Questions?
If you have any questions, or if you would like more information, please contact:
Ellen Phillips - Director, Open Educational Resources & Intellectual Property, e.phillips@snhu.edu (603.652.1900)
License Information
All original content in this guide is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 This link opens in a new window International License. 3rd-party content including, but not limited to images and linked items, are subject to their own license terms.
Websites can change their terms of use. If you find a website listed that charges for photos, please let us know and it will be removed.
Search Open Images
Please note that search.creativecommons.org This link opens in a new window is not a search engine, but rather offers convenient access to search services provided by other independent organizations. CC has no control over the results that are returned. Do not assume that the results displayed in this search portal are under a CC license. You should always verify that the work is actually under a CC license by following the link. Since there is no registration to use a CC license, CC has no way to determine what has and hasn't been placed under the terms of a CC license. If you are in doubt you should contact the copyright holder directly, or try to contact the site where you found the content.
Excerpt from Creative Commons CC Search This link opens in a new window
- Flickr Commons This link opens in a new windowFree public domain images from all over the world. FlickrCommons’ images contain no known copyright restrictions.
Museum, Library, and Newspaper Collections
- The British Library This link opens in a new window1 million images scanned from 17th, 18th, and 19th century books, all within the public domain.
- Cleveland Museum of Art This link opens in a new windowCleveland Museum of Art has dedicated 30,000 high resolution images into the public domain using CC0.
- Getty Search Gateway This link opens in a new windowHigh resolution, public domain images from the Getty Museum's permanent collection. No permission is required.
- New York Times Images This link opens in a new windowThese images from The New York Times are in the public domain as they were published prior to January 1, 1923.
- NYPL Digital Collections This link opens in a new windowHigh-resolution downloads of public domain images, no permission required. New materials added often, featuring prints, photographs, maps, manuscripts, streaming video, and more.
- Old Book Illustrations This link opens in a new windowCollection of public domain illustrations scanned from old books.
- Smithsonian Institution Flickr This link opens in a new windowGo to "More," then "Profile" for a description of the collection and links to terms of use, which specify permitted uses can be for personal, educational, or non-commercial uses.
Government Collections
- Smithsonian Open Access This link opens in a new windowDownload, share, reuse, and remix millions of images with the CC0, public domain designation.
- NASA Image & Video Library This link opens in a new windowNASA's image library consolidates imagery spread across 60 collections into one searchable location.
- Library of Congress Flickr This link opens in a new windowPlease note the copyright designation once you click on the photo.
- Library of Congress 'Free to Use and Reuse Sets' This link opens in a new windowThis is a small sample of the LOC's digital collections that are free to use and reuse, including African-American Women Matchmakers, World War I Posters, Baseball Cards, and Classic Children's Books. The digital collections comprise millions of items including books, newspapers, manuscripts, prints and photos, maps, musical scores, films, sound recordings and more.
- Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Online Catalog This link opens in a new windowLOC's prints and photographs are considered primary sources and are open for public use.
- Official U.S. Government Flickr This link opens in a new windowPlease note the copyright designation once you click on the photo.
DEI-Focused Image Collections
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI): Use these photos to help bring issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion into the learning environment.
- Allgo Plus-Size This link opens in a new windowFree Stock photography featuring plus-size people at home; License: Attribution not required.
- Disabled And Here This link opens in a new windowFree stock photography, interviews and portraits featuring disabled BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of color), varied body sizes/types, sexual orientations, and gender identities in the Pacific Northwest; License CC BY 4.0
- #WOCinTech Chat This link opens in a new windowFree photos of women and non-binary people of color working in Tech; License: CC BY #WOCinTech Chat or wocintechchat.com
- Images of Empowerment This link opens in a new windowFree images of women’s lives and work, created by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and Getty Images. License: Free for non-commercial use under CreativeCommons licensing (CC-BY-NC-4.0).
- The Gender Spectrum Collection This link opens in a new windowFree stock photos of trans and non-binary people; License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 and credit The Gender Spectrum Collection in your captions
- Nappy This link opens in a new windowFree high resolution photos of black and brown people; License: Creative Commons Zero (CC0)
- PICNOI This link opens in a new windowFree stock photos of people of color; License: No attribution required, but can give credit by linking to site
- Redefining Women Icon Collection This link opens in a new windowIcons of women; License: Creative Commons Public Domain CC0 1.0