More than 2 million images from 300 collections, which are updated monthly. The images are curated from reliable sources that have been rights-cleared for use in education and research. Images can be found on a range of subjects, including: anthropology, archaeology, architecture, art, history, fashion and costume, literature, religion, world history and more.
You can download images and image details individually. Once you have logged in using your username and password you will have to register for a free account in order to download. Register using your student email address and by registering you will be able to access saved folders and organize images into groups.
*If unable to access, please clear your cache/cookies or use an alternative browser eg Microsoft Edge
More than 200,000 fully-catalogued British editorial, socio-political, and pocket cartoons, supported by large collections of comic strips, newspaper cuttings, books and magazines. Artwork dates from 19th century to the present day, by over 300 artists. Covers all areas of British political cartoons and caricature and covers these themes extensively: political commentary of 20th century; Victorian and Edwardian caricature; Societal commentary; World wars; Domestic life.
Research tool allowing researchers to access primary material depicting key elements of nineteenth century popular culture, including spiritualism in Victorian Britain, the circus, pleasure gardens, advertising and music hall. Primary material in the collection includes books, pamphlets, journals, posters, photographs, prints, scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, theatre tickets, architectural design plans, scripts, programmes and playbills.
This is an important online resource for visual arts. It has built up a considerable portfolio of visual art collections comprising over 100,000 images. They are freely available and copyright cleared for use in teaching, learning and research.
VADS is a service of the Centre for Digital Scholarship in the Library & Student Services department of the University for the Creative Arts.
Copyright Aware is a BBC website explaining what copyright is and gives guidance on how you can protect your own creative work and how to use other people's work legally.
AP Archive is the film and video archive of The Associated Press (AP), one of the largest and most trusted sources of independent news gathering. The collection includes over 1.7 million global news and entertainment video stories dating back to 1895.
British Pathé is one of the oldest media companies in the world. By the time Pathé finally stopped producing the cinema newsreel in 1970 they had accumulated 3,500 hours of filmed history amounting to over 90,000 individual items. There are free "preview" facilities on this site.
British Universities Film and Video Council Moving Image Gateway
This gateway includes nearly 1,200 websites relating to moving image and sound materials, sub-divided into over 40 subject areas, including History.
Europeana Music brings together a selection of the best music recordings, sheet music, and other music related collections from Europe's audio-visual archives, libraries, archives and museums.
Film and the Historian: exploring the work of the InterUniversity History Film Consortium (IUHFC)
The InterUniversity History Film Consortium (IUHFC) pioneered the study and use of film in history. These films, mainly utilising newsreel footage, included themes ranging from Stanley Baldwin and The Labour Party to The Spanish Civil War and Fascism. To view the films you will need to choose Leeds Beckett University from the drop-down list.
The Yorkshire Film Archive is a registered charity which finds, preserves and provides public access to moving image made in or about the Yorkshire region.
Providing a collection of archival film footage from the past 120 years which has been collected by the British Film Institute. These include collections on comedy, female filmmakers, LGBT Britain, animation and lots more.
Online TV and radio recording service. You can choose and record any broadcast programme from over 65 TV and radio channels. These channels include BBC 1, BBC 2, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, BBC 4, Film 4 and radio channels including Radio 4 and lots more. The recorded programmes are then kept indefinitely and added to a growing media archive of over 2 million programmes that is fully searchable.
Available in the UK. If you are in a non-EU country, the licence and associated exceptions in law do not apply and you may not access BoB content, even if you are an authorised user in the UK.
Listen to a selection from the British Library’s extensive collections of unique sound recordings, which come from all over the world and cover the entire range of recorded sound: music, drama and literature, oral history, wildlife and environmental sounds.
To access this resource, click on log in where it says Please log in via your home organisation, choose Leeds Beckett University from the drop down list and click on Select.
Provides award-winning documentaries with relevance across the curriculum—race and gender studies, human rights, globalization and global studies, multiculturalism, international relations, criminal justice, the environment, bioethics, health, political science and current events, psychology, arts, literature, and more. It presents points of view and historical and current experiences from diverse cultures and traditions world-wide.
Film streaming service where you can watch movies, documentaries, foreign films, classic cinema, independent films and educational videos. We don't have access to the full collection, but there are still a wide range of videos to watch, selected to match our curriculum.
*Apologies please use a pc/mac to view there is an error when accessing via a mobile/tablet device.
On-demand media recording service for Leeds Beckett staff. Content includes in-house recordings such as inaugural lectures and graduation ceremonies.
LeedsBeckett TV is available on and off campus (but not outside the UK).
The British Library has uploaded one million public domain scans from 17th-19th century books to Flickr. The images are maps, geological diagrams, illustrations, comical satire, illuminated and decorative letters, illustrations, landscapes, wall-paintings and more scanned from 65,000 volumes held by the British Library and they can be used and adapted for any purpose.
Online database of the British Museum's Collections, including more than 800,000 images.
Europeana Art introduces you to artists and artworks from across Europe, ranging from ancient Roman sculpture to modern design.
Over 3,500 high-resolution images of pictures, engravings, and extracts scanned from old rare antique and vintage books. Medium-resolution images are can downloaded and used freely without copyright restrictions.
The photographs on ViewFinder are all held in the Historic England Archive. They date from the 1850s and are a resource for people interested in England's social, industrial, architectural and archaeological history.
Images primarily focused on Britain and the Commonwealth, from World War I to the present. Many images may be downloaded and used for educational purposes only. The rights must be checked for each individual image.
Leodis: a photographic archive of Leeds
Leodis is an online photographic archive containing over 59,000 images of Leeds, old and new. It is managed by the Leeds Library and Information Service. As well as photos there are also 5,500 playbills from the library collections offering a unique view of theatre life in Leeds from 1781 to the 1990s.
Search millions of photographs from the LIFE magazine's photo archive, from the 1750s to today. Images include famous personalities as well as photos of historical and cultural events.
Housed at Beaulieu’s National Motor Museum, the Motoring Picture Library covers all automotive aspects from 1880s to the present day, with over 1 million images in their world-renowned collection. Images include motorsport, supercars, commercial vehicles and the social history of motoring, plus promotional materials such as posters and brochures.
National Archives Image Library
Browse or search over 70,000 digitised images spanning hundreds of years of history from The National Archives' unique collections, from ancient maps to iconic advertising. Images are hallmarked but are still a great record of historical images.
Offers free low resolution downloads of prints, painting, and photographs related to historic gardens and estates that are under the National Trust’s care.
Prints and Photographs Online Catalog
PPOC contains catalogue records and digital images from the Prints & Photographs Division of the Library of Congress. While international in scope, the collections are particularly rich in materials produced in, or documenting the history of, the United States and the lives, interests and achievements of the American people.
Queen Victoria was an avid journal writer and described her daily life not only in writing but also in drawings and watercolours. A keen artist from an early age, the Queen made numerous sketches of her homes and family, the places she visited and the people she met. A selection of her works is presented here.
Over 783,000 images from the V&A collections.
Thousands of freely licensed digital books, artworks, photos and images of historical library materials and museum objects.
You may also find the Images page on the Art subject guide useful for visual art websites and databases.
