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Public Domain Resources
Anything in the public domain is ok to use for any purpose, with or without being modified. things either become public domain after a long period of time (95 years in the US) or when the creator/copyright holder allows them to. That means it's easy and cool to have a vintage-themed blog! A lot of these sources go back to images, particularly art, but I can always add other works under PD!
Copyright law sucks! That being said, these are all really cool places to get the things you need!
Online Museums and Libraries
- Science History Institute
- New York Public Library
- LOC Free-to-Use Photosets
- *Wikimedia's Public Domain Image Resources BIG sorted list of websites and databases to choose from.
Vintage Art
- Old Book Illustrations
- FOBOmore old book art
- British Library's Flickr organized into categories
- Biodiversity Heritage Library's Flickr old biological illustrations
- NYPL Manuscript Borders Really cool page frames and borders
- Vintage American Postcards According to Wikipedia, any postcard pre-1978 is automatically PD.
- *harley b. Not a source, per se, but someone on flickr with really good taste. Well-organized galleries. Goths should check out!
Vintage Maps
Old Books and Manuscripts
- LOC World Digital LibraryInternational Collection from the Library of Congress. A bit difficult to navigate
- Science History Institute's Alchemical Texts
- British Library Manuscript Search
- Handrit.isGreat for Norse texts!
- SHI Historical Chemistry LibraryI ncludes alchemical manuscripts, but is really anything chemistry related pre-1900
- Provenance Online ProjectManuscripts, stamps and engravings. Sorted mainly by university library they are held at.
- The Bestiary800 pictures of beasts. What more could you need..