Questioning Society: Copyright-friendly media

This site links to websites with resources that have more liberal copyright licenses. Always be sure to check the site for possible permissions required.

This site provides information on copyright, focusing on media (books, maps, photos, sound recordings, etc.) available in the public domain.

Images courtesy of Uncle Sam. Many of these photos are in the public domain, and can be used freely. Be sure to read the disclaimers on each site to determine usage rights.

American Memory provides free and open access through the Internet to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience.

The Archival Research Catalog (ARC) is the online catalog of primary source images from the National Archives and Records Administration. This site also links to a guide for teachers and students.

This site provides a gallery of media, including images, videos, podcasts, interactive features, and 3D models, textures, and images from inside NASA.

This site contains images from the Department of Defense. Media includes still images, video, and interactive multimedia instruction products.

Collections of images, books, essays, audio recordings and films that are in the public domain.

The New York Public Library has just released more than 180,000 high-resolution images from their collection into the public domain, ranging from the 11th Century to today. It’s one of the largest archives of its kind on the Internet, and can be perfect to find historical images, inspiration, and hidden treasures. These are free for everyone to use without asking for permission, and have no restrictions.

Search for images, video, and music using various directories, including Google, Yahoo, Flickr, etc.

Freely usable media files - images, sounds, video, and more.

Veezle searches only FREE stock photo websites. Each image is accompanied by clear information on how the image can be used, along with code to easily embed the image in web pages, blogs, etc.

Designed for bloggers, Wylio is an image search engine that searches Creative Commons images. Wylio automatically sizes the image, hosts the image, and builds the photo credit into the code.

MorgueFile contains free photographs for use in creative projects, contributed by professional artists. This site also links to Dreamstime, a paid stock photography site. Registered Dreamstime users get a small amount of credit to access a few images free.

This site provides information on copyright, focusing on media (books, maps, photos, sound recordings, etc.) available in the public domain.

Thousands of high-resolution public domain images searchable by keyword or browseable by category.

4 ways to responsibly integrate clipart into your Google docs

Focus is on works which have now fallen into the public domain, that vast commons of out-of-copyright material that everyone is free to enjoy, share, and build upon without restriction. Our aim is to promote and celebrate the public domain in all its abundance and variety, and help our readers explore its rich terrain.

ccMixter is a community music site featuring remixes licensed under Creative Commons where you can listen to, sample, mash-up, or interact with music in whatever way you want.

This site contains free music available under Creative Commons licenses. Music is well organized in genre categories.

The Freesound Project is a collaborative database of Creative Commons licensed sounds.

Free, legal and unlimited music published under Creative Commons licenses.

This site contains a large variety of human and ambient sound effects.

Free sound effects and music for multimedia projects.

Free sound effects for use in projects.

Free, downloadable recordings of common sounds like doorbells, dogs barking, car horns honking, etc. Browse 23 categories of sound.