Cirrus@Austlit

Below, we have provided a list of organisations (listed in alphabetical order) that provide open-access, public domain materials, and other resources. Please attribute the source of any material that you reproduce from these locations. Note that some of these organisations will place restrictions on some of their materials: check the reproduction restrictions carefully.

The material is divided into categories below, to help you locate the best material for your purposes. Note: some archives may appear in more than one category. For example, the ABC Open Archives contain both audio-visual and visual materials, and is included in each category.

This list is regularly updated as we locate additional resources. (Most recent update: 21/11/2017)

• ABC Open Archives: a selection of photographs, audio recordings, and audiovisual items, released from the ABC archives and made available via Flickr and Wikimedia Commons. The conditions of use may vary depending on the nature of the material, copyright status, and source, so make sure you check the conditions attached to each work.

• Australian Variety Theatre Archives. A repository of materials about Australian popular theatre and entertainments between 1850 and 1930. Includes images and full text, as well as biographical information.

• Biodiversity Heritage Library. A consortium of natural history and botanical libraries who have combined to digitise their collection and make them available for open-access, responsible use.

• The British Library on Flickr. Over one million images from the British Library's collection, helpfully divided into categories such as Book Covers, Children's Book Illustration, and Space & SciFi. These are drawn from the British Library's collection of digitised books, so please note that not all works are directly attributed to their actual creator: many are attributed only to the book in which they were found.

• Classic Illustrated Zoologies and Related Works, 1550-1900: one of the digital collections made available by the New York Public Library, this is a series of illustrations from zoological works. It includes portraits, book covers, and anatomical / nature drawings. The New York Public Library's digital collections are also included in the Digital Public Library of America collections, but we have highlighted specific categories here. Note: the library charges a one-off fee for reproducing very high-quality TIFF files, but makes smaller JPEG files freely available. The latter are perfectly suitable for the Cirrus exhibition space.

• The Commons. The Commons is a collaboration of various institutions (including Australian libraries and archives) which aims to increase access to publicly-held photography collections, and provide a way for the general public to contribute information and knowledge. All photos in The Commons have no known copyright restrictions. Reproduction rights on the images vary: check the specific image for details.

• David Rumsey Map Collection: a collection of tens of thousands of high-quality maps from the 1600s onwards, available for download. Searchable categories include celestial, antique atlas, globe, school geography, maritime chart, state, county, city, pocket, wall & case, children's, and manuscript maps. Includes a number of maps of Australia, as far back as the early 1800s.

• Digital Public Library of America: dedicated to exposing the contents of American archives and libraries and making them public, the Digital Public Library of America is a rich source of primary sources. (And it's not only limited to information about America: a simple search for 'Australia' in June 2016 brought up nearly 500 results.)

• French Printmaking. From the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, this is a delightful collection of French art and commercial prints from 1890-1905, free for download for non-commercial purposes.

• Illustration Archive: a research outcome from Cardiff University, this is a fully searchable database of over a million illustrations from works of literature, philosophy, history and geography, chosen from the British Library’s collection. All illustrations that have been reproduced in the Illustration Archive are from books that the British Library has declared in the public domain, and therefore free of copyright restrictions.

• Library of Congress Image Collection. Digitised images from the vast collection of the United States' largest library. The focus is, of course, on US history, but not exclusively. Among the collections are World War I posters, baseball cards, propaganda posters from the Spanish Civil War, and a collection of 2500 design sketches for stained glass, mosaics and furniture. You can directly access the LOC's 'free to use and reuse sets' here.

• LIFE photos: digitised in association with Google, this is an enormous collection of photographs from the archives of LIFE magazine. The images are for personal, non-commercial use only.

• Maps and Atlases: one of the digital collections made available by the New York Public Library, this is a rich collection of maps and atlases worldwide. The collection is significantly stronger on, but not limited to, American maps. The New York Public Library's digital collections are also included in the Digital Public Library of America collections, but we have highlighted specific categories here. Note: the library charges a one-off fee for reproducing very high-quality TIFF files, but makes smaller JPEG files freely available. The latter are perfectly suitable for the Cirrus exhibition space.

• The Metropolitan Museum of Art: one of the world's great galleries, The Met is committed to making a broad range of digital images of artworks in the public domain widely and freely available for scholarly and academic publication. Works that are included in this collection are tagged with an Open Access for Scholarly Content (OASC) logo. The Met is in New York; the content is international.

• Museum of New Zealand: over 30,000 high-resolution images. Each image specifies its license: many are remixable and have no copyright associated with them at all.

• NASA: most NASA images are public domain, so this is the go-to source for high-quality space imagery.

• National Archives and Records Administration [USA]: some images from this collection are included in The Commons (above), but this is the entire collection: under US law, most images produced by Federal agencies are in the public domain, so this is an excellent source of historical photographs, albeit with a strong American focus.

• National Gallery of Art. Although based in Washington DC, NGA Images includes more than 45,000 open-access images from international artists, including Vermeer, Leonardo, and Manet.

• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration [USA]: thousands of high-resolution atmospheric and nature photographs. Most images are in the public domain: some will have copyright restrictions noted.

• New York Public Library Digital Collections: a extraordinarily rich and varied collection of digitised visual resources, not exclusive to American content. The New York Public Library's digital collections are also included in the Digital Public Library of America collections, and we have also highlighted specific categories elsewhere on this list. Note: the library charges a one-off fee for reproducing very high-quality TIFF files, but makes smaller JPEG files freely available. The latter are perfectly suitable for the Cirrus exhibition space.

• QImagery: Queensland Government's online collection of photographs from the 1930s to 2009, freely available for use with licence conditions.

• Renaissance and Medieval Manuscripts Collection, ca. 850-ca. 1600: a collection of illuminated pages from a variety of medieval manuscripts, part of the New York public Library's Digital Collections. The New York Public Library's digital collections are also included in the Digital Public Library of America collections. Note: the library charges a one-off fee for reproducing very high-quality TIFF files, but makes smaller JPEG files freely available. The latter are perfectly suitable for the Cirrus exhibition space.

• Russian and Ukrainian Posters: one of the digital collections made available by the New York Public Library, this is a relatively small but rich collection of Soviet-era posters, mostly progandist, produced between 1917 and 1921. The New York Public Library's digital collections are also included in the Digital Public Library of America collections, but we have highlighted specific categories here. Note: the library charges a one-off fee for reproducing very high-quality TIFF files, but makes smaller JPEG files freely available. The latter are perfectly suitable for the Cirrus exhibition space.
   
• State Library of Victoria: with over 170,000 images (including maps and historical drawings), this is an excellent resource. Note: this link takes you directly to an image pool where images are both out of copyright and not culturally sensitive.
   
• Theatre Heritage Australia: dedicated to preserving Australia's heritage, Theatre Heritage Australia offers a range of resources, chief among which are a collection of scene books from early Australian theatre entrepreneur, J.C. Williamson.

• Trove. Run by the National Library of Australia, Trove is a gateway resource for finding books, images, historic newspapers, maps, music, archives, and other material. We strongly recommend the historic newspapers as a source of material for researchers.

• Turn of the Century Posters: one of the digital collections made available by the New York Public Library, this is a magnificent collection of advertising material from the turn of the twentieth century. The New York Public Library's digital collections are also included in the Digital Public Library of America collections, but we have highlighted specific categories here. Note: the library charges a one-off fee for reproducing very high-quality TIFF files, but makes smaller JPEG files freely available. The latter are perfectly suitable for the Cirrus exhibition space.

• United States Department of Agriculture: looking for some high-resolution images of baby chickens or barns? This is the place. The collection is relatively modest (c.2000 images), but they are copyright free and in the public domain.

• Victorian Illustrated Shakespeare. The work of a Ph.D. student and published under a Creative Commons license, this archive collects Victorian (19th-century) illustrations of Shakespeare's works.

• Wellcome Library: a collection of some 100,000 images, available online for open use. Wellcome is a medical institute, and the images have a particular focus on medical art of all types including manuscripts, paintings, etchings, early photography and advertisements.

• Wikimedia Commons. Wikimedia Commons makes available public domain and freely-licensed educational media content (images, sound and video clips). It is an excellent source of visual material.

• XL Catlin Seaview Survey Image Library: high-quality oceanic images and videos for media and non-commercial uses.

• ABC Open Archives: a selection of photographs, audio recordings, and audiovisual items, released from the ABC archives and made available via Flickr and Wikimedia Commons. The conditions of use may vary depending on the nature of the material, copyright status, and source, so make sure you check the conditions attached to each work.

• Australian Variety Theatre Archives. A repository of materials about Australian popular theatre and entertainments between 1850 and 1930. Includes images and full text, as well as biographical information.

• Internet Archive: a non-profit library of (among other resources) books, movies, software, music, and websites. The Internet Archive is divided into pre-determined categories, such as 'Old time Radio' or 'Television Archive', but you can also perform your own targeted searches.

• Open Culture: a repository for collecting freely available online resources and gathering them in a single location. Open Culture has an eclectic approach, but is an excellent resource for, for example, films in the public domain.

• PAW Media (Pintubi Anmatjere Warlpiri Media and Communications). PAW Media produce audio-visual texts, in language and according to local cultural protocols, in the Aboriginal community of Yuendumu. The company is run for profit, but also hosts an extraordinary amount of content on its own website (including radio, animation, and video), which can be embedded and shared with due acknowledgement.

• SoundCloud. A social 'sound platform', SoundCloud provides access to a wide range of audio material. Although restrictions on sharing do vary, SoundCloud is a useful resource for audio material from archives and institutions. For example, the National Film and Sound Archive has a SoundCloud page.

• Trove. Run by the National Library of Australia, Trove is a gateway resource for finding books, images, historic newspapers, maps, music, archives, and other material. We strongly recommend the historic newspapers as a source of material for researchers.

• Wikimedia Commons. Wikimedia Commons makes available public domain and freely-licensed educational media content (images, sound and video clips). It is an excellent source of visual material.

• XL Catlin Seaview Survey Image Library: high-quality oceanic images and videos for media and non-commercial uses.

• Internet Archive: a non-profit library of (among other resources) books, movies, software, music, and websites. The Internet Archive is divided into pre-determined categories, such as 'Old time Radio' or 'Television Archive', but you can also perform your own targeted searches.

• Open Culture: a repository for collecting freely available online resources and gathering them in a single location. Open Culture has an eclectic approach, but is an excellent resource for, for example, films in the public domain.

• PANDORA: the PANDORA archive, established in 1996, is a collection of Australian online publications. PANDORA records websites, ejournals, and the like, including ones that are no longer active.

• Papers Past: an archive of digitised New Zealand newspapers.

• Project Gutenberg and Project Gutenberg Australia: digital repositories for out-of-copyright works, primarily fiction.

• Renaissance and Medieval Manuscripts Collection, ca. 850-ca. 1600: a collection of illuminated pages from a variety of medieval manuscripts, part of the New York public Library's Digital Collections. The New York Public Library's digital collections are also included in the Digital Public Library of America collections. Note: the library charges a one-off fee for reproducing very high-quality TIFF files, but makes smaller JPEG files freely available. The latter are perfectly suitable for the Cirrus exhibition space.

• Trove: run by the National Library of Australia, Trove is a gateway resource for finding books, images, historic newspapers, maps, music, archives, and other material. We strongly recommend the historic newspapers as a source of material for researchers.

• Baldwin Library of Historical Children's Literature: this can double as a source for illustrated material, given the richness of the children's books here. Each book is presented as both an embedded readable version and a zoomable version. The collection contains some 6000 works.

These resources are designed to be embedded in a website, to enhance the content in various ways. They can also be embedded in your exhibitions.

• Juxtapose JS: from Knight Lab at Northwestern University, Juxtapose JS is simple way of making embeddable sliding images. The example below shows an historical and a contemporary image of one of Mont Blanc's glaciers. Tip: the process works best if the images are the same width as the page, which for Cirrus is 700px.

• TimelineJS: another innovation from Knight Lab, this allows you make interactive, illustrated timelines using a pre-set Google Sheets spreadsheet, and embed them in your work. Timelines are an excellent way of adding interactivity and compressing what might otherwise be a long stretch of text. The example below is a fanciful history of 'steampunk' Australia. Tip: Knight Lab has some good guidance on how to keep your timeline pithy and engaging.

• Internet Archive: as well as providing access to full-text works, the Internet Archive also enables you to embed out-of-copyright works into your webpage. The example below is a 1948 edition of Astounding Science Fiction magazine.

• Graphing and Charts: while Cirrus doesn't include in-built charting functions, many online resources allow you to create graphs and export them in the form of PNG or JPG files, which can be uploaded to Cirrus. For example, Bubbl.us is an easy-to-use mind-mapping or brain-storming tool.