This user's guide includes tips for exploring content, viewing and using images, and getting the most out of your research on this website.
Also see searching and browsing tips for more help with finding content.
Search results appear as a grid of thumbnail images on a page, with their titles and Digital IDs. Two additional sizes of digital image are available for each item - a detail and enlargement. Clicking on a smaller image will lead to the next larger one.
This view presents a mid-size image and the fullest version of an item's descriptive record including physical and bibliographical information, plus links to associated and related materials; tools for saving (Add to Selections) or expanding (Enlarge Image, View Verso, View Image Set, and Pan & Zoom) are also available from the Image Detail page.
View Verso (Other Side)Some artifacts offer a view of front (recto) and back (verso); use the "View Verso" button to get an additional image showing the other side of the item. Examples of materials presented this way include baseball photographs, cigarette cards and book jackets.
Some materials are comprised of more than one part, for example, restaurant menus. The presentation of these materials shows the first part (the cover or part 1) and offers browsing of the subordinate parts, with the option to view more from the Image Detail View.
This view is a full-screen enlargement of the item with descriptive data. Click on the "Enlarge Image" button or on the image to see to the full-screen enlargement.
To enable enhanced detail viewing, some images are also available for Pan & Zoom display. A display button with the words "Pan & Zoom" appears on Detail and Enlarged pages for images which can be viewed with this option. Click on this button to begin using Pan & Zoom features.
Pan & Zoom images are very high-resolution files which can be viewed using the free ExpressView browser software, downloadable from LizardTech, Inc. In general, these amplified files are available for representations of exceptional works such as illuminated manuscripts and Japanese color woodcuts, as well as large, detailed original materials such as maps, bird's-eye views and panoramas.
The optional ExpressView browser plugin is optimized for use with Netscape 7.x and greater, Safari, Mozilla browsers like Firefox, or Internet Explorer 6.0. Review the choices for downloading a free viewer plugin (ExpressView) at www.lizardtech.com. Users on some operating systems or browsers may be required to download other LizardTech viewing software to their computers in order to pan and zoom, rather than using the browser plugin.
LizardTech provides this optional software, and The New York Public Library makes no warranty regarding its use.
Any image can be downloaded (saved to your own computer) by right-clicking (Windows) or by Saving (MAC).
Use your browser's print controls to print from any screen.
The "Selections" feature saves up to fifty (50) images for future viewing. Add any image to Selections by clicking the "Add to Selections" button. To view all of your Selections, click on "Selections" at the top of any page. Remove images from Selections at any time by clicking the "Remove from Selections" button. To delete all images in your Selections, click the "Clear all records from Selections" link on the Selections page.
In order to use the "Selections" feature, your web browser must have cookies enabled. While you are not required to log in or provide any personal information to save images, Selections uses cookies (small text files that store Selections image identifiers for later retrieval). This information allows you to view your Selections images when returning to this site later from the same computer. The New York Public Library gathers no personal information, and you may clear all images from Selections at any time.
Please see About Ordering Images Online.
Please see Licensing Images.
NYPL Digital Gallery contains hundreds of thousands of digital images of historical materials from the Research Libraries' and Branch Libraries' original, rare, and specialized holdings. Images may be freely downloaded for personal, research, and study purposes only.
As the physical rights holder of this material, most of which is in the public domain for copyright purposes, the Library charges a usage fee to license an image for commercial use (defined above). The usage fee is not a copyright fee. You are free to obtain a copy of these images from a source other than NYPL. Usage fees help ensure that the Library is able to continue to acquire, preserve and provide access to its collections.
For information on ordering images and permissions, including but not limited to any type of publication or commercial use, contact The Library's Photographic Services & Permissions office.
LizardTech, Inc. provides the optional ExpressView browser plugin, and The New York Public Library makes no further warranty regarding its use.
The New York Public Library has posted the material on this website in an effort to make meaningful information widely available, free of charge for personal or research purposes. The Library has made diligent efforts to locate and obtain permission to post this material from any individual or group that may own rights therein. Please contact The Library if you have an interest in these materials and have any objection or concern with respect to the Library's posting of them.
To provide background and history as well as to further learning and understanding, this website offers Collection Guides. These are narrative texts and lists of related resources about this website's digital collections. In general, Collection Guides consist of a brief enumeration and description of contents, a history of the specific materials digitized including their provenance and/or the circumstances of their development as a digital collection, a background statement placing the materials in a larger context, and a list of related resources, both print and electronic.