LIFE photo archive hosted by Google includes millions of images, many historical medical photographs

The LIFE photo archive is hosted by Google which allows you to search millions of photographs stretching from the 1750s to today.

According to Google, "only a very small percentage of these images have ever been published. The rest have been sitting in dusty archives in the form of negatives, slides, glass plates, etchings, and prints. We're digitizing them so that everyone can easily experience these fascinating moments in time. Today about 20 percent of the collection is online; during the next few months, we will be adding the entire LIFE archive — about 10 million photos."

According to Google Blogoscoped, "as many photos are quite old, this also means many should have passed into the public domain zone, meaning you may be allowed to copy, edit, and republish that portion of the photos any way you like, including for commercial uses. Wikipedia says that “the copyright in a published work expires in all countries ... when ... The work was created and first published before January 1, 1923, or at least 95 years before January 1 of the current year, whichever is later.”

A few examples of image searches for medical terms are linked below - click to see the photos:

- heart attack, for example, Vice President Richard M. Nixon visiting Senator Lyndon B. Johnson at Bethesda Naval Hospital after Johnson's heart attack.

- cough

- bronchitis

- allergy

- diabetes

- headache

References:
LIFE Photo Archive available on Google Image Search. Google Blog.
Google’s Life Photo Archive. Google Blogoscoped.