A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words – but where can I find a good one,
to spark up my presentation or to illustrate a crucial point?
Probably everyone has used Google Image search at one time or another.
It is quick, easy and often you can find a suitable image to represent a concept.
But at the same time, you also find poor quality color, limited image size, lack of documentation,
and limited copyright information. So, the Collins Library has put together some resources and
services to assist you with finding the right images to enhance your teaching.
Wallace Weston, Visual Resources Specialist, is available to assist you with your image needs. Wallace can assist in finding images, provide ARTstor training, and advise on scanning and creation of digital images. Visit our new Visual Resources page for further information and also take advantage of these great online digital resources.
- ARTstor. Don’t let the name, ARTstor fool you. Subjects now covered, besides art and architecture, include a broad range of the humanities and sciences, from many periods and countries. The site provides very useful downloadable PDF study guides for finding images in such fields as African and African-American Studies, American Studies, Anthropology, Asian Studies, Classical Studies, History of Medicine and Natural Science, Languages and Literature, Latin American Studies, Medieval Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, Music History, Native American and Indigenous Studies, Religious Studies, Renaissance Studies, Theater and Dance, Women’s Studies, among others. ARTstor study guides are a great place to start. With over 1,000,000 images isn’t that enough?
- Puget Sound Images for Teaching. These are images requested by faculty, usually scanned from books, and they supplement what ARTstor has. These are unique images that are not available in the ARTstor collection and Information for making requests is found on the Visual Resources page. To give an idea of the variety of what is already available, some of the topics of recently completed projects are: modern Mexican and Guatemalan art and folklore, recent archaeological discoveries from China’s distant past, intaglio and non-intaglio prints, Ancient Roman sculpture and metalwork, illustrations of material culture in Ming and Qing China, the art of Buddhist pilgrimages, and paintings and drawings by Pierre Matisse.
- Copyright Free Images. This links to a selection of image-rich websites, such as the Library of Congress, Smithsonian and the New York Public Digital Library.
- Digital Library of the Week Archive: This provides links to some incredible digital library projects packed with images: http://www.ilovelibraries.org/articles/digitallibrary
- Collins Library Digital Collections: And, last, but not least, our own University of Puget Sound collections are great teaching resources, including: Bird Wings, Abby Williams Hill and Flora and Fauna of the Northwest. If you have an idea for a digital collection, please contact CollinsVRC@pugetsound.edu.
The world of images is wide-open, and the new VR page will provide you with roadmaps.
Fun Image “Did you Knows?”
Science: The Smithsonian image collection has over 139, 552 specimen images in the paleogeneral category?
Music: The New York Public Library has digitized over 2000 pieces of illustrated sheet music from Broadway musicals?
History: The Voices of the Dust Bowl project, provides access to images and audio files documenting migrant work camps in central California in 1940 and 1941.
African American Studies: The complete migration series from painter Jacob Lawrence is available online via ARTstor
Languages and Literature: ARTstor has access to the Magnum Photo Collection that includes portraits of writers, poets, and playwrights
Business/History: Child Labor Photographs available through the Library of Congress.
History of Science and Technology: The Dibner Library of History of Science and Technology provides access to Ramelli’s Machines: Original drawings of 16th century machines for Agostino Ramelli’s Le diverse et artificiose machine.
And for something completely different: Some Seasonal Images,
courtesy of the Seed Catalog Digital Collection of the Library of Congress. 
Need Information? Don’t forget the Collins Memorial Library Database List A-Z
Questions? Contact your liaison librarian
Comments: Contact Jane Carlin, Library Director
Remember – Your best search engine is a Librarian!