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Category: Free to Use and Reuse

Family portrait on steps of a house with huge columns rising on both sides. All are well dressed; Orville Wright is the lone person standing, posed in the middle and behind the rest.

Historic Photos: The Wright Brothers, at Home and in the Air

Posted by: Neely Tucker

After Orville Wright's death in 1948, his estate donated a vast collection of his papers to the Library, including more than 300 glass plate and nitrate negatives of photographs taken (mostly) by the brothers between 1897 and 1928; images that provide an important and fascinating record of their home lives and of their attempts to fly. His "success house," Hawthorn Hill, is in many of these photos and is today a museum.

Colorful mural of a actress Delores Del Rio, with her face in shades of blue, at the center

Hispanic Heritage Month: Two Mexican Stories, Including Dolores del Rio

Posted by: Neely Tucker

It’s Hispanic Heritage Month, which makes it an excellent time to check in on the Library's collection of Free to Use and Reuse images, this time from a set devoted to Hispanic life and culture. We look at two photos of two young Mexican women who came to work in the U.S. One is of a mural devoted to the legendary actress Delores del Río, the first Latina to become a Hollywood icon. The second is Dorothea Lange's unforgettable Depression-era image of the daughter of a Mexican field laborer in rural Arizona.

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

Free to Use and Reuse: Athletes!

Posted by: Neely Tucker

The Library's Free to Use and Reuse sets of curated prints and photographs include subjects such as travel, autumn and Halloween, weddings, movie palaces and dozens more. This set of athletes in action include baseball icon Jackie Robinson, early race car driver Joan Newton Cuneo and women hurdlers.

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

Free to Use and Reuse: Aircraft!

Posted by: Neely Tucker

The Library's Free to Use and Reuse copyright-free prints and photographs are among the most popular items in the Library's vast collections. Here, we explore free photos of aircraft -- a futuristic plane from 1910, barnstorming wing walker Lillian Boyer and a romantic Pan American poster advertising flights to the Caribbean.