# NY Public Library just placed 180,000 images online. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 8, 2016, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-public-library-just-placed-180-000-images-online/742504 "2016-01-08T15:44:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-public-library-just-placed-180-000-images-online/742504/1 "2016-01-08T15:44:05Z")
Warning: Huge time sink! > **[NYPL Digital Collections](https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/)** > > Explore hundreds of thousands of digital items from The New York Public Library. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-public-library-just-placed-180-000-images-online/742504/2 "2016-01-08T16:28:55Z")
They’re publicizing it better, but many of those photos have been available on the site for years. I used [this one](http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47dd-9cb9-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99) when researching a novel over ten years ago. It is great site, though, and I’m glad they’re doing more promotion. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-public-library-just-placed-180-000-images-online/742504/3 "2016-01-08T16:36:23Z")
Okay. I guess this _Mother Jones_ article is mistaken or at least misleading. It’s dated yesterday. > **[The New York Public Library just unleashed 180,000 free images. We can't stop...](https://www.motherjones.com/media/2016/01/new-york-public-library-historic-photos-archive-free/)** > > Say goodbye to your afternoon. > [@](#): > > The New York Public Library just digitized and made available more than 180,000 high-resolution items, which the public can download for free. > > The images come from pieces in the library’s collection that have fallen out of copyright or are otherwise in the public domain. This includes botanical illustrations, ancient texts, historical maps—including the incredible Green Book collection of travel guides for African American travelers in the mid-1900s. They’ve also released more than 40,000 stereoscopes, Berenice Abbott’s amazing documentation of New York City in the 1930s, and Lewis Hines’ photos of Ellis Island immigrants, as well as the letters of Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison, among other political figures. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-public-library-just-placed-180-000-images-online/742504/4 "2016-01-08T18:41:13Z")
Huh. We were just at the New York Public Library over the holidays. They have a special exhibit there about the Image Colection. Maybe this article is just tied into the exhibit, and publicizing somerthing that was already up. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-public-library-just-placed-180-000-images-online/742504/5 "2016-01-08T18:47:14Z")
It reads like this is brand new. Maybe there was a miscommunication. That aside, it’s a fascinating collection. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-public-library-just-placed-180-000-images-online/742504/6 "2016-01-08T19:01:44Z")
This bit from the _Mother Jones_ article puzzles me: > [@](#): > > The images come from pieces in the library’s collection that have fallen out of copyright or are otherwise in the public domain. When you click the ‘filter for public domain’ box, you seem to run a very high chance of getting no results at all on a number of searches (as two examples, “Regency England” and “Jane Austen.”) The article seems to imply that all the images are public domain, and apparently it’s only a fraction of them that are.