This week, the New York Public Library announced that it has released 187,000+ high-resolution digital images of public domain items in its collection.



The treasure trove of old photos, illustrations, and documents are available for browsing through a slick and powerful visualization tool that puts the entire collection at your fingertips.

There are also categories that help you narrow down the collection to things you’re looking for. The “photographs” category currently has 7,311 items.

See a photo you like? Just click it to open its page and download the full-resolution file.

Since the photos are in the public domain, there are no restrictions on what you can do with them — you’re free to use them for whatever purpose, private or public, and even commercially as well. Head on over to the visualization tool if you’d like to jump in and browse the historical imagery yourself.

(via NYPL via kottke.org)