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Primary & Secondary Sources

This guide will help you learn the difference between primary and secondary sources in various subject areas and provides resources for locating primary sources, both in the library and on the open web.

Photo & Image Archives

Smithsonian Open Access provides free access to download, share, and reuse millions of the Smithsonian’s images. With new platforms and tools, you have easier access to more than 3 million 2D and 3D digital items from our collections—with many more to come. This includes images and data from across the Smithsonian’s 19 museums, nine research centers, libraries, archives, and the National Zoo.

Flickr: The Commons A vast online archive containing photographs and images from public archives around the world including The British Library, the California Historical Society, the Museum of Photographic Arts, NASA, The National Archives, Smithsonian Institution, Library of Congress, and many more

Getty Search Gateway The Getty Search Gateway allows users to search across several of the Getty repositories, including collections databases, library catalogs, collection inventories, and archival finding aids.This tool is designed to help researchers, scholars, and educators discover the variety of resources available across the Getty's collections, which include collections in each the four programs: the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Getty Conservation Institute, the Getty Foundation, and the Getty Research Institute. Users can use the tool to browse our collections broadly, by type of resource (i.e., paintings, books, archives), or to search directly for assets related to very specific subjects—historical periods, artists, object types, etc.

TIME & LIFE Pictures Time & Life Pictures represents some of the world's most recognizable imagery. On this website, we offer content from the finest photojournalists, documenting past and present political and cultural events, as well as celebrities and the American experience.

mptv images is committed to preserving the memory of some of the greatest celebrity legends of our time. From their humble moments to their grand accomplishments, we are proud to offer one of the largest collections of celebrity photography available today.

LIFE Photo Archive (hosted by Google) Search millions of photographs from the LIFE photo archive, stretching from the 1750s to today. Most were never published and are now available for the first time through the joint work of LIFE and Google.

The World Bank Photo Collection The World Bank has a distinctive collection of over 12,000 images that illustrate development through topics such as Agriculture, Education, Environment, Health, Trade and more

World Images provides access to the California State University IMAGE Project. It contains over 65,000 images, is global in coverage and includes all areas of visual imagery.

The Library of Congress' Flickr Photostream Thousands of historic photographs arranged in 13 searchable groups or sets covering various topics, such as Jazz, Baseball, World War I, Abraham Lincoln, Women, the 1930's and 40's

Library of Congress: Prints and Photographs  Contains catalog records and digital images of still pictures held by the Prints & Photographs Division and other units of the Library of Congress.

Getty Images  Search several picture and film archives collections, including the Hulton Picture Archive, National Geographic, Time Life, Bridgeman Art Library.

Library of Congress: American Memory Project  American Memory Project from the Library of Congress is a gateway to rich primary source materials relating to the history and culture of the United States. The site offers more than 7 million digital items from more than 100 historical collections