Home / Resources

New York Public Library’s Rich Digital Collection Has Over 180,000 Images to Download

By Jessica Stewart on May 22, 2018

New York Public Library - Public Domain Material

Brooklyn Bridge & New York waterfront from Brooklyn. 1907.

The New York Public Library has just made it a lot easier to take advantage of their digital collection. Not only have they released more than 180,000 pieces of digitized information into the public domain, they've also made it accessible without having to log in. From the letters of Thomas Jefferson to Farm Security Administration photographs by Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange, it's a virtual treasure trove.

Botanical illustrations, sheet music, vintage phone books, and etchings that span all eras and provenance make the NYPL's release truly exciting. And in an effort to make the resource user-friendly, the interface has also gotten an upgrade, making it easier to filter by public domain materials and with clear buttons for downloading your finds. For scholars, educators, and researchers, there are also bulk export capabilities and analysis.

Perhaps our favorite part of the upgrade is the possibility to create wall art with the click of a button from within the collection. Now you can order archival prints, canvas prints, and wall mural art of your favorite public domain photographs from the New York Public Library.

With such an overwhelming amount of information, you might be wondering where to start. Well, featured collections on the homepage can help you dive quickly into topics like Changing New York, Ellis Island 1902-1913, and Walt Whitman Papers. Instead, the visual browsing tool allows you to see the collection in scale, organized by year, location, or color. Other special projects include a tour of early-20th century New York mansions and a then-and-now comparison of Fifth Avenue, both created using materials from the archive.