Letterform Archive
Architecture Image Sources
- Article Index: Avery Index
Use 'Document feature' to select type of image (illustration, photo, sketch, plan, etc). - Built in AmericaMore than 350,000 measured drawings, photographs, and written histories in architecture, engineering, and design in the United States and its territories.
- Cities and Buildings DatabaseBuildings and cities from throughout history and throughout the world.
- SPIRO Architecture Slide LibraryOnline public access catalog to the 35mm slide collection of the Architecture Visual Resources Library (AVRL) at the University of California at Berkeley.
- Bildindex der Kunst und ArchitekturOver 2 million images of art and architecture from German and European cultural institutions and universities, including the photo archive in Marburg.
- HABS / HAER / HALS CollectionThis collection documents more than 40,000 historic structures and sites through large-format photographs (b&w and color), measured drawings, and written historical reports. Additions are made each year. More detailed information is available in the descriptions for the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), and the Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS).
- Library of Congress - Cities and Townsincludes maps that depict individual buildings to panoramic views of large urban areas. These maps record the evolution of cities illustrating the development and nature of economic activities, educational and religious facilities, parks, street patterns and widths, and transportation systems.
Art Image Sources
- ARTstor This link opens in a new window
New interface available at JSTOR Artstor
Collection of nearly 2 million images, documenting artistic traditions across many times and cultures. Embraces architecture, painting, sculpture, photography, decorative arts, and design as well as many other forms of visual culture.
- Courtauld Institute40,000 high quality digital images of paintings, drawings, architecture and sculpture.
- Google Art ProjectHigh-resolution images of selected works from 16 museums around the world.
- Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Online CatalogPhotographs, fine and popular prints and drawings, posters, and architectural and engineering drawings with a focus on documenting the history of, the United States and the lives, interests and achievements of the American people.
- Bildindex der Kunst und ArchitekturOver 2 million images of art and architecture from German and European cultural institutions and universities, including the photo archive in Marburg.
Graphic Design Image Resources
- AIGA Design ArchivesOver 20,000 selections from AIGA's national juried design competitions from 1924 to present, including: packaging, corporate communications, brand and identity systems, typography, editorial design and illustration, and experience design.
- Arabic Design Archive (ADA)A non-profit initiative that seeks to enable knowledge production about Arabic design and its history through a framework of collecting, digitizing, and exhibiting. ADA aims to provide an open and accessible platform for the public to counter the parallel, inaccessible, and non-existent physical archive of the second half of the 20th century.
- BIPOC Design History. PolyMode.Created due to the frustrations and glaring gaps in design education for black, indigenous, and people of color.
BIPOC Design History provides a radical form of engagement with design history and education that provides an accessible payment structure. - Black in Design Conference. Harvard University Graduate School of Design African American Student Union. (BiD)The Black in Design Conference, organized by the Harvard University Graduate School of Design African American Student Union (GSD AASU) recognizes the contributions of the African diaspora to the design fields and promotes discourse around the agency of the design profession to address and dismantle the institutional barriers faced by our communities.
- Chinese Type ArchiveAn on-going, collaborative, open-access database of Chinese typographic resources.
- East Asian Graphics Archive (EAGA)A growing archive of contemporary graphic design ephemera sourced from designers across East Asia and the diaspora. Inspired by other grassroots efforts to document localized visual trends, the EAGA aims to develop a centralized platform dedicated to celebrating and preserving the richness of East Asian visual cultures and the intertwined legacies of the region.
- Letterform ArchiveA digitized sampling of the Letterform Archive's collection, including books, periodicals, posters, sketches, original art for reproduction, and related ephemera, as well as a robust reference library. Works chronicle the history of written communication from the invention of writing and medieval manuscripts to modernism, the age of print to the present explosion of digital type.
- Grafis NusantaraAn Indonesian sticker and label archive aiming to demystify Indonesian visual culture through social curation and collaborative efforts.
Landscape Architecture Image Sources
- Landscape Architecture Image Resource (LAIR)The LAIR Website has been designed to foster active, collaborative learning and encourage community building across a variety of campuses serving landscape architecture education.
- Project for Public SpacesContains images and descriptions of parks, markets, downtown areas, civic centers and more. It contains a database of images and articles and blogs about public space design and utilization.
- The Urban LandscapeFrom Duke University, this site contains a database of images pertaining to the theme "The Urban Landscape," from fourteen different collections.
- Library of Congress: American Landscape and Architectural Design1850-1920Large collection of lantern slides of American buildings and landscapes built during the period 1850-1920. Source materials for this collection come from Harvard's Graduate School of Design.
General Web Image Resources
- Pexels
All photos and videos on Pexels are free to use. Attribution is not required. Giving credit to the photographer or Pexels is not necessary but always appreciated. You can modify the photos and videos from Pexels. Be creative and edit them as you like. - Unsplash
All photos can be downloaded and used for free
Commercial and non-commercial purposes
No permission needed (though attribution is appreciated!). What is not permitted - Creative Commons
The nonprofit Creative Commons enables the sharing and use of creativity and knowledge through free legal tools, providing convenient access to Google Image, Flickr and Wikimedia Commons.
Always verify that the work is actually under a CC license by following the link. - Flickr Commons
Flickr Commons provides access to publicly-held photography collections from cultural institutions around the world, including the Smithsonian, Getty, NASA, and the National Media Museum.