Online Image & Photo Collections
Many digital archive sites provide access to both print and visual sources, but the databases and collections listed here either contain only (or primarily) images or have large number of images in addition to other content.
- University of Southern California Digital Library This link opens in a new windowUSC Digital Library Helps to fulfill the mission of the USC Libraries to select, collect, preserve, and make accessible high quality digital images of unique materials with metadata to support research, and provides a gateway to resources on Los Angeles and Southern California.
- American Antiquarian Society Illustrated InventoriesIncludes: ambrotypes, daguerreotypes, tintypes, portraits, social and political caricatures, drawings, European political prints, engravings, and photographs
- American Civil War Research Database This link opens in a new windowContains information on over 4 million soldiers and thousands of battles, as well as regimental rosters, officer profiles and military records.
Includes over 15,000 photographs. - American Periodicals 1740-1940 This link opens in a new windowIncludes digitized images of over 1,800 American magazines and journals published from colonial days to the 20th century.
***To search for images use the Advanced Search form and select either Editorial Cartoon/Comic or Image/Photograph in the Document Type list under Search Options. - AP Images This link opens in a new windowA primary source database from the Associated Press, one of the oldest news organizations in the world; includes photographs, audio sound bites, graphics and text spanning over 185 years.
- ARTstor This link opens in a new windowLogin required
Provides access to nearly a million images in the areas of art, architecture, the humanities, and social sciences, from the late 1930s to the present.
- Authentic History Center: Primary Sources from American Popular CultureA rich resource for digitized images, documents, videos, sound recordings and more. Currently covers American History topics from the American Revolution to 9/11/2001.
- The Association for Cultural Equity (ACE) ArchviesContains the Alan Lomax Archive, a collection of recorded music, dance, and the spoken word. Alan Lomax was an anthropologist of the performing arts.
- California Heritage CollectionThis University of California-Berkeley Bancroft Library site provides access to over 30,000 images illustrating California's history and culture
- Calisphere Digital Archive This link opens in a new windowCalisphere is the University of California's free public gateway to a world of primary sources. More than 150,000 digitized items, including photographs, documents, newspaper pages, political cartoons, works of art, diaries, transcribed oral histories, advertising, and other unique cultural artifacts, reveal the diverse history and culture of California and its role in national and world history.
- Early Landscape Photography of the American WestEarly Landscape Photography of the American West This New York Public Library site provides access to over 200 prints from the 1860s and 1870s of American Western landscape, plus some text
- Harper's Weekly 1857-1912 This link opens in a new windowThe HarpWeek Database contains scanned images of Harper's Weekly, a prominent 19th- and 20th-century American magazine that began publication in 1857.
- U.S. History In Context This link opens in a new windowProvides access to more than 73,000 images in addition to other primary sources. This database covers themes, events, individuals and periods in U.S. history from pre-Colonial times to the present.
- History of the American West, 1860-1920(from the Library of Congress) Over 30,000 photographs, drawn from the holdings of the Western History and Genealogy Department at Denver Public Library.
- Image Archive of the American Eugenics MovementPresents primary source material from the Eugenics Record Office at Cold Spring Harbor, "the center of American eugenics research from 1910-1940."
- Images of America: A History of American Life in Images and Texts This link opens in a new windowImages from Arcadia Publishing's award-winning series of local history books
- Images of the American Civil War This link opens in a new windowContains over 10,000 images (photographs, posters, cartoon, maps, advertisements, ephemera, etc.) from the fields of battle, politics, and general society, enabling researchers to experience the events, both monumental and mundane, of the Civil war.
- Library Company of Philadelphia Print & Photograph CollectionsSpecializing in works by Philadelphia photographers and printmakers, and images that document the city of Philadelphia, the collection visually records the history of the Philadelphia area from the late 17th to the mid 20th century. In addition to Philadelphia area materials, the graphics collections include historical and commemorative prints, portraits, and political cartoons documenting American history at the national level from the 18th through the early 20th century.
- Life Photo ArchiveGoogle provides access to Life magazine's millions of photographs, from the 1750s on, most of which were never published.
- North Carolina Civil War Image PortfolioThis collection provided by the University of North Carolina presents images from woodcuts, engravings, lithographs, and photographs--most of these were made by people accompanying Union forces, or were made from sketches and other information they provided
- NYPL Digital CollectionsProvides access to over 800,000 images digitized from the The New York Public Library's vast collections, including illuminated manuscripts, historical maps, vintage posters, rare prints, photographs and more.
- Umbra: Search African American History This link opens in a new windowUSC is beta test partner for Umbra, a freely available digital discovery tool designed for the research and study of African American history and culture. It includes a growing collection of digital materials—images, videos, books, and more—provided by libraries, museums, and other repositories around the country.
- West Virginia History On ViewPhotographs from the West Virginia and Regional History Collection – Made available by West Virginia University, this site includes thousands of digitized photos.
- Western Americana Collection Photograph Collections(from Princeton University) Consists of photographs of Indians of the Americas and views of the American West, including landscapes, cityscapes, and mining, railroad, and agricultural operations. Also included are views of towns in Mexico. The bulk of the photographs date from the 19th century.
- The Western History Collections, Photographic ArchivesDigitized by the University of Oklahoma Libraries. Includes over 250,000 prints and negatives with an emphasis on the periods of 1870-1940.
- Women's Wear Daily Archive This link opens in a new window(1910-one year ago)
A comprehensive archive, from the first issue in 1910 to material from within the last twelve months, reproduced in high-resolution images.