Technola : Public Interest Law & Technology Updates & Commentary : Matthew Burnett & Kate Bladow : Tech Advice for the Non-Profit Legal Sector

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By now, you should know that you can't just wander around the Web picking any ol' image to use as you please. You usually need to have permission first, and in a lot of cases, that permission costs money.

But don't fret, you can still find free images online. In fact, any work created by the US Government can't be copyrighted, and Uncle Sam has been kind enough to make several public domain image collections available for the public to use. For example:

• The Library of Congress American Memory Collection. This collection contains images from America's history - the Civil War, the Depression, World War II, settlement of the Great Plains, and so on. Ansel Adam's photographs from the Japanese-American Internment Camp, Manzanar, which are at the top of the list, are worth a look.
• The National Archives Charters of Freedom. This collection contains images of the Declaration of Independence, Constitution of the United States, and the Bill of Rights.
• The National Archives Picturing the Century. This collection contains images from National Archives collection that represent events and circumstances during the 20th century.

And there are many more--.govWatch lists what they consider the top thirteen and does a later post on the newly updated NASA collection.

Of course, before using any of these images check that they are in public domain. Especially on the National Archives site, you can run up against some donated works that do have copyright restrictions. - K