Research Guides: Images: Social Science Images

Subscription Databases

AP Images
Hundreds of thousands of images from the Associated Press.
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Associated Press Photo Archives
Artstor
Site will retire: Aug 1, 2024. Artstor content may be searched within JSTOR (select the Images tab while searching). Artstor is a database of over 1 million images brought together to serve the scholarly and instructional needs of art historians, as well as students and faculty in the humanities and related social sciences.
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Requires University logon for off-campus access. To save image groups, register at the site using your umich email address.

Databases & Web Resources

Ad* Access
From the Duke University collections, over 7,000 advertisements printed in U.S. and Canadian newspapers and magazines between 1911 and 1955.
AdViews
A digital archive of vintage television commercials dating from the 1950s through the 1980s.
JSTOR Primary Sources
A portal to three collections of primary source materials: one of 19th c. British Pamphlets, one of World Heritage sites in Africa, and one of political struggles and independence movements in S. Africa.
Library of Congress Digital Image Collections
Diverse collections of images provided by the Library of Congress.
American Museum of Natural History Digital Special Collections
Access to over 7,000 digital images from the archival photographic images, art and memorabilia images and Rare Book Collection illustrations.
AP Images
Online access to over 500,000 photos with detailed captions from the AP news wire. Includes all photos from US and abroad added in the previous 365 days (800 per day) plus many selected older photos from 1844 to the present. Updated continuously.
ARTstor
(UM only) Collections include historical and documentary images.
Broadsides and Ephemera
Thousands of broadsides, pamphlets, posters, tickets and other printed items from across America. Part of Duke Digital Collections.
Cartoon Image Database (Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum : OSU)
Scanned images from the Billy Ireland Cartoon Collection at OSU.
Charles W. Cushman Photograph Collection
The collection of Charles W. Cushman's nearly 15,000 kodachrome slides is a photographic document of American social history in the twentieth century.
David Rumsey Historical Maps Collection
Over 13,600 images of high resolution images with an emphasis on the American continents during the 18th and 19th centuries.
Emergence of Advertising in America
Advertising images from 1850-1920.
Europeana
Europeana is a single access point to millions of books, paintings, films, museum objects and archival records that have been digitised throughout Europe.
Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black and White Negatives
Over 175,000 photographs documenting life in America between 1935 and 1944. Government agencies involved include the Resettlement Administration (1935-1937), the Farm Security Administration (1937-1942), and the Office of War Information (1942-1944). The negatives are now part of the Library of Congress Collections.
Flickr : The Commons
Public domain photography collections supplied to Flickr by museums around the world.
Google Patent Search
Search over 7 million patents, including full images.
Labadie Photograph Collection
Photograph holdings of the Labadie Collection on social protest and radical politics, housed in the Univ. of Michigan Special Collections Research Center.
Life Magazine Photo Archive
Extensive collection from the photojournalist magazine chronicling American life and events over the last century and a half.
LUNA Commons Collections
A variety of collections of images from various sources covering history, social science, and the arts.
Medicine and Madison Avenue
Over 600 advertising items and publications from 1850 to 1920 illustrating the rise of consumer culture in the US.
Moving Image Archive
Thousands of digital movies ranging from broadcasts to cartoons to films.
National Archives : Motion Pictures, Film and Sound
Information about and access to some video and audio clips from the National Archives.
National Film Preservation Foundation
Provides access to descriptions (and some clips) of early American film.
National Park Service Historic Photos Collection
Several thousand images from the collections of the NPS, including park architecture, Native American heritage, roads and transportation, CCC, etc.
Native American History and Culture: Finding Pictures
A guide to finding Native American images in the Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.
New York Public Library Digital Gallery
Over 685,000 images across disciplines from the NYPL Photographic Collections.
New York Times Images
News photos and graphics from the New York Times and partner publications.
NYC Municipal Archives Gallery
Over 870,000 images, video and audio files from the New York City Municipal Archives featuring the history of the city. Search by collection or by keyword.
NYPL Digital Gallery
Over 700,000 images from the NY Public Library's image collection.
Online Exhibits from the National Archives
Links to a range of exhibits relating to moments in US history, such as elections, work, etc.
Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA) Slide Library
Over 30,000 images of outdoor advertising and slide presentations of OAAA. From Duke University Digital Collections.
Heritage Gateway
Access to records and images of English archaeological, architectural, and martime heritage.
Pedestrian Bike Information Center Image Bank
Free images relating to walking and biking. The site is sponsored by the PBIC at the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center.
Photogrammar
A web-based platform for searching, organizing, and visualizing over 170,000 photographs dating from 1935-1945 created by the US Farm Security Administration and Office of War Information.
Political Posters in the Labadie Collection
Over 2,100 posters covering social protest movements such as Anarchism, Civil Liberties, Colonialism, Communism, Ecology, Labor, Sexual Freedom, Socialism, Women, etc. collected over the past 100 years.
Reuther Library (Wayne State) Image Galleries
Several thousand images from collections of the Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs and the relating the history of Detroit; including urban development, politics, civil rights, ethnic communities, etc.
Ross Archive of African Images
A searchable database of ove 5,000 images of African art published before 1921. The images are extensively catalogued.
Russian Posters Collection (Duke Univ.)
Russian political posters from 1920's forward.
Smithsonian Institution : Collections Search Center
Search over six million records with 536,000 images, video and sound files and other resources from the Smithsonian's museums, archives, and libraries.
Television News Archive
(UM only) The Vanderbilt Television News Archive is an extensive archive of television news -- providing access to broadcasts since August 5, 1968.
US Geologic Survey Multimedia Gallery
View and download images, video, and audio from the entire USGS image collection.
Wikimedia Commons
Wikimedia Commons is a media file repository with public domain and freely-licensed educational media.
World Digital Library
(UM only) An image database provided by the cooperative efforts of the Library of Congress and the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization.