Public Domain -   The term “public domain” refers to creative materials that are not protected by intellectual property laws such as copyright, trademark, or patent laws. They are works owned by the public, not an individual author or artist.

There are four common ways that works arrive in the public domain:

• the copyright has expired 
• the copyright owner failed to follow copyright renewal rules
• the copyright owner deliberately places it in the public domain (creative commons license)
• copyright law does not protect this type of work

From Welcome to the Public Domain. Stanford University Libraries. (CC BY-NC 3.0 US)

 Always check the license to verify if your use is allowed. See also the Copyright and Fair Use section of this guide.

Google Advanced Image Search allows you to select features such as size, type, color and license (usage rights).

Creative Commons - CC Search enables the sharing and use of creativity and knowledge through free legal tools, providing convenient access to Google Image, Flickr and Wikimedia Commons.

Flickr - The Commons provides access to publicly-held photography collections from cultural institutions around the world, including the Smithsonian, Getty, NASA, and the National Media Museum.

Art:

• AIGA Design Archives - With more than 20,000 selections dating back to 1924, the AIGA Design Archives is a vital record of all disciplines of communication design.

In Advanced Search, select 'Art Reproduction' in Document Type.

In Advanced Search, select 'Art Reproduction' in Document Type.

• Arts: Search - ReVIEW

  (19th - early 20th century) Digitized and searchable versions of important decorative and fine arts journals published in Europe and the USA.

• Design Abstracts Retrospective (DAR) in Arts:Search

  (20th century) DAR indexes and provides abstracts of articles in many of the major design journals and annuals. Images in articles, including advertisements, are also indexed.

• Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Online Catalog

  Photographs, fine and popular prints and drawings, posters, and architectural and engineering drawings. 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.

• Bildindex der Kunst und Architektur

  Over 2 million images of art and architecture from German and European cultural institutions and universities, including the photo archive in Marburg.

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  Architecture:

Use 'Document feature' to select type of image (illustration, photo, sketch, plan, etc).

• Cities and Buildings Database - Buildings and cities from throughout history and throughout the world.

• SPIRO Architecture Slide Library - Online public access catalog to the 35mm slide collection of the Architecture Visual Resources Library (AVRL) at the University of California at Berkeley

Landscape Architecture:

• LIFE Photo Archive

  Search millions of photographs from LIFE photo archive, from 1750s to today.
• Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Online Catalog

  The collections of the Prints & Photographs Division include 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.

  • Vogue Archive - Complete, full-text contents of Vogue magazine (US edition) in full color page image, from the first issue in 1892 to the present, with monthly updates for new issues. Learn more about this database

   

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  Advertising:

  • Ad * Access

    With over 7,000 images available, Duke University’s digitized collection of American and Canadian advertisements from 1911 to 1955 is an exceptional resource. The collection can be searched in a variety of ways including subject, company, date, publication, and audience.
  • Ad Flip

    A searchable database of classic print ads searchable by category, decade, or year.
  • Ads through the Ages Flickr Group
  • The Advertising Archives

    The collection spans the years from the mid 19th Century to the present day. Image types include British & American Press Adverts, British & American Magazine Covers and Artwork including story Illustrations, Rare French & Spanish Magazine Art, British TV Advertising Stills, Mail Order Catalogues, Posters, Postcards, Menus, Theatre Programmes & other Ephemera, and a Wide selection of Vintage Magazines.

     

    Dowd Illustration Research Archive

    Digitized advertisements available on JSTOR (On campus access or WU log-in required).

  • Emergence of Advertising in America: 1850 - 1920

    Another excellent digital collection from Duke University, with a focus on late 19th-century to early 20th-century advertisements.
  • History of Advertising Trust

    This organization focuses on preserving and providing access to items related to the UK advertising industry. The online gallery contains hundreds of ads that can be browsed by subject.
  • Jay Paull

    A personal collection consisting of over 10,000 American advertisements dating from the 1830s to the 1920s.
  • Kodak Advertising Collection at the George Eastman

    The George Eastman Archive in Rochester, NY possesses a collection of approximately 95,000 Kodak ads from the late 19th century to the late 20th century. Nearly 100 images are available online for browsing.
  • Library of Congress American Memory Advertising Collections

    American Memory provides free and open access through the Internet to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience.
  • Pre-1920s Collection Ads Flickr Group
  • Vintage Ad Browser

    This site aims to collect vintage ads from a variety of sources, including comic books, CD-Roms, websites, APIs, user submissions, book, magazine & comic book scans, and more. At the moment, this site contains 123,311 ads.

     

    Vogue Archive - Complete, full-text contents of Vogue magazine (US edition) in full color page image, from the first issue in 1892 to the present, with monthly updates for new issues. Learn more about this database

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    Advertisements

    The Dowd Illustration Research Archive holds a number of periodicals, specifically magazines, in the collections. The Illustrated Periodical Collection, the Charles Craver Collection and the Walt Reed Illustration Archive house hundreds of magazines and tear sheets dating from the 19^th century to the mid-20^th century. (The Walt Reed Illustration Archive Tear Sheet Collection is publicly available; the Illustrated Periodical Collection and the Charles Craver Collection require on campus access or WU log-in.)

    For researching advertisements, we recommend the following periodicals:

    • Women's magazines: Ladies Home Journal, McCalls, and Delineator (early 20th century)
    • General readership magazines: Harper's Weekly & The Century (late 19th century through early 20th century)
    • Mid-Century magazines: American and Holiday

    Subjects include:

    • food and drink
    • household items and appliances
    • furniture and interior decorating
    • children and parenting
    • beauty and hygiene
    • health and medicine
    • travel and leisure

    Featured companies and brands include:

    • Campbell’s Soup
    • Butterick
    • Kellogg’s
    • Elizabeth Arden
    • Ivory Soap
    • Dole
    • Kodak
    • Del Monte
    • Pond's
    • Cream of Wheat
    • Kraft
    • Johnson & Johnson
    • Kotex
    • Quaker Oats
    • General Electric
    • Bissell
    • Sunkist
    • Scott Tissue
    • Heinz
    • Bayer
    • American Bell Telephone System (AT&T)

Image credit: Ad for Van Camp's Pork and Beans from Ladies' Home Journal, December 1911/From the Periodicals Collections

Health Sciences:

The palmar aponeurosis by Henry Gray. Anatomy of the Human Body, 1918.  

Sciences: 

      Mar's Exploration Program poster, NASA/JPL

These sources were adapted from ALA's Digital Collections Image Guide.

American Philosophical Society - Anthropology Images Collections concerning archaeology, linguistics, cultural anthropology, and physical anthropology, the APS is a rich resource of images depicting both the study of these disciplines and the people who practiced them

Image credit:

United States and International:

• David Rumsey Map Collection  - The historical map collection has over 66,000 maps and images online. The collection includes rare 16th through 21st century maps of America, North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Pacific and the World.

Popular collection categories are celestial, antique atlas, globe, school geography, maritime chart, state, county, city, pocket, wall & case, children's, and manuscript maps. Search examples: Pictorial maps, United States maps, Geology maps, California map, Afghanistan map, America map, New York City map, Chicago map, and U.S. Civil War maps. Browse  map categories: What, Where, Who, When. 

      Sanborn Maps, St. Louis, v.5. 1903-, last updated 1964.

       World's Fair 1904 round celluloid pinback button with a metal back. David Rumsey Map Collection.

• American Memory Map Collection (Library of Congress)  - The Library of Congress has custody of the largest and most comprehensive cartographic collection in the world. Search or browse by historical theme or geographic location.

      [Detail] Field of Gettysburg, July 1st, 2nd & 3rd, 1863. Library of Congress.

• Broer Map Library - worldwide collection of historic maps, primarily from the 19th & 20th centuries. Various types of maps and subject matter.
• World Digital Library - The WDL makes available on the Internet, free of charge and in multilingual format, significant primary materials from all countries and cultures.
• Old Maps Online - large collection of historical maps from libraries.
• New York Public Library Digital Collections  - images of historical maps from around the world.
• reliefweb - maps of current disasters and crises, search by country or event.

Regional:

• St. Louis Area Historic Maps - A guide to locating historic maps of the St. Louis (Missouri) regional area.
• Sanborn Maps Sanborn maps date back to the 1860s and were created as a detailed building record by the Sanborn Fire Insurance Company. They are large scale (50 feet to the inch) and highly detail and include such information as building location, construction materials, and building height.
• GIS for Architecture Research Guide - Research focused on GIS and architecture.

St. Louis Maps:

St. Louis Neighborhoods Contemporary maps of St. Louis city neighborhoods.

Summaries of Historical City Planning Index and date listings for St. Louis city plans created 1875-1990; check WU libraries for copies of original plans.