GENERAL
An explanation of the various types of Creative Commons licenses. If you find a piece of artwork that has a Creative Commons license indicated, make sure to check the specific version of it to see what is and is not allowed.
Creative Commons Search Engine
Old Book Illustrations
Pexels (photographs)
Pixabay
PublicDomainPictures.net
The Public Domain Review
Wikimedia Commons
MUSEUMS
More and more museums are releasing images of the items in their collections into the public domain or some other form of open access. Most of them mark images that fall into that category, and some allow you to limit searches that way. Make sure to check each museum’s rules to see if there are limits on use.
ArtVee (pulls from many of the museums below)
Art Institute of Chicago
Barnes Foundation
Birmingham Museums
The Belvedere
The Clark Art Institute
The Cleveland Museum of Art Open Access
Dallas Museum of Art
The Folger Shakespeare Library Digital Image Collection
The Getty Open Content Program
KunstMuseum Basel
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
The Met Open Access
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
National Gallery of Art
Nationalmuseum (Sweden)
Paris Musées
The Rijksmuseum
Smithsonian Open Access
The Thiel Gallery
Wesleyan University Davison Art Center
Wien Museum
Yale University Art Gallery
MAPS
Historical maps can be great additions to projects, and some libraries have open access policies regarding them. As always, check the library’s rules regarding image usage, and make sure that the images you select fall into an open access category.
The New York Public Library Open Access Maps
Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection