When Lisa began producing videos, she was frustrated by the lack of public domain materials to practice with, namely music. As a career portrait photographer, familiar with copyright law, she was committed to working with source materials free of licensing restrictions.
The following media list began as a memory aid to efficiently return to useful websites. It expanded into a resource for other creators and school staff that Lisa mentored.
At the time each website was added to the list, Lisa reviewed the fine print to verify copyright licensing.
**Online text can and does frequently change – it is the user’s responsibility to verify licensing for its intended use.
What is public domain?
Public Domain and CC0 licensing do not require author attribution and may be used for personal and commercial purposes.
Clip Art
Clker.com – Clip Art
(Free membership required)
Logomakr
clip art for creating a logo
(must give credit to ‘Logomakr.com’ if used.)
Pixabay – Over a million high-resolution vector graphics
(Free membership required -Donations are solicited for use – optional)
Fonts
Music & Sound Effects
Archive.org – a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more
Danosongs.com
(Requested $10 donation for a pack of 77 Royalty-Free songs.)
FreeMusicArchive.org – good search tools. Licenses require research. (Many music files on this site are not free.)
FreeSound – sound effects contributed by members. Registration required.
Library of Congress – collections with audio recordings
LibriVox – public domain audiobooks
Library of Congress Audio Recordings – must hunt for downloadable files
Moby Gratis – free music for independent filmmakers, nonprofits and students (application form required)
Musopen – mostly sheet music for musicians
OpenMusicArchives.org – UK Public domain music
Public Domain 4 U – genre list, some are CCO licensed, oriented for music education
Public Domain Hymns – spoken song lyrics
Public Domain Review – searchable audio files housed at LOC
USGS – Audio – Earth Science audio clips, podcasts, interviews
Vintage Worship Albums – preserving classic worship music from Harvestime organization
YouTube Music and Sound Effects Library
YouTube Audio Library Note: Click on “Attribution not required” to see media that has been released under a Public Domain license.
Zapsplat
Professional sound effects, foley, and music.
Download three MP3 files at one time before a mandatory ‘rest’ period of 10 minutes.
Commit to monthly or weekly donations for unlimited downloads.
Photos & Illustrations
Art Institute of Chicago – 50K images – paintings, sculptures & illustrations
Biodiversity Heritage Library (Flickr)- 2,100,000 images – animals, plants, bugs, and ocean-related.
Calisphere – University of California Collections – libraries, archives, and museums. 1,700,000 images, texts, and recordings.
Europeana Collections – over 2,100,000 images from thousands of European archives, libraries and, museums.
EveryStockPhoto – good search tools
Flickr
(Free membership required)
Flickr – British Library Public Domain Collection
Over 1 million historic images from the British Library
Flickr Commons
British Library
Library of Congress Galleries
Library of Congress Albums
Forestry Images – Trees & Plants, Invasive Species, Urban Forestry & Wildlife – free membership required, some use restrictions, read the fine print.
FreeStockPhotos.biz – Animals, nature, people, food & vintage collection
FreeVintageIllustrations.com – Nature, Birthday, Animals, Science, Food & Holidays
iNaturalist – Lisa’s CC0 plant & animal contributions
The Met – Famous Art and Images (must search for Public Domain licensed)
Internet Archive on Flickr
Civil War Era Photographs
Harpers Weekly – Victorian Era illustrations
The Mark Lane Express Agricultural Journal – Victorian Era illustrations
Library of Congress – millions of items including images, books, newspapers, maps, musical scores, sound recordings, film, video, and more
Lawrence & Houseworth historical photograph collection
Microlab – 7,000+ Images made with a microscope (medium-resolution)
Pexels
(Donations are solicited for use – optional)
Picryl
Easy small and medium-size image download. Large images require a donation.
Time-period slider to pinpoint images for a particular year or era.
Piqsels
Large images & Public Domain Licensing
Pixabay – Over a million high-resolution images
(Free membership required -Donations are solicited for use – optional)
Pixabay – Lisa’s photo & video contributions
Project Apollo Archive (Flickr) NASA & astronauts & space
Public Domain Review – images, books, film, and audio
Smithsonian Open Access – 2,800,000 images that you can download, share, and reuse.
StockSnap – High-quality, high-resolution images.
(No membership required)
Unsplash – over a million high-resolution photos
Wikimedia Commons Public Domain Images
(No membership required)
sorted by History by Subject
Video Clips
California Revealed – Historical archival materials from California Revealed in partnership with over 200 universities, libraries, and historical societies across the state.
Internet Archive – Books, Music, Videos & more
Pinterest – Video Clips
Pixabay – 6,000 + high-resolution videos
(Free membership required -Donations are solicited for use – optional)
USGS – Earth Science related videos
Videvo – Stock Clips
Lisa’s Pinterest Boards
over 6,000 images and growing
(Free membership required)
Animals
Art
Dragonflies
Food
Insects & Butterflies
Misc.
Objects
Plants
Peculiar History
People
Outer Space
All Boards
*If you return here for media that is useful, please consider making a donation.
