Use & Licensing

An archive is a trust, not a marketplace.

Every image here is a record of someone's life, someone's work, a moment of the actual world. We keep this archive so those records survive and stay reachable — not so they can be sold to whoever bids most.

That belief shapes how we license. For anyone learning, remembering, or researching, the archive is free to use. Commercial use is a different matter — and it begins with a conversation.

Open · with attribution

Free to use

study · teaching · research · remembrance

Open records are free to view, share, and cite. To download, sign in — a single tap with your email, no password and no sign-up form. Then just credit the source.

FreeCreative Commons
BY (open) · BY-NC-ND (restricted)
Browse the archive →

Attribution required · non-commercial for restricted records

Considered · a conversation

Commercial use

brands · editorial · film · product

The archive isn't licensed commercially from a price list or an image's page. Every commercial use begins with a conversation, so we can understand it and be sure it honors the people and histories in the frame.

What you license will come from our commercial catalogue, or be sourced for you. The archival image is a reference, never the product itself.

Begin an inquiry ↓

Vetted for fit · relationship-priced · not every use is one we take on

The image you found here is the reference — the start of the conversation. What we license you is drawn from the commercial catalogue, or sourced to fit. The record itself stays in the record.

Tell us what you're looking for.

This is the start of a conversation, not a checkout. Share what you have in mind and a person will write back.

We read every inquiry and vet commercial requests for fit with the archive's mission. We'll be candid if it isn't one we can take on.

The archive endures because we treat it as a trust. Thank you for using it that way.