A bit of relief for Media Professionals

Media professionals are always in great need of innovative material for editorial usage—stills, motion, sound files—and they need it quickly. Often, as we all know (with a sigh) the resources available are beyond our budgets and the available offerings fall short of the creative vision we have. Increasingly, we are seeing distributors of visual/auditory media …


A Constellation of Images

How things have changed! This researcher remembers thick, well thumbed-through paper bound catalogs with grainy images of the earth from space with impossibly long identifying numbers that one would note, and then order(snail mail) copy negs from and wait…6,8,10 weeks to receive! NASA, as will surprise nobody, is great (no: change that: the best: because …


Can anyone use public domain images?

By Nancy Wolff, DMLA Counsel. Many many thanks to the DMLA, Nancy Wolff and DMLA Executive Director Cathy Aron for permission to repost this article from the DMLA blog. Answer: YES, there are no restrictions on any use of public domain images, including making them available to users for a fee. Since Carol Highsmith filed …


The Treasure Hunt Begins Here

New York Public Library is one of the greatest libraries in the world; established in Manhattan in 1895, it’s not only a magnificent example of the Beaux-Arts architecture, it also symbolizes the democratic ideal of free and open access to knowledge, since it first opened to the public (in 1911). But for those who are …


Diving into the DPLA: Getty Research Institute Adds Nearly 100,000 New Items

If you haven’t spent time lately navigating the collections of the Digital Public Library of America, now is a great time to revisit this fabulous content resource. Guest post by Jain Lemos Headquartered within the Boston Public Library, the DPLA’s online experience for researchers couldn’t be better, but hanging out there is time consuming. That’s …


The Curvature of the Earth is Plainly Visible

Universal Newsreel showing footage of the launch of a Titan II rocket in 1963 along with images from the unmanned capsule of the first stage being dropped. Beneath the falling debris of the discarded first stage the curvature of the earth is clearly visible: “Through the magic of the camera earthlings take their first ride …


Have you seen this?

Another in a casual series of photo related articles from ’round the web. We all love a bit of creative intel: Media Bakery offers up some insight in their Stock Photography Trends for 2014 report. The very first Selfie! Ads of the World – bookmark this one for research. Feature Shoot showcases all genres of …


Treasures from the Library of Congress, courtesy of the Public Domain Review

A series of elaborate “skeleton leaf” arrangements, from the photographic studios of John P. Soule which stood on Washington Street in Boston from 1861 to 1882. As well as producing many pictures of Boston’s buildings, notable events (such as the 1869 National Peace Jubilee and the great fire of 1872), carte-de-visite portraits etc., Soule also …


Celebrating All Saints Eve with the Public Domain Review

It’s Halloween (or: All Hallow’s Eve, if you want to be accurate; or Beltane, if you don’t like that version; or, frankly, whatever Witch you got on Tonight…); so, in celebration of this night of windy moors and starlit skies, here are some spooky images courtesy of The Public Domain Review. These photographs of ‘spirits’ …