I showed you previously how to use Google Books to obtain text and pictures without copyright restrictions. Now I have found that similar use can be made of the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog of the Library of Congress. Here I show you have to obtain free pictures for website development
Copyright restrictions
Copyright restrictions in the U.S. vary depending on the year of publication. A simple rule though is that anything published before 1923 no longer has copyright protection. More information on copyright can be found at the U.S. copyright office.
Prints and Photographs Online Catalog of the Library of Congress
Unfortunately the Online catalog is not very user friendly. There is no date search so looking for pictures before 1923 is a matter of scanning the search results. Search for your topic of interest and scan the data usually shown using a c followed by the year.
When you click on the link to the photo, a small image and associated record is shown. Part of the record may look like this:
TITLE: [Santa Claus with children and toys: Santa holding 2 girls]
CALL NUMBER: STEREO SUBJ FILE – HOLIDAYS [item] [P&P]
REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-USZ62-77006 (b&w film copy neg. of half stereo.)
RIGHTS INFORMATION: No known restrictions on publication.
MEDIUM: 1 photographic print on stereo card : stereograph.
CREATED/PUBLISHED: c1906.
Since this was published in 1906, it is in the public domain and you can use freely.
If there is any doubt as to copyright, the burden is on you to make sure there is no copyright. Using the 1923 rule is the easiest method to avoid violations.
I want to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Happy Christmas and wonderful holiday.
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Barry, that is a good find… Now if I can only find some color pictures on there…..
Best,
Mike
GREAT tip, thanks so much. I’m now starting to develop my domains knowing where to get content and images that I can use freely is a big help.
Mike,
I use istockphoto for my color photos when developing my domains. Affiliate link on the right there but I feel I can endorse them because I use them.
I found a few good B&W ones on there but point taken
I would imagine the same copyright restrictions would also apply to the photos on the new “LIFE photo archive hosted by Google”. http://images.google.com/hosted/life
Jeff,
No. most likely not for most of those photos.
“Most were never published and are now available for the first time through the joint work of LIFE and Google.”
It is the publication date that needs to be before 1923 not the date the photo was taken.
Barry
Googling “Public domain images” will also get you a great list of links that will take you to copyright free images.
Don’t forget, too, any US Federal Government document, including photos and images, are Public Domain. http://usasearch.gov/ is a terrific place to go.
As you say, you’ve got to do your research to ensure you’re not infringing. There’s a staggering amount of Public Domain stuff out there, though.
Hi Alan,
I had a couple of posts previously on using government data and images and that is true of the US government but may or may not be true of other country’s data and images.
One word of caution about Googling public domain images. That relies on the person posting the image accurately identifying them as being in the public domain. I can tell you many so called public domain images found through Google are in fact not in the public domain. They may have been posted due to fair use clause in copyright law and then been copied. Research an image beyond what Google search says to be sure.