Search Resources | Sourcing Copyright Free Media Workshop

The Biodiversity Heritage Library

Launched: 2006
Description: The world’s largest open access digital library for biodiversity literature. BHL operates as a worldwide consortium of natural history and botanical research
images, consortium

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Google

Creator(s): Larry Page and Sergey Brin
Launched: September 4, 1998
Description: Ubiquitous search engine
images, broad

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Internet Archive, Images

Creator(s): Brewster Kahle
Launched: May 10, 1996
Description: American digital library advocating for "a free and open Internet" which holds more than 38 million print materials, 11.6 million pieces of audiovisual content, 2.6 million software programs, 15 million audio files, 4.7 million images, 251,000 concerts, and over 832 billion web pages
images, consortium

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The Open Video Project

Creator(s): Interaction Design Laboratory at the School of Information and Library Science, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
Launched: 1998
Description: A shared repository intended to help researchers study ways to catalog, retrieve, preserve, and interact with digitized video once widespread access is available
video, broad

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Internet Archive, Books

Creator(s): Brewster Kahle
Launched: May 10, 1996
Description: American digital library advocating for "a free and open Internet" which holds more than 38 million print materials, 11.6 million pieces of audiovisual content, 2.6 million software programs, 15 million audio files, 4.7 million images, 251,000 concerts, and over 832 billion web pages
images, books

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The Met Museum

Description: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an art museum in New York City. It is the largest art museum in the Americas and fourth-largest in the world.
images, large institution

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Digital Public Library of America

Creator(s): Berkman Center for Internet & Society
Launched: 2010
Description: A discovery tool for public domain and openly licensed content held by the United States' archives, libraries, museums, and other cultural heritage institutions
audio, consortium

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Calisphere

Description: More than one million primary sources such as photographs, documents, newspapers, political cartoons, works of art, diaries, transcribed oral histories relating to the history and culture of California from over 100 libraries and institutions
images, consortium

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American Archive of Public Broadcasting

Launched: 2013
Description: More than 7,000 historic public radio and television programs available for streaming, provides data records for approximately 2.5 million items inventoried by public broadcasting stations
video, large institution

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Hathitrust

Launched: 2008
Description: A large-scale collaborative repository of digital content from research libraries including content digitized via Google Books and the Internet Archive digitization initiatives, as well as content digitized locally by libraries.
images, books

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Chronicling America

Launched: 2007
Description: Chronicling America is an open access, open source newspaper database and companion website.
images, newspapers

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Library of Congress

Description: The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., that serves as the library and research service of the U.S. Congress and the de facto national library of the United States.
images, newspapers

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NDL Search (Japan)

Description: The National Diet Library (NDL) is the national library of Japan and among the largest libraries in the world. It was established in 1948 for the purpose of assisting members of the National Diet of Japan (国会, Kokkai) in researching matters of public policy
images, international

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The New York Public Library Digital Collections

Description: Over 922,495 books, videos, maps, manuscripts, illustrations and photos
images, large institution

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Bing

Creator(s): Microsoft
Launched: May 28, 2009
Description: Second-largest search engine worldwide
images, broad

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The National Archives (United Kingdom)

Description: The official archive of the UK Government and for England and Wales; and "guardian of some of the nation's most iconic documents, dating back more than 1,000 years."
images, international

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Europeana

Creator(s): Europeana Foundation
Launched: November 20, 2008
Description: A web portal created by the European Union containing digitised cultural heritage collections of more than 3,000 institutions across Europe. It includes records of over 50 million cultural and scientific artefacts, brought together on a single platform and presented in a variety of ways relevant to modern users.
images, international

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YouTube

Creator(s): Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim
Launched: February 14, 2005
Description: An American online video sharing and social media platform owned by Google
video, broad

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Smithsonian Institution

Description: Over 18 million records of museum objects, archives and library materials including more than 8 million online images, audio & videos and blog posts.
images, large institution

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National Archives

Description: The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an independent agency of the United States government within the executive branch charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records
images, consortium

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Soundcloud

Creator(s): Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss
Launched: 2007
Description: One of the largest music streaming services in the world with more than 76 million active monthly users and over 200 million audio tracks as of November 2021
audio, broad

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Flickr

Creator(s): Ludicorp, a Vancouver-based company founded by Stewart Butterfield and Caterina Fake
Launched: February 10, 2004
Description: Long running image and video hosting service
images, broad

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National Library of Medicine

Description: The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM), operated by the United States federal government, is the world's largest medical library.
images, large institution

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Moving Image Research Center

Description: List of more niche video resources provided by the Library of Congress' Moving Image Research Center
video, directory

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Wikimedia Commons

Creator(s): Erik Möller
Launched: September 7, 2004
Description: Contains over 100 million free-to-use media files, managed and editable by registered volunteers
images, broad

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Google, Newspapers

Creator(s): Larry Page and Sergey Brin
Launched: September 4, 1998
Description: Ubiquitous search engine
images, newspapers

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Internet Archive, Videos

Creator(s): Brewster Kahle
Launched: May 10, 1996
Description: American digital library advocating for "a free and open Internet" which holds more than 38 million print materials, 11.6 million pieces of audiovisual content, 2.6 million software programs, 15 million audio files, 4.7 million images, 251,000 concerts, and over 832 billion web pages
video, consortium

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Internet Archive, Newspapers

Creator(s): Brewster Kahle
Launched: May 10, 1996
Description: American digital library advocating for "a free and open Internet" which holds more than 38 million print materials, 11.6 million pieces of audiovisual content, 2.6 million software programs, 15 million audio files, 4.7 million images, 251,000 concerts, and over 832 billion web pages
images, newspapers

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Openverse

Creator(s): Catherine Stihler (Creative Commons) and Matt Mullenweg (WordPress Foundation, Automattic Inc.)
Launched: May 2021
Description: An open-source search engine for open content developed as part of the WordPress project
images, broad

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Bing, video

Creator(s): Microsoft
Launched: May 28, 2009
Description: Second-largest search engine worldwide
video, broad

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Digital Public Library of America

Creator(s): Berkman Center for Internet & Society
Launched: 2010
Description: A discovery tool for public domain and openly licensed content held by the United States' archives, libraries, museums, and other cultural heritage institutions
images, consortium

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Newspapers.com

Description: Database includes more than 840 million pages from 24,000-plus newspapers, mostly local United States papers with some Canadian and elsewhere
images, newspapers

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Internet Archive, Audio

Creator(s): Brewster Kahle
Launched: May 10, 1996
Description: American digital library advocating for "a free and open Internet" which holds more than 38 million print materials, 11.6 million pieces of audiovisual content, 2.6 million software programs, 15 million audio files, 4.7 million images, 251,000 concerts, and over 832 billion web pages
audio, broad

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Oral History Association Guide to Leading Institutions

Creator(s): James V. Mink
Launched: 1966
Description: Because oral history isn't very centralized, this guide to leading repositories may help you locate material based on the region of your subject
audio, directory

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Artstor

Launched: 2003
Description: A nonprofit organization that builds and distributes the Digital Library, an online resource of more than 2.5 million images in the arts, architecture, humanities, and sciences
images, consortium

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Veridian (previously Elefind)

Description: Previously consolidated in one database but still helpful guide if you are looking for regional newspaper collections
images, directory

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NewsBank

Creator(s): John Naisbitt
Launched: 2013
Description: NewsBank Inc. is a US-based commercial company that operates a news database resource that provides archives of media publications as reference materials to libraries.
images, newspapers

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Openverse

Creator(s): Catherine Stihler (Creative Commons) and Matt Mullenweg (WordPress Foundation, Automattic Inc.)
Launched: May 2021
Description: An open-source search engine for open content developed as part of the WordPress project
audio, broad

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Yale University Digital Collections

Description: Provides access to millions of digitized works and images
images, consortium

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Vimeo

Creator(s): Zach Klein and Jake Lodwick
Launched: 2004
Description: An American video hosting, sharing, and services platform provider headquartered in New York City. Vimeo focuses on the delivery of high-definition video across a range of devices
video, broad

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