Wikipedia:Public domain image resources

There are a number of sources of public domain images on the Web.

The presence of a resource on this list does not guarantee that all or any of the images in it are in the public domain: you are still responsible for checking the copyright status of images before you submit them to Wikipedia.
Please read the proposed policy on image use and etiquette at: Wikipedia:Image use policy

See also:

• Public domain resources
• Wikipedia:Public domain images with missing articles
• wikipedia:copyrights

Table of contents showTocToggle("show","hide") 1 Objects 2 Animals and Plants 3 Nature/Science 4 People 5 Locations 6 General Collections 7 Miscellaneous 8 Uncategorized links

Objects

• Aeroplanes
  • http://www.airforce.forces.ca/index_e.htm historical aircraft archive
  • http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/flight/index.html
  • http://www.nellis.af.mil/gallery/index.htm
  • http://nix.nasa.gov/browser.html
• Archeological finds
  • http://www.cts.edu/FacHomePages/imagelibrary/arch.htm
• Christianity related
  • http://www.cts.edu/FacHomePages/imagelibrary/imagelibrary.htm
  • http://www.thebiblerevival.com/clipart.htm
• Drugs
  • http://www.drugs.indiana.edu/prevention/iprcpics.html
• Food
  • http://www.usda.gov/oc/photo/opclibra.htm
• Historical images (but see also people below)
  • http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/ammemhome.html Library of Congress American Memory site
  • http://www.archive.org/movies/
  • http://teachpol.tcnj.edu/amer_pol_hist/
• Military
  • http://www2.nature.nps.gov/grd/cfprojects/photodb/Photo_search.cfm
• Music
  • http://www.ibiblio.org/mutopia/
• Occult
  • http://www.whisperingstone.com/reference/reference_graphics.htm
• Paintings
  Accurate photographs of paintings lack expressive content and are automatically in the public domain once the painting's copyright has expired (95 years after initial publication). All other copyright notices can safely be ignored.
  • http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/
  • http://www.kfki.hu/~arthp/
  • http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/
  • http://sunsite.dk/cgfa/
• Satellites
  • http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/space/index.html
• Ships
  • http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/ships/index.html
  • http://www.history.navy.mil/branches/org11-2.htm US navy archive of public domain ship photos

Animals and Plants

• Animals
  • http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/graphics/photos/index.html
  • http://www.jonsullivan.com/pictures/index.php3
  • http://www.usda.gov/oc/photo/opclibra.htm
  • http://images.fws.gov/
  • http://www.nps.gov/yell/press/images/
  • http://www.fourmilab.ch/images/eclipse_2001/africaimages.html
  • Birds
  • 1905 painings http://www.biologie.uni-hamburg.de/b-online/birds/regengl.htm.
    • Online copy of "Citizen Bird (http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=amrvg&fileName=vg14/consrvvg14.db&recNum=302&itemLink=r%3Fammem%2Fconsrvbib%3A%40field%28NUMBER%2B%40band%28amrvg%2Bvg14%29%29&linkText=0)" containing drawings of about a hundred bird species (I have a paper copy, from which I can make nicer quality scans upon request. --Brion)
  • Fish
    • http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/nurp/index.html
    • http://images.fws.gov/
  • Insects
    • http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/graphics/photos/index.html
• Plants
  • http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/graphics/photos/index.html
  • http://www.nps.gov/yell/press/images/
  • Crops
    • http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/graphics/photos/index.html
  • Fruits/Vegetables
    • http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/graphics/photos/index.html
  • Herbs
    • http://www.rootgrafix.com/herbalnexus/photos.htm

Nature/Science

• Landscape features (moutains, deserts, craters, etc)
  • http://earth.jsc.nasa.gov/sseop/efs/land.html

• Medicine
  • http://www.autopsydb.org/iadbimag.htm Johns Hopkins Autopsy Resource (JHAR) Image Archive
  • http://www.autopsydb.org/abpath.htm Public domain cytology photomicrographs, courtesy of Dr. Andrew Borkowski.
  • http://www.autopsydb.org/dermpath.htm Public domain dermatopathology photomicrographs, courtesy of Dr. Grace F. Kao.
  • http://art-bin.com/art/medhistorypix/omedicalimages.html Historical anatomical drawings

• Physics
  • http://www.physicsforfree.com/ Physics for Free: Public domain physics textbook in pdf format with illustrations

• Space (planets, stars, galaxies, etc) and spaceflight
  • http://grin.hq.nasa.gov/ Great Images in NASA library of images.
  • http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/SubjectT.html
  • http://nix.nasa.gov/ NIX: NASA Image eXchange
  • http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/imgcat/ NASA planetary image catalog
  • http://www.nasa.gov/gallery/photo/ NASA photo gallery
  • http://images.jsc.nasa.gov/ Johnson Space Center digital image collection
  • http://www.donaldedavis.com/PARTS/allyours.html Public domain works done for NASA by Don Davis: high-resolution scans of space-related paintings.
  • http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/ STScI Publication of public domain photography taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. (copyright notice (http://hubblesite.org/copyright/))

• Underwater
  • http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/nurp/index.html
• US National Parks
  • http://www2.nature.nps.gov/grd/cfprojects/photodb/Photo_search.cfm
• Weather
  • http://earth.jsc.nasa.gov/sseop/efs/atmo.htm
  • http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/nssl/
  • http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/historic/nws/index.html
  • http://www.spc.noaa.gov/faq/tornado/torscans.htm NOAA pictures of tornadoes

People

• World Leaders
  • http://www2.nature.nps.gov/grd/cfprojects/photodb/Photo_search.cfm
• Portraits
  • http://www.lib.utexas.edu/photodraw/portraits/index.html
  • http://teachpol.tcnj.edu/amer_pol_hist/
  • http://www.sonoma.edu/psychology/psychart.html Public domain drawings of famous psychologists. Some better than others.
  • http://www.cts.edu/FacHomePages/imagelibrary/portrait.htm Famous Christians
  • http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/daghtml/daghome.html Daguerreotypes 1839 - 1864 (mostly portraits)
  • http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/vvhtml/vvhome.html Creative Americans 1932 - 1964; 1400 public domain portrait photos
  • http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/print/235_alph.html Portraits of famous people, Library of Congress (not all public domain; remember, anything prior to 1924 is, and post-1924 images on the site that are copyright free are indicated)

Locations

• Cities
  • http://earth.jsc.nasa.gov/
• Maps
  • http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/gmdhtml/gmdhome.html Library of Congress digital map archive 1500-2002 (some maps under copyright)
  • http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/
  • http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/hep10/nhs/ U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration maps of the National Highway System (NHS)
  • http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/index.html PCL Map Collection

• Botswana
  • http://www.fourmilab.ch/images/eclipse_2001/africaimages.html
• Cuba
  • http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/detroit/dethome.html
• Egypt
  • http://www.cts.edu/FacHomePages/imagelibrary/Egypt.htm
• France
  • http://www.fauvet.net/sf/pagephoto/index.php3?dossier=principal
• Ghana
  • http://www.cts.edu/FacHomePages/imagelibrary/ghana.htm
• Iran
  • http://www.fourmilab.ch/images/eclipse99/iranimages.html
• Ireland
  • http://www.jonsullivan.com/pictures/index.php3
• Israel
  • http://www.cts.edu/FacHomePages/imagelibrary/Isreal_slides.htm
• Japan

• • Tokyo
    • http://www.gnuart.net/data/photo/ACBM/Tokyo/index.html
  • the private PUBLIC DOMAIN DATA LIBRARY (http://www.cnet-ta.ne.jp/p/pddlib/default.htm)
• Mexico
  • http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/detroit/detrSubjects29.html
• Panama
  • http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/detroit/dethome.html
• Puerto Rico
  • http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/detroit/dethome.html
• South Africa
  • http://www.fourmilab.ch/images/eclipse_2001/africaimages.html
• United Kingdom
  • http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~cookian/html/imagelib.html (mostly Arundel Castle)
• USA
  • Los Angeles
    • http://www.jonsullivan.com/pictures/index.php3
  • New York
    • http://www.empirestateroads.com/maps/
  • Orange County
    • http://www.jonsullivan.com/pictures/index.php3
  • San Diego
    • http://www.jonsullivan.com/pictures/index.php3
  • Vermont
    • http://www.vtweb.com/foliage/thumbs00.shtml
• West Indies
  • http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/detroit/dethome.html
• Zambia
  • http://www.fourmilab.ch/images/eclipse_2001/africaimages.html
• Zimbabwe
  • http://www.fourmilab.ch/images/eclipse_2001/africaimages.html

General Collections

• Compendium of Illustrations in the Public Domain (http://archive.org/texts/texts-details-db.php?id=58717) 300-page book.
• Digital documents (http://gallica.bnf.fr/) from the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BNF).
• GeekPhilosopher.com (http://geekphilosopher.com/MainPage/photos.htm) Collection of public domain photos organized by category.
• GIMP Archive (http://gimp-savvy.com/PHOTO-ARCHIVE/) 15,000 Royalty-free photos, organized by keyword.
• GNU Art (http://www.gnuart.net).
• Illustrations (http://hera.inalf.cnrs.fr/cgi-bin/search2e?headword=&author=&class=&speech=&type=plate_legend&word=&CONJUNCT=PHRASE&PROXY=moins+de&DISTANCE=3&OUTPUT=conc&SYSTEM_DIR=%2Fhome%2Fleonid%2Fartfl%2FENC%2F) from the French Encyclopedie.
• openphoto.net - http://www.openphoto.net/
• Random assortion of Public Domain images (http://www.pdimages.com/web6.htm).
• Scanned and colorised etchings claimed to be PD images (http://www.sru.edu/depts/cisba/compsci/dailey/public/public_domain.htm).

Miscellaneous

• Images of anarchists and anarchist symbols (http://flag.blackened.net/anarpics/)
• Public Domain Pagan Clipart (http://www.angelfire.com/pa2/sacredspiral/)
• World War II Poster Collection (http://www.library.northwestern.edu/govpub/collections/wwii-posters/) over 300 posters issued by U.S. Federal agencies
• Photos of the Great War (http://raven.cc.ukans.edu/~kansite/ww_one/photos/greatwar.htm) many images of World War I, scanned in from public domain resources. Slight usage notice, which is probably compatible with GFDL (requires attribution and link, as does GFDL, requests e-mail notice of usage).

Uncategorized links

U.S. Government sites

• U.S. Library of Congress digital image archive (http://memory.loc.gov/) (Some images are still under copyright, so caveat emptor.)
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service pictures (http://pictures.fws.gov/)
• More U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service imagery (http://images.fws.gov/)
• NOAA Photo Library (http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/)

Other sites:

• http://www.sru.edu/depts/cisba/compsci/dailey/public/public_domain.htm

Computer-generated public domain images:

• Automatic public domain map generating program (http://www.aquarius.geomar.de/omc/omc_intro.html)
• Canadian Illustrated News, 1869-1883 (http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/cin/index-e.html) Note: should be cited in the Images page as: "[list full source]. Reproduced from the National Library of Canada's website (www.nlc-bnc.ca)."

Public domain image meta-resources:

• http://www.wfu.edu/~tedforrl/imagcoll.html
• http://protist.i.hosei.ac.jp/Science_Internet/TI_2001E/index.html
• http://www.archivalart.com/
• http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/links/clipart.html (a lengthy list of categorised links to other public domain image sources, many of those links don't work though)
• http://dmoz.org/Computers/Graphics/Clip_Art/Public_Domain/ (a list of links to sites with public domain clip art)

Dover Publications (http://store.doverpublications.com/) has many, many books of copyright-free illustrations. Search on "copyright-free", "clip art" or "Pictorial Archive". These are hard copy and would have to be scanned, but they cover everything. You have to buy the books or borrow them from the library; the art is free. Here are just a few examples:

• Plants: 2,400 Copyright-Free Illustrations of Flowers, Trees, Fruits and Vegetables
• Animals: 1,419 Copyright-Free Illustrations of Mammals, Birds, Fish, Insects, etc.
• Ready-to-Use Illustrations of World-Famous Places: 109 Different Copyright-Free Designs
• Ready-to-Use Illustrations of Pets: 96 Different Copyright-Free Designs
• Ready-to-Use Illustrations of Appliances and Electronics: 98 Different Copyright-Free Designs
• Ready-to-Use Portraits of Famous People: 121 Copyright-Free Designs
• Ready-to-Use Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Mammals Illustrations: 98 Different Copyright-Free Designs
• Ready-to-Use Illustrations of Marine Animals: 96 Different Copyright-Free Designs
• Ready-to-Use Authentic Civil War Illustrations: 245 Different Copyright-Free Designs
• Ready-to-Use Bird Illustrations: 98 Different Copyright-Free Designs
• Ready-to-Use Flower Illustrations: 96 Different Copyright-Free Designs
• Ready-to-Use Endangered Animals Illustrations: 96 Different Copyright-Free Designs
• Ready-to-Use Medieval Herb, Plant and Flower Illustrations: 294 Different Copyright-Free Designs
• Airplanes of the Second World War Coloring Book 46 accurate illustrations copyright-free.

• Weapons and Armor, 1400 copyright-free illustrations of battle-axes, bows & arrows, cannons, more
• Transportation, 525 copyright-free illustrations include trains, trolleys, cars, ships, airplanes, many exotic vehicles.