The Visual Resources Collection is available only to members of the Princeton University community for noncommercial educational and scholarly purposes (instruction, study, research, and scholarship). This includes classroom projection, display on computer monitors, and use in class assignments. It is available digitally within Artstor when you register and log in with your Princeton NetID.
Our collections are not for use in electronic or print publications (including scholarly publication and websites), exhibitions, or broadcasts without prior written permission from any and all applicable rights holders.
Broadly speaking, if a student uses an image for a class, it is permissible under Fair Use. If you have found an image to use outside of the Visual Resources Collection and plan to use it publicly please review the following:
A quick guide: Can I Use that Picture?
Can’t figure out if you can use an image? Try the Digital Image Rights Computator
Harvard Law School Library (this offers a good introduction to Creative Commons too): Finding Public Domain & Creative Commons Media
If you have decided to publish something, review the basics of fair use and copyright.
- Copyright Basics From Columbia University
- Code of Best Practices in Fair Use in the Visual Arts (from the College Art Association)
- Statement on the Fair Use of Images for Teaching, Research, and Study (from the Visual Resources Association)
Selected Sources for Images for Publication. Permission for use of museum or archival images can often be requested through the Rights and Reproductions department of a museum. Permission to publish or the high resolution image needed to publish can often come with a fee.
Stanford Copyright & Fair Use – Introduction to the Permissions Process
- Images for Academic Publishing (IAP) | ARTstor (free for academic publishing)
- ARCHIVISION: an image source for visual resource professionals (available to Princeton community in Artstor)
- ARS | Artists Rights Society
- Art Resource
- Scholars Resource
Image copyright questions from the Princeton community can be directed to: visres@princeton.edu