Research Guides: Finding and Using Online Images Ethically: Finding Images: Museums & Libraries

Museums

Museums have digitized many of their collections. Some are clearly marked as Public Domain or with other CC licenses.

Here are a few recommended museums and digital collections.

Europeana Collections
Over 57,603,456 artworks, artefacts, books, films and music from European museums, galleries, libraries and archives
Getty Museum Collection - Open Content
More than 88,000 digital works in public domain (CC Zero license)
The Met Collection
Digital access to Collection Highlights, Open Access Artwork, art objects, and other online features at The Met in NY City.
MoMA (The Museum of Modern Art)
Search over 81,000 works available online from MoMA in Manhattan.
MoMA Public Domain Images for Artists
Smithsonian Digital Library: Art & Design
Includes: Art & Artist Files, Artists' Books, Hirshhorn Museum Library Audio Archive of interviews with artists, Seed and Nursery Catalogs, Shedding Light on New York archive.
Smithsonian Open Access
Search millions of Smithsonian images
Art Institute of Chicago Open Access images
The Art Institute of Chicago: Ryerson & Burnham Archives
Features late 19th/20th-century American architecture from the Midwest including Chicago School, Prairie School and organic architecture. Architects such as Edward Bennett, Daniel Burnham, Bruce Goff, Bertrand Goldberg, Ludwig Hilberseimer, Mies van der Rohe, Louis Sullivan, and Frank Lloyd Wright and events such as the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 and the 1933 Century of Progress International Exposition are represented in a broad range of graphic and textual records.
The Art Institute of Chicago: Architects Oral History Project
Interviews of 20th century Chicago architects include Skidmore, Owings & Merrill partners and associates, students and colleagues of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, members of the Chicago Seven, principals of second- and third-generation architectural and engineering firms.
Heard Museum: Advancing American Indian Art
The Billie Jane Baguley Library and Archives has an extensive collection of documentary and photographic works on American Indians with an emphasis on indigenous people in the Greater Southwest.
The Frick Digital Collections
The Photoarchive is a study collection of photographic reproductions of works of art by fourth to mid-twentieth century artists trained in the Western tradition. The digital collection currently contains almost 200,000 items.
Additionally, The Frick has Virtual Exhibitions available, with 360 virtual tours.
American Folk Art Museum
The digital collection contains bout 8,000 works of art from the United Stated and abroad, spanning traditional American folk art made at the turn of the 18th century to 20th/21st century works by self-taught artists and art brut creators.
Asian Art Museum
Located in San Francisco, the digital collection features more than 18,000 objects.
LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art)
Digital collection includes highlights and is searchable by curatorial area, chronology, object type.
Memorial Hall Museum Online: American Centuries
Online collection containing more than 2300 artifacts comprised of documents, artifacts, maps, photos, and newspapers, from the Connecticut River Valley region of Massachusetts.
National Gallery of Art Open Access images
Over 50,000 images and open data

Image Databases

Image databases may be subscription-based, such as Artstor (part of the JSTOR collection), or free to use, such as the Minnesota Reflections database.

Artstor

Images from around the world on JSTOR. Get started by browsing all image collections, narrowing down to Artstor collections, or navigating by classifications or geography.

Mimbres Ceramic Database
The Mimbres Pottery Images Digital Database (MimPIDD) is a collection of over 9,000 images of Mimbres ceramic vessels, among the most spectacular and renowned prehistoric pottery in North America. Although some images are not available, the majority of the collection is viewable.
Minnesota Reflections
Images and documents from cultural heritage institutions across Minnesota.

Vivarium

Digitized manuscripts, art, rare books, photographs, audio, video, and other resources from Saint Ben's and Saint John's.

Digital Collections in Libraries

Many libraries are digitizing their primary source collections. Usage rights regarding the collections are usually clearly marked, but you can always reach out to ask permission for use, especially in the educational environment.

Library of Congress Free to Use and reuse sets
Themed sets of images from the Library of Congress, such as natural disasters, skyscrapers, farms, shoes, hats.
Library of Congress Digital Collections
The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world. Digitized content ranges from photos, print, and film to audio recordings and other mixed material.
Digital Public Library of America
37,080,103 images, texts, videos, and sounds from across the United States
New York Public Library Digital Collections
Over 922,000 digitized items
Asian Art Collection @ Gettysburg College
A digital archive showcasing approximately half of the College's 2,000-item collection of Asian art, which includes ceramics, ivory, jade, and other artifacts.
Gallery: The UNESCO Works of Art Collection
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
American Craft Council Libraries & Archives Digital Collections
Contains over 23,000 images, documents, and media detailing the history of contemporary craft in America.
University of Iowa Libraries: Iowa Digital Library
Contains over a million digital objects created from the holdings of the University of Iowa Libraries and its campus partners. Included are illuminated manuscripts, historic maps, fine art, historic newspapers, scholarly works, and more.
HBCU (Historically Black Colleges & Universities) Digital Collection
The HBCU Digital Collection is a portal of historical images, newspapers, yearbooks, manuscripts, and audio-video materials from HBCU archival collections.