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Finding Digital Images
Finding digital images for use in teaching and research may involve a variety of strategies. Google Image Search may yield results, but the quality of the images varies, and the images uncovered in a Google Image Search will, more than likely, have specific copyright restrictions. Subscription image databases (listed below) contain high quality images useful for teaching and research. While images in these databases are under copyright, use is usually permitted for educational purposes.
Digital Image Collections: Subscription Databases
The following are subscription services available to Knox students, faculty and staff that contain digital images. Please review the terms of use associated with a collection before using the images.
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Saskia Art Images (CARLI) Collection |
From the Description: "The collection contains 30,000 digital images of paintings, sculpture and architecture, including images from many important collections: the Prado, the Kunsthistorisches Museum, the Uffizi, and the Louvre as well as archaeological sites in Greece, Italy, Turkey and Egypt. The images can be displayed and downloaded in high-resolution format. Additionally, the descriptive data about the images includes references to the occurrences of these images in 19 major art history texts, including Gardner's Art Through the Ages, 12th edition; Understanding Art, 7th edition; Art and Ideas, 10th edition; Discovering Art History, 4th edition."
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Bridgeman Art Library Archive |
From the description: "Founded in 1972, the Bridgeman Art Library works with museums, art galleries and artists to make the best art available for reproduction. The result is an outstanding archive of images drawn from collections throughout the world. Every subject, concept, style and medium is represented, from the masterpieces of national museums to the hidden treasures of private collections. Fine art is just one of the sources of images; design, antiques, maps, architecture, furniture, glass, ceramics, anthropological artefacts and many others also feature in the collection."
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AP Images |
From the description: "The AP Images collection contains some 400,000 images, most of which are contemporary photos made since late 1995. Hundreds of spot news and feature pictures enter into the Archive each day, and a selection of historical images are scanned in weekly."
Collections from Cultural Institutions
Libraries, archives, government agencies, historical societies, museums, and other cultural organizations continue to digitize parts of their collections and make them available online. Some major collections of digital images from cultural institutions include:
- British Museum Collection database
- New York Public Library Digital Gallery
- Smithsonian Institution Archives, Manuscripts, Photographs Catalog Image Search
- The Library of Congress has several distinct image collections:
There are dozens of other cultural institutions (state and local historical societies, state libraries, other collaborative projects) that make their digital image collections accessible on the internet. Digital collections specific to a geographical location can be discovered by searching Google or another search engine using keywords describing the place (e.g., "Alaska") and a term such as "digital library" or "digital archives".
Moving Images
Although not as common as still image collections, some moving image collections are avaiable:- Open Vault from the WGBH Media Library and Archives "... provides online access to unique and historically important content produced by public television station WGBH for individual and classroom learning."
- The Internet Archive Moving Image Archive contains thousands of digital movies: from classic full-length films, to daily alternative news broadcasts, to World War II propaganda films, to government propaganda films, to user-generated content. Many of the films are avaialable for free download.
Other Methods for Finding Digital Images
The Technical Advisory Service for Images (TASI) organization maintains a database of digital image collections and projects. While you can search the database using keywords, it is also valuable to browse the database by broad subject category.
The Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) Digital Collections and Content database brings together descriptions of the content of dozens of digital image projects. You can search by keyword or browse the collections by subject.