UVM Libraries Research Guides: English & American Literature : African American Literature: Images

Images - Licensed Databases

ARTstor This link opens in a new window
This resource provides images of artworks and cultural artifacts of a wide variety of types, including paintings, sculpture, photographs, prints, furniture, textiles, ceramics, and more from around the world. The collection can be searched by creator, time period, type of work or by region of origin.
Note:The ARTstor site will be retired as of August 1, 2024. Access to ARTstor materials will be through JSTOR.

Britannica Academic This link opens in a new window
This resource provides access to the complete Encyclopædia Britannica. After entering the database, click "Media Browse" to search across millions of images and videos from the encyclopedia, including the "Arts and Literature -> Literature" and "History->Modern World" collections.

Image Search Engines - Freely Available on the Internet

Google Arts & Culture
An online platform through which the public can access high-resolution images of artworks housed in the initiative’s partner museums worldwide.
Search by keyword, artist, medium, country/place, art movements, historical events, historical figures.
Digital Public Library of America
An all-digital library that aggregates information and thumbnails for millions of photographs, manuscripts, books, sounds, moving images, and more from libraries, archives, and museums in the United States.
Creative Commons (Search)
Search for images and other Internet content from other established web sites (such as Google Images or YouTube) that the content producers stated could be used commercially and/or with modification. For example, when you use Creative Commons to search Google Images, it will return only those images that are labeled for commercial reuse with modification. (read more about Creative Commons).

Digital Image Collections - Freely Available on the Internet

NOTE: Many of the websites on the Websites page in this guide include extensive collections of images.

Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
The Met’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History pairs essays and works of art with chronologies, telling the story of art and global culture through the Museum’s collection.
National Museum of African American History & Culture: Explore the Collection (Smithsonian)
Smithsonian Institution: African American Community and Culture
Browse this digitized content by Object Type, Communities and Social Life, History and Social Change, People, and Music and Musicians.
Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia: Using objects of intolerance to teach tolerance and promote social justice
This museum is on the campus of Ferris State University and-according to the website-houses the nation's largest collection of artifacts documenting Jim Crow and racist caricatures of African Americans, from its origins to the present day. The online exhibits (linked under "Museum" in the top menu bar) embed images, artifacts, videos, and documents from the collection.
Slavery Images: A Visual Record of the African Slave Trade and Slave Life in the Early African Diaspora
This growing collection of 1200+ images (portraits, maps, illustrations, etc.) have been selected from a wide range of sources, most of them dating from the period of slavery. This project is a collaboration of universities and corporations.
Library of Congress - Digital Collections
Rich collection of primary materials. Access online collections: view maps & photographs; read letters, diaries & newspapers; hear personal accounts of events; listen to sound recordings & watch historic films.
Metropolitan Museum of Art - The Collection Online
Search 400,000+ objects held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
NYPL Digital Collections
Provides free access to 900,000+ images (some in public domain) digitized from the The NYPL's collections, including illuminated manuscripts, historical maps, vintage posters, rare prints, photographs, streaming video, and more. Search by keyword or Browse Collections. Encompasses the Berg Collection of English and American Literature, including: printed volumes; pamphlets; broadsides; literary archives and manuscripts, representing the work of 400+ authors. Printed books in English date from William Caxton to the present day.
Getty Open Content
Over 100,000 freely available digitized images from the J. Paul Getty Museum and Getty Research Institute to search and download.
J. Paul Getty Museum - Images Collections
Hollis Images
The Harvard Library's dedicated image catalog. It includes content from archives, museums, libraries, and other collections throughout Harvard University.
Newberry Library Digital Collections for the Classroom
An educational resource designed for teachers and students featuring primary sources from the Newberry Library's (Chicago) holdings, contextual essays, and discussion questions. See also Digital Newberry.