Performing Arts
Image Collections
ARTstor
Digital library of nearly 700,000 images in the areas of art, architecture, the humanities, and social sciences.
British Library
Many of the British Library's collections have been digitised and can be viewed here
British Museum
Collections can be explored online.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
The Met has more than 375,000 hi-res images of public-domain works available for use.
National Gallery (London)
The National Gallery allow you to use their images for educational purposes.
National Gallery of Art (Washington)
Many images (not all) are open access and can be used without permission. Check each image.
VADS (the Visual Arts Data Service)
Visual art collections comprising over 100,000 images that are freely available and copyright cleared for use in learning, teaching and research in the UK.
Victoria & Albert Museum
Collections can be viewed online
Sound Collections
British Library Archival Sound Recordings
World wide collection of recorded sound from music, drama and literature, to oral history and wildlife sounds. Formats range from cylinders made in the late 19th century to the latest digital media.
Moving Image Collections
Box of Broadcasts (BoB)
BoB is a shared online off-air TV and radio recording service for UK higher and further education institutions.
Arts on Film Archive
Films about art produced in the United Kingdom since the 1950s. No off campus access available. Although this has some very interesting material, it can only be viewed using QuickTime player, which is not available on University machines. The only option for viewing is to download QuickTime on a personal device, then use the device on campus to use the resource.
BBC Shakespeare Archive Resource
Over 900 programmes from the BBC's archive of Shakespeare's plays, poems and sonnets
BBC Rewind
BBC Archive footage from around the UK, from the late 1940s to 2021.