10 sources of free images for genealogists to use in story telling

Number 5 is a newcomer and might surprise you.

The key difference between a chronicle and academic genealogy writing is images.

Academic genealogy writing frowns on the use of illustrations and genealogy journals do not include them unless absolutely necessary. But images such as photos, maps, diagrams, documents, postcards, and illustrations are central to crafting a chronicle. So where do we find these images and ensure that they are of good quality and copyright-free?

I’ve compiled a list of my personal top-ten sources of safe-to-use images for you.

Image generated by Grok on October 17, 2024, prompt: 'Man examining a wall of vintage 19th century images of people, places, and items, deciding, realistic, modern setting'.

But before I share the list, a quick reminder to be sure to credit the source of any image you use in your caption. You want to include the name of the image, the creator of it, where it is hosted, and a link back to it in all those tiny letters underneath. Why? Your reader might want a copy of the image for himself…