Library Class and Subject Guides: HIST 608: Early Modern Empires and Enlightenment (Biel 2021): Finding Images

Finding Images in MSU Databases and Collections

Early English Books Online This link opens in a new window
From the first book published in English through the age of Spenser and Shakespeare, this collection now contains more than 125,000 titles in many subject areas: including English literature, history, philosophy, linguistics, theology, music, fine arts, education, mathematics, and science.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Provides citations, abstracts, and full text to articles from the back issues of core journals in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. The issues include full page images for all articles.

Working with publishers, JSTOR creates a "moving wall" of coverage for each journal. "The moving wall is a fixed period of time ranging, in most cases, from 2 to 5 years, that defines the gap between the most recently published issue and the date of the most recent issues available in JSTOR." Therefore, the most current article available through JSTOR is usually 2-5 years old.

Finding Images

British Library - Catalogue of Illumninated Manuscripts
Use this website to find and view descriptions and images of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts in the British Library, one of the richest collections in the world.
British Library on Flickr
The British Library’s collections on Flickr Commons offer access to millions of public domain images, which we encourage you to explore and re-use.
Corsair: Images from Medieval Manuscripts
Thousands of digital images from the Pierpont Morgan Library’s renowned collection of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts.
Creative Commons Search
Beta search engine of materials using Creative Commons Licensing.
Flickr
Search for images organized by Creative Commons Licenses.
Getty Open Content Program
The Getty adopted the Open Content Program because we recognized the need to share images of works of art for free and without restriction.
Harvard University - Digital Medieval Manuscripts at Houghton Library
This Web site provides strategies for searching Houghton's medieval manuscripts as well as links to bibliographies related to these materials that were compiled by the Library.
Historic England Archive
Discover more about England's archaeology, historic buildings and social history using the Historic England Archive.
International Center for Medieval Art - Flickr Stream
Contemporary photographs of medieval art, architecture, stained glass, and more.
WikiPedia Public Domain Image Resources
List of links to sites that provide access to public domain images online.

Images Online - Rights and Trusting Sources

Images are all over the Internet, but they should not all be used for your research documentaries.

After you find an image online, consider these three questions to help you determine if you have the rights to use it or should trust the source enough to use it in your research.

What is the source of the image? (Hint: What book, artwork, manuscript, artifact, etc. did the image come from?)
Who owns the original source of the image? (Do you have enough of a citation that you could find the original source of the image?)
What rights do you have to use the image in your research? (Is it in the public domain? Is there a creative commons license that makes it available for researchers? Has the owner of the source indicated that it is available for research?)

An important component of information literacy is the ability to ethically communicate synthesized and new knowledge in order to complete an academic inquiry. Considering the rights to use a resource in your research is an important component of this skill.

Have more questions? Contact a librarian or learn more on these subject guides.

Image Resources
by Nat Gustafson-Sundell Last Updated Jun 10, 2022 249 views this year

Fair Use, Creative Commons and Public Domain

Tips for Analyzing Images

Images can be valuable primary sources for research. Just like documents they need to be carefully reviewed and analyzed before you cite them.

Questions to consider when looking at an image. (If it is an image of an object, artifact, painting, etc. ask the questions of the original item.)

Who or what is the image about?
Who created the image?
Why was the image created?

After you've considered these questions ask yourself:

How do I know these answers are true?

Considering these questions can help you identify important information about images, they can help you decide if they are valuable to your research, and can help you identify additional information you may still need to discover.

The National Archives has a useful Photo Analysis Worksheet to help you evaluate photographs.

National Archives - Photograph Analysis Worksheet
Activity to help in interpreting photographs and images.

A more detailed description of how to read and interpret images can be found in Chapter 3 of:

Ritzenthaler, Mary Lynn and Diane Vogt-O'Conner. Photographs: Archival Care and Management. Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 2006.