Located in London, England, the Wellcome Library is one of the world’s top research facilities for the study of medical history. Their online image collection contains thousands of images with themes ranging from social history to contemporary biomedical science.
Images on the site are freely available for download for research, teaching, or personal use. Browse by Highlights, Illness & Wellness, Life, Culture, Nature, and War. You can also narrow keyword searches to historical or contemporary images, and an advanced option allows searches by date and technique.
If you prefer not to download images but would like to group them for later reference, you can register for a free account. The grouping function in Wellcome’s image library is called “My Lightboxes.”
Whether it’s medicine or magic, the sacred or the profane, science or satire – you’ll find more than you expect.