Tutorial: Finding Copyright Free Vintage Photos

You can search the collections by subject or photographer. They list as much of the history of the photograph as they know. The most important part for artists is that many of the photos are listed as “no known copyright restrictions.” Those are the ones you can download and use as you wish. Every day I’m amazed and grateful at how easy the internet has made it to access so many very cool things.

Bain News Service,, publisher.
Louis & Lola ?– TITANIC survivors
[1912 April]
1 negative : glass ; 5 x 7 in. or smaller.

Notes:Title from negative.
Photo taken before the ‘orphans’ of the Titanic were fully identified. The boys are French brothers Michel (age 4) and Edmond Navratil (age 2). To board the ship, their father assumed the name Louis Hoffman and used their nicknames, Lolo and Mamon. Their father died in the disaster of the RMS TITANIC, which struck an iceberg in April 1912 and sank, killing more than 1,500 people. (Source: Flickr Commons project, 2008)
Forms part of: George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress).
Format: Glass negatives.
Rights Info: No known restrictions on publication.
Repository: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA, hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
General information about the Bain Collection is available at hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.ggbain
Persistent URL: hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ggbain.11222
Call Number: LC-B2- 2486-15