Public Domain / Open Access Image Libraries

There are numerous sources of free images that you are available for use in your projects or blogging.  Most of these image banks are for older images (out of copyright, something you would need to check), but something from the 19th century is probably pretty safe.

From NASA / Flicker. No known copyright restrictions (no need for attribution either).

In some cases you need to attribute the image to the source, but that is a pretty easy restriction to follow for free use.  For tech or space images, NASA is a good source too.  Searching Flickr with filters for Creative Commons licenses also can work too, but you have to make sure the subjects are not people or owned by someone even if the image is free to use.  Before using any image check for yourself to see if you can truly use it or it is public domain, kind of like buyer beware.

Here is a short list of amazing resource sites.  Beware the Internet rabbit hole!

1. The Library of Congress digital Free to Use and Reuse Sets.  I like the Japanese fine prints collection, and you could definitely do a lot of creating with the other historical collections.
   Their main digital collections page with millions of items that are not just images, but you need to be more careful about copyrights and usage.
2. The British Library released over a million images on Flickr that are in the public domain.  There are lots of old maps and other images.  Search or browse for hours.
3. NASA and it many projects and divisions have piles of space images.  Not all are public domain, so do read the usage policies and restrictions.
   Jet Propulsion Laboratory Images and usage policies.
   ASTER Satellite Images that require credit.
   NASA on The Commons are images that are in the public domain on Flickr.
4. Metropolitan Museum of Art Open Access has 400,000 images online
   Japanese Illustrated books in the public domain - check policies.
5. Getty Open Content Images, check their usage policies.
6. National Gallery of Art Open Images, check their usage policies.
7. Art Institute of Chicago, under Creative Commons License, make sure the Open Access Checkbox is on for the search.

There are other sources of images too, but this is already a pretty big set.