We’ve found numerous sources online of photographic images available for use in classes on K-12 photography, visual literacy, history, social studies, and related issues. As a matter of policy, we provide reference access only to those that publish material by permission of the authors with a license for educational usage, or else are public domain/copyright-free. Here are links to those:
- Early in 2014, online stock-photo archive Getty Images announced that it had opened 35 million images to online publishers to use free of charge. Presumably that would include use on school intranets and other educational “fair use” contexts. In return for inclusion of a footer with credit to Getty Images, they’ll removed the watermarks.
- Emergence of Advertising in America: 1850-1920 : 9,000 advertising images from Duke University.
- AD*ACCESS: advertisements printed in U.S. and Canadian newspapers and magazines between 1911 and 1955. Five major themes: Radio, Television, Transportation, Beauty and Hygiene, and World War II, also from Duke University.
- American Memory: Selected Civil War Photographs: This Library of Congress Web site offers over 1,100 Civil War photographs, many of which were either created or supervised by Mathew Brady.
- ARS Image Gallery: The Agricultural Research Service of the USDA image gallery includes beautiful color images of animals, crops, fruits and vegetables, insects, and other subjects — “copyright-free, public domain.”
- NYPL Digital Gallery: The New York Public Library’s online collection.
- Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress: One of the great accumulations of photographic images.
- Smithsonian Photograph and Image Collections: Free downloads for educational use.
- U.S. Air Force Official Website supplies illustrations and photographs of the United States Air Force. These images include historical photographs, images of memorials, operations, and people.
- Visible Earth: NASA’s stockpile of images from outer space. (For more NASA image galleries, click here.)
- USFWS National Digital Library: Public-domain images and other material from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
- NOAA Photo Library: Public-domain images and other material from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
- Wikimedia Commons: Photographs: Hundreds of old and new images available for free use.
