Openly licensed images are helpful when created OER course materials, including textbooks and presentations. Below are a number of sites that feature images in the public domain or that are openly licensed. Remember to attribute the creator properly if you incorporate them into your OER. You can find more information about how to attribute items that have a Creative Commons license here.
Openverse
Flickr Creative Commons
Use license dropdown menu in search results to limit your search to images with Creative Commons licenses.
Wikimedia Commons
Media file repository of public domain and freely-licensed educational media content.
Unsplash
All of the pages you will find in this repository can be reused, modified, and shared for free; more information about the Unsplash license.
Google Images
Using the Tools function, you can sort by license type.
British Library Flickr Collection
One million+ images from 17th, 18th, and 19th century books held by the British Library.
Metropolitan Museum of Art OASC
Some of the Met's art images have been designated as "Open Access for Scholarly Content" or OASC. These images, identified by a small OASC icon under the image on the item page, are available for use in any scholarly or educational project. Unfortunately, there is not a way to limit collection searches to only OASC images, so it is important to check each item page.
National Gallery of Art
Images of works of art in Gallery's permanent collection which they believe to be in the public domain. Images of these works are available for download free of charge for any use, whether commercial or non-commercial.
New York Public Library Digital Collections
Images and other digital materials from the NYPL collection. Not all images are open-source. Be sure to investigate the permissions for any image you are interested in reusing!
Library of Congress Photos, Prints and Drawings
The Library of Congress has digitized more than 1 million photos and prints. Not all images are open access, but item result pages include a "Rights Advisory" with relevant details.
Smithsonian Open Access
You can download, share, and reuse millions of the Smithsonian’s images
Europeana Collections
Search more than 53 million records from cultural institutions across Europe. Limit search results by type (including images) and by rights/license. You can also browse the collection by topic, institutional source, or color!
Nappy
Free high-resolution photos of black and brown people, licensed Creative Commons Zero (CC0).
PICNOI
Free photos of people of color; no attribution required, but can give credit by linking to site
#WOCinTech Chat
Free photos of women and non-binary people of color working in the Tech field; licensed CC BY
Redefining Women Icon Collection
Icons of women; License: Creative Commons Public Domain CC0 1.0
The Gender Spectrum Collection
Free stock photos of trans and non-binary people, licensed CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Disabled And Here
This collection is a disability-led effort to provide free and inclusive stock photos shot from our own perspective, featuring disabled Black, Indigenous, people of color (BIPOC) across the Pacific Northwest. CC-BY 4.0
Disability:IN
Disability inclusive stock photography licensed CC-BY-ND.
Images of Empowerment
A free library of images celebrating women’s lives and their work in 11 countries around the world. CC-BY-NC 4.0
Images of Empowerment by William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, David, and Lucile Packard Foundation & Getty Images
A library of powerful, positive and high-quality images showing women’s work and family life around the world. All photographs are available—free of charge—to non-commercial users (CC-BY-NC 4.0).
Iwaria
Stock photos from Africa, images available under a CC0 1.0 license.
Wikimedia Commons LGBT Category
Collection of open images organized under various LGBT categories, with the images available under different CC licenses.
NASA Image Portal
Images of both space and space exploration, including from the Apollo and Space Shuttle missions.
National Park Service Multimedia Search
Images from more than 400 locations managed by the National Park Service.
Science and Environment Collections
A collection of government sources for science-based images, including the Department of Energy, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the National Agricultural Library.