Research Guides: *Visual Studies Guide*: Images & Graphics

Introduction

The following selection of websites provide images and information about those images for use in your research projects. Please remember that when you use an image in your work, you always need to cite your source. Images are just like any other resource--they were created by someone who deserves credit for their work.

General Image collections

Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) This link opens in a new window
The DPLA allows you to search millions of photographs, manuscripts, books, sounds, moving images, and more from libraries, archives, and museums around the United States. Each record links to the original object on the library or other content provider's website.

Flickr Commons
Cataloging the world's public photo archives.
Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Online Catalog
The Library of Congress categorized their collections into themes, but you can also search through all of their collections in the search box at the top of the page.
Library of Congress Digital Collections
Use the filters on the left side of the page to hone your search, or search through the entirety of their collections in the search box at the top of the page.
LUNA Commons
This site has many digital collections and a search engine for the entirety of their materials.
New York Public Library's Digital Collections
Explore thousands of digitized items from the New York Public Library's collections.
OpenGLAM Open Collections
A site that highlights digitized collections from around the world.

Smithsonian Collections Online
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Searchable archives of the Smithsonian's vast collections, this resource combines rare nineteenth and twentieth century archival materials on such topics as World’s Fairs and trade literature and is paired with modern Smithsonian Magazine and Air & Space Magazine backfiles to present unique and comprehensive insight into history, science, nature, the arts, innovation, technology, and world culture.

Smithsonian Image Gallery
Thematic collections to browse that also include many scientific images.
Wikimedia Commons
Use Wikimedia Commons to find images covering many topics.

Government Resources for Science Images and Video

Astronomy:

Biology:

Public Health:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Public Health Image Library

Medical History

U.S. National Library of Medicine History of Medicine Image library

Science.gov images:

Science.gov To search for images, be sure to select "multimedia" on the advanced search page.

Creating Graphics & Visualizing Data

The following are free, online tools for creating visualization materials:

Cacoo: From flowcharts to wireframes: a tool for every diagram.
D3 Data-Driven Documents: D3 helps you bring data to life using HTML, SVG, and CSS.
dygraphs: an open source JavaScript charting library.
Knight Lab Projects: a variety of tools to choose from, including Juxtapose, Scene, Soundcite, Storyline, StoryMap, and Timeline.

Films

AVON (Academic Video Online)
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Academic Video Online: Premium brings together on a single cross-searchable platform a completely integrated online repository of Alexander Street Press video titles. Includes newsreels, award-winning documentaries, field recordings, interviews, lectures, training videos, and exclusive primary footage.
Kanopy
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Kanopy offers pay-per-title access to a wide variety of documentaries and film festival winners.
PBS Video Collection
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This collection assembles the greatest documentary films and series from the history of PBS into one optimized online interface.
Films On Demand
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Provides streaming video for over 4,000 titles in the humanities and social sciences from the Films Media Group.