Research Guides: English: Find Images

Databases and Free Resources for Images

Recommended Databases

The library subscribes to a couple databases that have a great deal of "authority control," or experts tagging the images accurately. They also insure that you can use the image for educational purposes.

Artstor This link opens in a new window
Images of art, architecture, photographs and videos from art museums from around the world. Keyword search or browse by collection, type, or geography. Create an individual account to download the images. Downloaded images can be used in the classroom and non-commercial educational use.
MasterFILE Premier (EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new window
Covers periodicals and full-text reference books. Includes the World Almanac & Book of Facts; biographies, primary source documents, the American Heritage Dictionary, and photos, maps & flags.

Free Repository of Public Domain Images

This site offer quality images that you can download, and have been tagged with the information you need to for citations.

Getty Search Gateway - Open Content Images
Over 100,000 high quality images that Getty has tagged as in the public domain. Images include tags of what it is, date, photographer, etc.

Click View Record to download the image.

Search for Images by Creative Commons Licensing

Google Images
Keyword search for images via Google, then to filter, click on Tools, and Usage Rights to limit to images with Creative Commons licensing.

Easiest site to skim the results and see where the image is from, to hopefully find one from an official site or institution.
Wikimedia Commons
Search for free to use (sometimes with restrictions) media files: images, sounds and videos.
Creative Commons Image Search - Openverse
Keyword search, then use the filters on the left to narrow by type of license -- CC0 and Public Domain Mark are the most open.

Note that the filter by Source doesn't always work.
Flickr Public Domain Search
Search Flickr's large collection, but limited to those images with "no known copyright."

However, it isn't always accurate. Double check the usage restrictions on each image by clicking on the image and reading the description. Can download images in different sizes.

Flickr has content uploaded by institutions as well as individuals. Be picky - go for ones from institutions (note who uploaded it by hovering over the image), and ones where the uploader fully described the image.