United States History: Primary Sources by Type: Images

Finding & Using Images

Interpreting images

Image and document analysis worksheets from the National Archives
Making sense of documentary photography from History Matters
Visual Literacy Activities & Photographs
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From the Oakland Museum of California

LC highlights

American Social Hygiene Posters
Collection of more than 200 social hygiene posters dating from 1910-1970
By the People, For the People: Posters from the WPA, 1936-1940
Over 900 original posters produced from 1936 to 1943 as part of the New Deal
George Grantham Bain Collection
Collection of over 35,000 news photographs from the Bain news picture agency; most photos date from the early 1900s thru the 1920s
Map Collections
Library of Congress collection of digitized maps

General History

American Memory Project
Historical documents, photographs, sound recordings, moving pictures, books, pamphlets, maps, and other resources from the Library of Congress.

Artstor This link opens in a new window
Search over one million digital images in the fields of the arts, architecture, humanities, and sciences.
As of August 1st, 2024, ARTstor is available exclusively at JSTOR.

Library of Congress (LC) Prints & Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC)
Library of Congress's photographic collections, including Brady-Handy presidential portraits, daguerreotypes, Farm Security Administration photographs, National Photo Company early 20th-century photos of D.C., and more.
LIFE photo archive
Millions of photographs from the LIFE photo archive, stretching from the 1750s to today.
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Most were never published and are now available for the first time through the joint work of LIFE and Google.
National Archives Online Exhibits
Includes 20th century photographs and photographers, workplaces of the 19th and 20th centuries, historical panoramic photography, and more.
New York Public Library (NYPL) Digital Gallery
Over 337,000 images digitized from primary sources and print rarities in the collections of The New York Public Library
Smithsonian Images
Photographs of historic events, as well as displays, objects and artifacts in the Smithsonian collections, offered by the Smithsonian Photographic Services.
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Search by keyword or browse by category, including American history, the Presidency, and more.
Yale Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library
250,000 digitized images of photographs, textual documents, illuminated manuscripts, maps, works of art, and books from the Beinecke's collections.

Regional History & Special Topics

Calisphere
University of California's gateway to primary sources. Includes thousands of historical images from California cultural institutions, including the UC libraries, museums, historical societies, and archives.
The Chinese American Experience: 1857-1892
Ninteenth-century cartoons from Harper's Weekly.
Digital Schomburg: Images of African Americans from the 19th Century
Images from the New York Public Library of the African American experience in the 19th century.
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Categories of images include Civil War, Cultural Expression, Labor, and Education.
Duke University Library Digital Collections
Extensive collection of photographs, documents, and more, with collections in African American history, advertising, women's history and many other areas.
Harp Week - The Presidential Elections 1860-1912
Political cartoons from Harper's Weekly and other publications.
History of the American West, 1860-1920
Over 30,000 photographs of the American West
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Drawn from the holdings of the Western History and Genealogy Department at Denver Public Library.
Online Archive of California
Historical images from a variety of California institutions, including museums, historical societies, and archives.
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Search by keyword or browse by category, including California places, society, and technology
TreasureNet Historical Image Collection
Civil War photographs, and images from the early American West.
UW Libraries Historical Visual Materials Collections
Research materials from the UW Libraries Special Collections, including photographs, architectural plans, postcards, historical maps, artwork and ephemera. Most of the items relate to various aspects of the Pacific Northwest, its history, geography, arts, and industries.