Images
As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. Follow the links on this page to find images in library collections, printed sources, subscription databases, and on open access sites.
Library Databases
- Grove Art Online This link opens in a new windowSearch the Grove Dictionary of Art via the Oxford Art Online platform. Grove contains entries on artists, architects, craftsmen, patrons, movements, locations, and periods, as well as bibliographies for further research and thousands of searchable images made available through Oxford’s partnerships with museums, galleries, and other outstanding arts organizations. Browse through Timelines of World Art, Subject Guides or Resources for Educators created by organizations like MoMA and the Met. Create an optional subscriber account to save searches.
- Artstor This link opens in a new windowA rich database of over 2.5 million images of art and architecture from 300 museums, libraries, artists, scholars, and photo archives around the world. In addition to its core collections, Artstor offers public collections consisting of roughly 1.3 million freely accessible images, videos, documents, and audio files cataloged, managed, and shared by various institutions. Images in Artstor may be freely used in noncommercial educational and scholarly activities. Artstor’s images are now also discoverable in JSTOR. See the “Teach with Artstor” page for user guides, subject guides, and teaching and curriculum resources.
Please note: To download and save images, you must register for your own personal account (click "Register" for first time users on the upper right of the screen). The GC does not have an institutional login.
Photograph Collections
Search ArchiveGrid to find collections of photographs, drawings, posters, or other graphic materials in archival repositories.
Illustrations in Books
When searching OneSearch, WorldCat Discovery, or other library catalogs, add the word "illustrated" to your search to find works with images.
Illustrations in Periodicals
Photographs, drawings, maps, reproductions of artworks, advertisements, and other illustrations and images can be readily found in newspapers and magazines. Microform and reprint editions will likely be in black and white.
See our Newspapers Research Guide for tips on finding current and historical mainstream and alternative serials in print, on microfilm and online.
Photographs of New York City
- How to Find Historical Photos of New York City - NYPL GuideA comprehensive research guide from the New York Public Library.
Getty Research Institute
The Getty's Search Tools and Databases include a wide range of resources for studying art and art history, including the Getty Research Portal, Collection Inventories and Finding Aids, Research Guides and Bibliographies, Digital Collections, Photo Archive, the Getty Vocabularies for fine art, architecture, decorative arts, archival materials, and other material culture, and more.
NYPL's Public Domain Collections: Free to Share & Reuse
More than 180,000 of the items in The New York Public Library's Digital Collections are in the public domain and freely available to use and share however you like. Read more.
Open Access Sources
Images from the Library of Congress
Online Sources - Libraries & Museums (Selections)
- Digital Public Library of America"DPLA offers a single point of access to millions of items from libraries, archives, and museums around the United States. Users can browse and search DPLA’s collections by timeline, map, virtual bookshelf, and faceted search; save and share customized lists of items; explore digital exhibitions; and interact with DPLA-powered apps in the app library." See the DPLA's Primary Source Sets of topically arranged resources.
- Digital Culture of Metropolitan New YorkDCMNY provides online access to digital collections of libraries, archives, museums and historical societies located in and around New York City. The collections include photographs, maps, letters, postcards, manuscripts, scrapbooks, programs from events, catalogues, memorabilia and ephemera, and much. New collections are being added on an ongoing basis, and contributors are also adding new material to existing collections.
- Library of CongressA vast resource containing millions of images of materials in every format, including maps, notated music, photographs, letters, diaries, newspapers, books, legislation, and audio visual materials.
- Manar Al-Athar This link opens in a new windowAn open-access photo-archive based at the University of Oxford, aims to provide high resolution, searchable images, freely-downloadable for teaching, research, heritage projects, and publication. It covers buildings and art in the areas of the former Roman empire which later came under Islamic rule (e.g. Syro-Palestine/the Levant, Arabia, Egypt, and North Africa), from ca. 300 BC to the present, but especially Roman, late antique, and early Islamic art, architecture, and sacred sites.
- Metropolitan Museum of Art - Online CollectionOver 400,000 works of art from the museum's collection, 375,000 of which are open access and freely available to use, share, and remix without restriction.
- Museum of the City of New York Collections PortalA growing collection of more than 170,000 images and objects from the collections of the Museum of the City of New York.
- NYC Municipal Archives Online GalleryOver 900,000 images from the collections of the Municipal Archives. Includes photographs, maps, motion picture and audio recordings.
- New York Heritage Digital Collections"[A] portal for learning more about the people, places and events that contributed to the making of New York State."
- NYPL Digital CollectionsCollection of more than 800,000 images covering nearly every topic imaginable. Formats include visually appealing items such as drawings, illuminated manuscripts, maps, photographs, posters, prints, and rare illustrated books, along with video, audio, and more. Search or browse by item, collection, or NYPL division.
- NYPL Picture CollectionMore than 30,000 digitized images from books, magazines and newspapers as well as original photographs, prints and postcards, mostly created before 1923.
- NYPL Prints & Photographs Online CatalogThe NYPL's Print Collection contains over 200,000 original prints, including woodcuts, engravings, etchings, lithographs, screen prints, and digital prints, and dates from the 10th C to the present. The Photography Collection comprises more than 500,000 photographs by 6,000 photographers. Search across both collections using this catalog.
- FSA-OWI (Farm Security Administration-Office of War Information) PhotographsA searchable collection of over 170,000 mostly public domain photographs taken between 1935 and 1944 by the FSA and OWI depicting life in America during the Great Depression and World War II.
- Smithsonian Open AccessOver 4.5 million 2D and 3D digital items, including images and data from across the Smithsonian’s 19 museums, nine research centers, libraries, archives, and the National Zoo.
- Museums & LibrariesMany museums and libraries have digital editions of their collections online, especially of their most visually striking holdings. Visit their websites to see what's available.