The Library of Congress is a great place to find historical pictures, drawings and maps for use in lesson plans and classroom projects. Finding things on the Library of Congress website is not always easy if you only use the search function. But LOC’s free use and reuse sets make it easier to find collections of thematically arranged pictures and drawings that you can download and use for free.
Recently, the Library of Congress blog featured a collection of free use and reuse information about athletes. This collection contains pictures of some famous athletes like Jackie Robinson and some notable but still notable athletes. The collection also includes historical figures of anonymous athletes competing in archery, skiing, equestrian, boxing, fencing and more.
Application for education
One of the things I’ve always admired about these free-to-use and reuse collections is that most of the pictures contain descriptions that give you some insight into what you see in the pictures. That little information can be used to create a little research prompt for students. Of course, these collections are also great for finding images for use in classroom projects without having to worry about copyright restrictions.
For more space on finding free pictures and other media for classroom projects, see my updated Guide to Finding Media for Classroom Projects.