Public Domain Image Archive

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Link: Public Domain Image Archive

 

The Public Domain Image Archive (PDIA) — brought to you by The Public Domain Review (PDR) — is a curated collection of more than 10,000 out-of-copyright historical images, free for all to explore and reuse. Our aim is to offer a platform that will serve both as a practical resource and a place to simply wander — an ever-growing portal to discover more than 2000 years of visual culture.

 

A valuable image archive in its own right, offering hand-picked highlights from hundreds of galleries, libraries, archives, and museums, the PDIA also functions as a database of images featured in the PDR, offering an image-first approach to exploring the project’s content. The featured images each link to the relevant article on the PDR where one can read about the stories which surround the works. Visitors in search of more context will also find links back to the institutions where we found the image — from small college libraries to national repositories.

 

We intend the archive to be a place of discovery, and to this end have developed various “views” to aid exploration:

 

i) catalogue view, to search and browse by theme, style, date, and more;

ii) infinite view, for a more immersive experience of the collection;

iii) shuffle view, a tool to easily summon images in a serendipitous manner. And with more ways to visualise the collection to come...

 

Images – 9,772 in total (at the time of posting)