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Finding Images: Maps, fonts and vectors

Information on finding images in library databases and the open web, and finding Copyright Free and Creative Commons licensed images.

Map collections

  • Ancestory.com historic prints and maps (Out of copyright prints and maps made available for download by Steve Bartrick via Ancestory server. Attribution required. Credit ancestryimages.com or antiqueprints.com for any images used.)
  • Historical maps of Sweden from Swedish National Land Survey (Our digital archive includes more than one million historical maps and extends as far back as in 1628. The maps cover large parts of Sweden and many of them are so well made and richly decorated that it is hard not to consider them works of art. Not surprising perhaps, they are often given away as gifts. It is free to view the maps and we promise that you will find something interesting when you study them. It's free to look, print and save our maps from this website in low resolution. High resolution maps must be purchased.)
  • Library of Congress map collection (Library of congress maps collection. Map collections include: Civil War Maps, Hotchkiss Map Collection, Maps of Liberia, 1830-1870 and Mapping the National Parks. See the Rights & Access link within each map collection. Credit Line: Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division.)
  • NASA WorldWind (Organizations across the world use WorldWind to monitor weather patterns, visualize cities and terrain, track the movement of planes, vehicles and ships, analyze geospatial data, and educate people about the Earth. The WorldWind project is Open Source. Credit must be given to NASA.)
  • Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library (Discover the digital collections of the Leventhal Map & Education Center and partners. It is possible to download images from our website for research projects, powerpoint presentations, and academic research. We request that you acknowledge the source with the tag line: “Map reproduction courtesy of the Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center at the Boston Public Library.”)
  • OpenStreetMap (OpenStreetMap is built by a community of mappers that contribute and maintain data about roads, trails, cafés, railway stations, and much more, all over the world. You are free to copy, distribute, transmit and adapt our data, as long as you credit OpenStreetMap and its contributors. For more information see: https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright)
  • Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection, University of Texas (Most of the maps scanned by the University of Texas Libraries and served from this web site are in the public domain. No permissions are needed to copy them. You may download them and use them as you wish. We appreciate credit to "University of Texas Libraries" as the source of the scanned images.)

Fonts

1001 Fonts (Different fonts supplied by users. Generally free to use but individual fonts may vary.) Fonts can be used for personal use, in compliance with the General Terms of Use. If no information is given, commercial use is not allowed without prior written permission from the respective author.

Creative Fabrica (Free fonts for commercial use)

Dafont.com (Different fonts supplied by users. Generally free to use but individual fonts may vary.) Dafont licence terms state:

The fonts presented on this website are their authors' property, and are either freeware, shareware, demo versions or public domain. The licence mentioned above the download button is just an indication. Please look at the readme-files in the archives or check the indicated author's website for details, and contact him/her if in doubt.
If no author/licence is indicated that's because we don't have information, that doesn't mean it's free.

Fontesk (Free for commercial use)

Sedgwick Avenue (created by Pedro Vergani and Kevin Burke. These fonts are licensed under the Open Font License. This allows free use in all products, including commercial. But you cannot sell the fonts separately.

The League of Moveable Type  (Different fonts supplied by users. Generally free to use but individual fonts may vary.)

Vectors

  • FreePik (Select Vectors. Each vector has their own licence requirements, but many require attribution. Commercial and personal use allowed under the FreePik licence.)
  • Gratisography (Some Vectors available under their specific open licence. Avoid the Shutterstock vectors at the top on shaded grey background).
  • Publicdomainvectors.org (Vectors available as public domain. Website states "Vector images provided via download on publicdomainvectors.org are bound to Creative Commons Deed CC0. You can copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Although absolutely not required, a link back to Public domain vectors is always welcome.")
  • Rawpixel (Mix of paid and copyright free content. Be careful to check the licence on each image to ensure that it is copyright free. Can search for Vectors.)
  • VectorHQ (Mix of free and paid vectors from different contributors. Check each specific vector for licence terms. Some require attribution or forbid commercial use.)
  • Vectorme (Mix of free and paid vectors from different contributors. Check each specific vector for licence terms. Many are copyright free for personal and commercial use.)