History
These illustrations and photographs are free for any kind of educational use - whether you are a teacher creating topic worksheets or looking for ideas to spark creative writing, or a pupil who needs illustrations for a presentation or website.
Just select the collection you are interested in and have a look at the thumbnail images.
Most of the illustrations are available in both full-colour versions and in black and white.
Copyright
You can use these images for educational purposes without worrying about cost or copyright. All we ask is that you don't sell them and you credit LTS when you use them. For full details, please see the copyright statement.
The prehistoric world
Scenes, people and animals from the prehistoric world including crannogs, standing stones, woolly mammoths and sabre-toothed cats.
Scenes from Scottish history
Illustrations showing typical scenes from different eras in early Scottish history, from life in Skara Brae village and a Pictish broch, to military encursions by the Romans and the Vikings.
Celts, Picts and Vikings
To help children learn about the lives of ancient Britons, use these pictures of fearsome warriors, hardworking woman and farmers and playful children.
Ancient Egyptians
Exploring the mysteries of ancient Egypt? These illustrations of pharoahs, priests, children, farmers and builders will help to bring the world of the pyramids to life.
Greeks and Romans
They gave us engineering marvels like Hadrian's Wall and had a huge influence on Western language, literature, philosophy and politics. People from ancient Greece and Rome are in these illustrations.
Medieval and Renaissance Scottish history
Milkmaids, nobles and knights are included in these pictures along with some key characters from Scottish history - Mary, Queen of Scots, William Wallace, Robert the Bruce and King Edward I.
The Murthly Hours
Feast your eyes on the people, animals and activities of medieval times with illustrations from The Murthly Hours, a richly decorated manuscript from the 13th century. Zoom in to see the details on the pages and get the historical and cultural context from National Library of Scotland curators.
Old maps
See how Scotland's towns and cities have changed with these online maps of 19th-century Glasgow, Edinburgh and Wick. You can zoom in and out and there is further explanation from a National Library of Scotland curator.
Pencils of light
View some of the first-ever photographs taken by members of the Edinburgh Calotype Club, the first photographic club in the world. As well as examining the details of the pictures online you can listen to curators from the National Library of Scotland explaining more about each photo.
World Wars
Two colour illustrations depicting typical scenes from the World Wars. The World War I picture includes a dugout and No Man's Land, while the Home Front of World War II has children with gas masks, an air- raid warden, taped windows and a barrage balloon.
Scotland and the Abolition of the Slave Trade
Paintings, documents and drawings relating to the slave trade and the campaign for its abolition. The images include adverts for a slave sales, pictures of slave ships, and portraits of people involved in the trade and the abolition movement.
Portrait paintings
Download copies of these portraits, mostly of ordinary people, from the Royal Scottish Academy, along with information about each painting and artist.
Paintings of people and events
These paintings and sculptures show people involved in everyday activities, holidays and scenes from history. Selected from the Royal Scottish Academy to illustrate the artistic technique of figure composition, copies can be downloaded and there are extra details about each work of art.
Paintings of the built environment
From Scotland and abroad, these paintings include lots of scenes still recognisable today. Selected from the Royal Scottish Academy, a copy of each painting can be downloaded and there are more details about each one.
Copyright
These images are the copyright of Learning and Teaching Scotland and are provided as a royalty-free educational resource for educational use in Scotland. By downloading an image you are agreeing to be bound by the terms of this licence.
You may copy, distribute and display an image, and make derivative works based on the image. Learning and Teaching Scotland must be credited as the source of the original image. You may not sell or permit third parties to sell or license an image. If you alter, transform, or build upon an image, you may distribute the resulting image only under a licence identical to this one. For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the licence terms of this work.
Any of these conditions can be waived if you get permission from Learning and Teaching Scotland.