Visualizing Colonialism & Visualizing Resistance: Home

• American Empire: covers the colonial settlements of Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines

• British Empire & Commonwealth Collection: Explore archives and objects from people who lived and worked in the British Empire and Commonwealth 

• Carpenter Collection: The more than 15,000 images in the Frank and Frances Carpenter Collection represent the extensive photographic files assembled by Frank G. Carpenter and his daughter Frances to illustrate his popular writings on travel and geography.

• International Mission Photography Archive (IMPA): Historical images from Protestant and Catholic missionary collections in Britain, Norway, Germany, France, Switzerland, and the United States.

• The Middle East in Early Prints and Photographs: The collection include classics of illustrated travel and regional archaeology, as well as the NYPL's earliest works of photography in the Middle East region.

• The Rise of the British Empire: North America, Africa, India, and Australia

• Widener Library Images of Colonialism Collection: These late-19th- and early-20th-century trade cards and illustrations offer insight into European perspectives on the colonial experience.

Resistance Art and Photography

• Andrés Argüelles Vigo: Peruvian visual artist who constantly works on the manipulation of iconographies and discourses of art history, through painting and text.
• "Decolonization Through Design": the work of Ikiré Jones
• "In Search of Decolonized Images of South Africa": (Article and images)
• "What Can Contemporary Caribbean Art Teach Us About Diaspora and Identity?": (Feature article and images)

• Africana Historic Postcard Collection
  Historical photographic postcards documenting an important visual record of Africa and its people during the historically intensive years of European colonialism, from 1895 to 1960.

• AGSL Digital Photo Archive: Africa
  A selection of images from the American Geographical Society (AGS) Library.

• Colonialism and African Diaspora on Picture Postcards
  Postcards showing Africans and African-Americans in the period of colonialism. 

• Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art

• Frobenius Institute Image Database
  Images produced between 1830 and the 1960s, during expeditions organized by the Frobenius Institute in the first half of the 20th century to Africa, but also to Australia, Indonesia and South America. 

• G.I. Jones Photographic Archive - Southeastern Nigerian Art & Culture
  A selection of photographs taken in the 1930s.

• "How Has the Camera Been a Tool for Colonialism?" (Article with photos)

• The Humphrey Winterton Collection of East African Photographs: 1860-1960
  The photographs depict life, primarily in East Africa, between about 1860 and 1960.

• Images of Colonialism
  Images from late-19th and early-20th century trade cards and illustrated European newspapers of East Asia, South Asia, and Africa.

• "Lessons from the Egba Women’s Anti-Colonial Movement" (Article with images)

• Liberian Photograph Collections
  Photographers include Liberian and American government officials and employees, private citizens, missionaries, development workers, concessions employees and ethnographic researchers.

• Photography as a Tool of Power and Subjugation: How the Camera was Used to Justify Black Racial Inferiority

• Posters from the Herskovits Library
  The subjects covered here include politics, health, religion, liberation struggles, art exhibitions, and social issues.

• Resistance and Rebellions

• Ross Archive of African Images
  Presenting approximately 5000 pictures of African art published before 1921. Its historic sources afford exceptional insight into early European and American views - literal and figurative - of Africa's art. Texts are presented here verbatim in the original - often erroneous and sometimes racist - language. Foreign texts appear in English translation followed by the original language.

• Vernon McKay Photographs
  These images of African daily life date from the mid-20th century. 

• World Through a Lens: Africa
  National Archives (UK) collection of over 3000 images taken from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office photographic collection.

• AGSL Digital Photo Archive: South America: A large collection of photographs that you can filter by specific location or time period you are interested in.

• American Imperialism and the Spanish Civil War: A Source Set from the Digital Public Library of America

• Colonialism in the Americas (scanned from the book by Susan Gage)

• The Panama Canal: A Source Set from the Digital Public Library of America

• Early Images of Latin America: Images documenting people, places, landscapes, urban and rural scenes in various countries of the region from the mid-19th century to c. 1910.

• AGSL Digital Photo Archive: Asia and the Middle East: A selection of images from the American Geographical Society (AGS) Library.

• Colonialism in Asia: a Critical Look (scanned from the book by Susan Gage)

• Cornell University Collection 39: Late Choson Dynasty Photograph-Postcards (Korea).

• East Asian Collection: Includes historical images that present a visual archive of 20th century East Asian cultural heritage.

• East Asia Image Collection: Digitized photographs, negatives, postcards, and slides of colonial Taiwan (1900-45) and occupied Japan (1947-52).

• Global Database of Old Japanese Photographs: Filter your search by photographer, subject, region, and more.

• Ito Chuta Postcards: Architectural Institute of Japan Museum of Architecture: Picture postcards drawn by Ito from 1920 to 1950 that caricature events related to domestic and international situations, society, and customs.

• Lafayette College East Asia Image Collection: Documents the history of imperial Japan (1868-1945), its Asian empire (1895-1945) and occupied Japan (1947-52).

• The Leonard A. Lauder Collection: Collection of Japanese postcards that represent an astonishing array of subjects and styles between 1900-1940.

• Old Tokyo: Vintage Japanese Postcard Museum, 1900-1960: Browse by topic or a detailed list of tags.

• Old Photos of Japan: Images that provide historical and social context for everyday life in Japan between 1850-1960.

• "Racism and stereotypes in colonial India’s 'Instagram’": (Article with photos)

• Re-envisioning Japan: Digital collection of images and artifacts from early-to-mid 20th century Japan (has lots of great topics, such as)

  • Missionary and social work

  • Wartime propaganda

• The Southeast Asian images & Texts Project: Browse by collection, topic, location, and more.
• UHM Library Asian Digital Image Collections