Images | SULAIR

Finding Images Online:

These sites are sources of high-quality, well-cataloged images. Some pertain specifically to art and art history; others are more cross-disciplinary in scope. Refer to our Quick Guide for Using Digital Images for tips on file size and format.

	ARTstor A very large subscription-based database; offers images pertaining to the arts and related disciplines: anthropology, archaeology, history, etc. The images are of high resolution and generally good quality and are always accompanied by descriptive metadata. Searching is by keyword and can be limited by date, location, and medium, or specific collection. Images can be resized, saved, and downloaded.
	VRC Imagebase Stanford's Visual Resources Center Imagebase contains over 50,000 primarily art historical images. In addition to the quick search box, you can explore by browsing collections that have been sorted by department, faculty name, medium, country, and style.
	Image Gallery The Image Gallery provides access to various digital collections owned by the Stanford Libraries, including the David Rumsey Collection (maps), the Douglas Menuez Photography Collection, the Herbert Matter Photograph Collection, Medieval Manuscript Fragments, the Stanford Historical Photograph Collection, the The Reid W. Dennis Collection of California Lithographs, and a portion of the Visual Resources Center's collection (see VRC ImageBase, above).
	NYPL Digital Gallery The NYPL’s Digital Gallery is a subset of its larger Digital Collections (http://www.nypl.org/digital/). Images can be browsed from within their contextual collections (e.g., After Columbus: Four Hundred Years of Native American Portraiture; “The Pageant of America” Photograph Archive) or via basic and advanced keyword search interfaces.
	Online Archive of California This site hosts digital collections for dozens of California institutions, including Stanford (for a list of all contributors: http://www.oac.cdlib.org/institutions/). The image section is searchable by keyword and browsable by subject and includes many entries relating to the history of the American West. Image size and quality vary somewhat by collection.
	American History Online Created by the Digital Library Federation, this database brings together disparate collections from museums and libraries, all focusing upon the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Collections focus upon specific subjects (e.g., the 1906 San Francisco earthquake; World War I posters) and have been contributed from locations such as the Library of Congress and UC Berkeley. Many of the collections are more text- than image-based; using the advanced search and limiting to “still image” is an efficient way to obtain solely images.
	American Memory This historical collection is the Library of Congress's key contribution to the National Digital Library. The site offers various aspects of the collection, including digital reproductions, a finding aid in the form of a catalog or register, and other accompaniments. It includes three photographic collections, one recorded sound collection, three early motion picture collections, one manuscript collection, and three early motion picture collections; more materials are becoming available over time.
	Archives of American Art Images Search A subset of the Archives of American Art's Collections Online (http://www.aaa.si.edu/collectionsonline/), the images collection includes photographic images of artists, exhibition installations, manuscripts, and events.
	Visual Arts Data Service A UK-based source for art historical image collections, the VADS site brings together resources from British cultural institutions for the purposes of access and preservation. It is particularly strong in the areas of material culture and design. Copyright restrictions vary by collection; ample explanatory information is provided.