are a few that may offer some good images of objects related to your research:
- American Memory, The Library of CongressSubject categories: Advertising, African American History, Architecture, Landscape, Cities, Towns, Culture, Folklife, Environment, Conservation, Government, Law, Immigration, American Expansion, Literature, Maps, Native American History, Performing Arts, Music, Presidents, Religion, Sports, Recreation, Technology, Industry, War, Military, Women's History. Also see the Library of Congress Flickr Commons collection.
- Art Institute of ChicagoExplore thousands of artworks in the museum’s wide-ranging collection—from our world-renowned icons to lesser-known gems from every corner of the globe—as well as our books, writings, reference materials, and other resources.
- Brooklyn Museum Online CollectionsBrooklyn Museum's digital gallery contains over 90,000 digitized images from its collections. Users can browse, save, research, comment and tag. Wide-range of cultures, regions, and temporal periods represented.
- Getty Research Institute Open Content ImagesBrand new in October 2013. 5,400 newly available, high-resolution images from the Research Institute include drawings and watercolors, artists’ sketchbooks, rare prints from the 16th through the 18th century, 19th-century architectural drawings of cultural landmarks and 19th-century photographs of the Middle East and Asia.
- Joconde: French museum collectionsFrench ministry of culture's site, in French. 500,000 records of objects (subject categories: archaeology, fine arts, ethnography, history, science & technology...).
- Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Online CatalogContains catalog records and digital images representing a rich cross-section of still pictures held by the Prints & Photographs Division and, in some cases, other units of the Library of Congress. Includes photographs, fine and popular prints and drawings, posters, and architectural and engineering drawings. While international in scope, the collections are particularly rich in materials produced in, or documenting the history of, the United States and the lives, interests and achievements of the American people.
- Metropolitan Museum of ArtSelected works of art in the Museum's collections. Also available (in higher resolution) from ARTstor.
- National Gallery of Art: NGA ImagesA repository of more than 20,000 open access digital images of the collections of the National Gallery of Art.
- New York Public Library Digital GalleryProvides free and open access to over 800,000 images digitized from the The New York Public Library's vast collections, including illuminated manuscripts, historical maps, vintage posters, rare prints, photographs and more.
- Smithsonian Institution Collections SearchSearch archival, print and digital content. Over 7.4 million records with 568,100 images, video and sound files, electronic journals and other resources from the Smithsonian's museums, archives & libraries, including the American Art Museums, the Portrait Gallery, Archives of American Art, National Museum of American History, and more.
- Yale University ImagesYale University Library Digital Images Database. Includes: Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Digital Images (especially rich in American literature and Western Americana), the Yale Art Gallery and the Yale Map Collection.