How to find photographs in the online catalog

The Dallas Public Library has more than 6,000 historic images of Dallas and Texas available in its online catalog. Images from the catalog may be used for school projects or purchased for publication or display.

1. Start at the library's homepage: www.dallaslibrary.org (will open in a new window)

2. Click on the library catalog link.

3. Locate the tabs in the top center of the screen. Click on the "search" tab.

4. Enter your search terms in the keyword box. Don't hit enter or "Go!" yet!

5. Locate the "Limit by" drop-down box and select "Digital Collection".

6. Once you have limited the search to "digital collection", click on Go!

7. Click on a thumbnail to enlarge an item, or click on "Full Description" to see a more detailed description about the image.

8. Enjoy!

Additional hints:

• Use * for a wild card (example: theat* will pull up results for theater, theaters, theatre, and theatres; ro*gers will pull up results for rogers and rodgers)
• Use quotes for phrases (example: "state fair" or "texas instruments")
• You can set more preferences (such as date range) under the advanced option. Just make sure to limit your search to "digital collection", select your preferences below, and hit "Perform Search" instead of "Go!"
• Your search may not bring up any results. Since only a small portion of our collection is Online, you may contact our division if you would like us to search our entire collection for you.

Some important keywords when searching for photographs:

• Cityscape (use for skyline views)
• Bird's Eye View (use for skyline views)
• Skyline
• Students
• Buildings
  • specific building names
  • specific address
• Street
  • specific street names
• Home
• Names of important Dallasites
• Schools
• Integration
• Aerial view
• Specific names of Dallas neighborhoods
  • Lakewood
  • Oak Lawn
  • Oak Cliff
• Railroads
• Courthouse
• Specific Texas Cities (other than Dallas)
• Weather

Copyright and purchasing of photographs

The Dallas Public library owns copyright to all of the photographs Online. Permission has been granted to teachers and students to download and use the photographs strictly for classroom purposes. All other uses require permission from the staff in the Texas/Dallas History and Archives Division.

You may purchase reproductions of all photographs Online. When purchasing a photograph you will be granted "one time only" publication rights. Please contact the Texas/Dallas History and Archives Division about ordering an image for publication or other uses.

The photographs in the catalog are only a sample of what the Texas/Dallas History and Archives Division owns. If you are looking for something specific and cannot find it in the catalog, please contact our staff at (214-670-1435). Any staff member in Texas/Dallas History and Archives Division can help you search for a specific photograph.