Research Guides: Interior Design: Images

Image Citation

You should always cite or attribute any images you use. Check out this handout for an introduction to image citation and attribution.

Image Citation and Attribution Basics
A one page guide to figure out if you need to cite or attribute an image, with examples of each.

Inspiration

Wall sconces by mirror. George A. Schastey & Co., 1881-2. Retrieved from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

ARTStor

Need images? Your best bet is to start with ARTstor, a database with over 2.5 million images on a variety of subjects. Be sure to check out their Youtube Channel for helpful videos on setting up a user account, downloading images to PowerPoint, and more!

ARTStor
A rich digital library that offers collections of art images and descriptive information as well as the software tools to enable active use of the collections.The ARTstor Library's content includes more than one million images covering a wide variety of subject areas, including art, architecture, music, religion, anthropology, literature, world history, American Studies, Asian Studies, Classical Studies, Medieval Studies, Renaissance Studies, and more.

Other Image Resources

Andrew Dickson White Architectural Photographs Collection
A collection of 13,000 architectural photographs curated by Cornell University.
Archinform
"This database includes information over more than 57000 built and unrealized projects from various architects and planners. The architecture of the 20th century is the main theme of this database."
Architecture, Design & Engineering Drawings
From the Library of Congress. A collection of drawings and designs of mostly American buildings from 1600 to 1989.
Cities and Buildings Database
From the University of Washington. "A collection of digitized images of buildings and cities drawn from across time and throughout the world, available to students, researchers and educators on the web."
The Collection Online at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
A collection of 400,000 free to use images from the museum's collections. Select 'object type / material' and scroll down to 'furniture' to see the museum's collection of furniture pieces.
Electronic Swatchbook
An image database containing digitized fabric swatches searchable by both year and color. Created by the Powerhouse Museum in Australia.
Gottscho-Schleisner Collection
Created by the Library of Congress. A database "comprised of over 29,000 images primarily of architectural subjects, including interiors and exteriors of homes, stores, offices, factories, historic buildings, and other structures. Subjects are concentrated chiefly in the northeastern United States, especially the New York City area, and Florida. Included are the homes of notable Americans, such as Raymond Loewy, and of several U.S. presidents, as well as color images of the 1939-40 New York World's Fair. "
Historic American Buildings Survey / Historic American Engineering Record / Historic American Landscapes Survey
From the Library of Congress. This collection "documents achievements in architecture, engineering, and landscape design in the United States and its territories through a comprehensive range of building types, engineering technologies, and landscapes, including examples as diverse as the Pueblo of Acoma, houses, windmills, one-room schools, the Golden Gate Bridge, and buildings designed by Frank Lloyd Wright."
RIBApix
"A growing database dedicated to providing you with exceptional and unique images from the collections of the British Architectural Library at the Royal Institute of British Architects, the world’s most extensive visual archive devoted to architecture. RIBApix covers world architecture of all periods together with related subjects such as interior design, landscape, topography, planning, construction and the decorative arts."