Open Educational Resources Guide

Important Notes: Creation Commons licenses (Creative Commons FAQ) are the most popular open license. VADS collection images have all rights reserved copyright with specific permitted usage - refer to the copyright notice for details. 

Flickr Advanced Search
This photo repository offers an Advanced search with an "Any license" menu drop to select preferred usage rights including Creative Commons licenses and no known copyright restrictions (public domain).

Flickr Commons
Numerous participating institutions share images from the world's public photography archives. Usage Rights Statement. Use the "Any license" drop down menu and select "All creative commons" licenses.

The Gender Spectrum Collection
Contains a stock photo library featuring CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licensed images of trans and non-binary models.

Google Images
Use Google's Advanced Image Search to limit the usage rights with the menu option "Creative Commons licenses."

Openverse
Formerly CC (Creative Commons) Search, this search engine includes visual and audio resources with CC licenses or are in the public domain. Use the filter tool to search by CC license preference.

Pixabay
Pixabay is a database of more than 2.6 million photos, illustrations, vector graphics and videos released with the Pixabay open license and no required attribution. 

Unsplash
Free high-resolution images gifted by the global community of photographers for commercial and noncommercial use. Utilizes the Unsplash open license. Attribution is a courtesy.

VADS
This is an online resource for visual arts that includes a collection of over 140,000 images available for non-commercial educational and research use (copyright notice).

Wikimedia Commons
This is a database houses millions of media files that are either in the public domain or have a CC license. Please refer to each individual item to view the licensing.

WorldImages
This database provides access to the California State University IMAGE Project. It contains approximately 100,000 images from around the world that are available under the CC license: CC BY-NC 2.5. For more information about use of images check the “Conditions of Use of Website Images” section available form the main page.

Important Note: While these resources are identified for public domain usage, always use due diligence to review image usage rights.

Artstor
Images, videos, documents, and audio files from public institutional collections. When doing a search, freely available items are labeled as "OPEN ARTSTOR" and should have a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license.

The Cleveland Museum of Art
The Cleveland Museum of Art announced on January 23, 2019, that it is an Open Access institution, using the CC0 designation mark for high-resolution images and data as related to its art collection. Open Access means the public now has the ability to share, collaborate, remix, and reuse public domain images from the CMA's world-renowned collection. Select "Open Access" under the search fields to filter for CC0 works.

Digital Public Library of America
Portal to millions of digitized images, documents, and primary source materials from America's archives, libraries, and museums. After using the search box, refine your search using the "How Can I Use It?" for usage rights options. "Unlimited Re-Use" refers to works believed to be in the public domain (in the U.S.).

Flickr Advanced Search
This photo repository offers an Advanced search with an "Any license" menu drop to select preferred usage rights including Creative Commons licenses and no known copyright restrictions (public domain).

Flickr Commons
Numerous participating institutions share images from the world's public photography archives. Usage Rights Statement. Use the "Any license" drop down menu and select "No known copyright restrictions" for public domain images. 

The Metropolitan Museum of Art
In February 2017, the Met introduced its Open Access Initiative which makes all images of public domain artworks and basic data on all accessioned works in its collection available for unrestricted use. Use "Show Only: Open Access" when doing a search to identify works in the public domain. These will have the "OA" symbol. 

NegativeSpace
These CC0 images are in the public domain. Free to use, edit, and modify for personal and commercial uses.

The New York Public Library's Public Domain Collections
Over 180,000 public domain images are available from The New York Public Library. Using the Digital Collections search, when you click in the search box a check box with "Search only public domain materials" will appear. Check this box. Images include a "Rights Statement" with more details.

Open Content Program - Getty Museum
Digital images to which the J. Paul Getty Museum holds the rights or that are in the public domain. (No copyright in the United States.) When using the Getty Search Gateway to look for images, make sure the "Open Content Images" filter is selected.

Openclipart
All clipart in Openclipart is in the public domain. Images can be downloaded in various sizes and formats.

Smithsonian Open Access
Smithsonian Open Access includes over 2 million CC0 digital images from the 19 Smithsonian museums, as well as research centers, libraries, archives, and the National Zoo. When performing your search, be sure the "Open Access Media" box (before the search box) is checked off for CC0 images.

Wikimedia Commons
This is a database houses millions of media files that are either in the public domain or have a CC license. Please refer to each individual item to view the licensing.