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Free to Use and Reuse: Fish and Fishing

Traditional, scientific, nostalgic, commercial, and humorous views of fish and fishing fill this set of fifty photographs and prints from the 16th to 21st centuries. The pictures are from the Prints & Photographs Division collections unless otherwise noted. Browse more content that is free to use and reuse

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  African American woman fishing at the Tidal Basin, Washington, D.C. Photo by Toni Frissell, 1957.

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  Native Americans fishing at the "Soo," St. Mary's Rapids, Sault Ste. Marie. Color print, 1901.

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  Boy fishing. Photo, 1936.

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  Sponge Fishing. Color print, 1897.

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  River trout. Color woodcut by Hiroshige Andō, 1841-1844.

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  Big Fish Supper Club, Bena, Minnesota. Color photo by John Margolies, 1980.

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  Shad Fishing. Fishers and Catch. Photo by Bain News Service, 1915.

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  Net Fishing. Photo by Harris & Ewing, 1909-1923.

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  Little White Kitties: Fishing. Color print by Currier & Ives, 1871.

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  Fishing. Color print, 1905.

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  Oh, don't hurt me! cried Tom. I only want to look at you; you are so handsome. Watercolor by Jessie Willcox Smith, 1916, for The Water-Babies book.

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  School and Family Charts ... Fishes. Color poster, 1890.

• Edward Llewellen with the World's Record Black Sea Bass, which he caught, (425 lbs.), time 41 min., at Catalina Island, California. Photo by Ironmonger, 1903.

• Allen & Ginter, Richmond, Virginia. 50 fish from American waters. You will catch one in each package of Virginia Bright, ... cigarettes. Color poster by Lindner, Eddy & Clauss, lith., N.Y., late-1800s.

• Visit the Aquarium in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Poster by Robert Muchley, 1936 or 1937.

• "Tom Kod Peluk," Inuit woman ice fishing for tomcod, Nome, Alaska. Photo by Lomen Bros., 1903-1907.

• Fishing thru ice. Photo by Bain News Service, 1910-1915.

• Wishram fisherman, Columbia River. Photo by Edward Curtis, 1910.

• Japanese man surf fishing, Belmar, New Jersey. Photo by Bain News Service, about 1908.

• Tuna Derby, Galilee, Rhode Island. Color photo by Thomas Burns, 1979. American Folklife Center

• Man and boy fishing by shore. Photo by Detroit Publishing Co. 1910-1920.

• Doris Gottscho, holding fish and fishing pole, sitting on a fence. Photo by Samuel Gottscho, 1919 or 1920.

• Kid fishing, Bonnet Shores, Rhode Island. Photo by Henry Horenstein, 1979. American Folklife Center

• African American girl fishing in a ditch, Louisiana Delta Project, Louisiana. Photo by Marion Post Wolcott, 1940.

• Three young cutters who work in Seacoast Canning Co., Factory #4. Ages 10 to 12. Work regularly, Eastport, Maine. (Sardines) Photo by Lewis Hine, 1911.

• George Washington's Fishing Tackle. Photo by J.A. Anderson, 1906.

• A Cape Ann fisherman mending his nets, Gloucester, Massachusetts. Photo by Detroit Publishing Co., 1900-1906.

• "Fish thrower" at the Pike Place Fish Company, Seattle, Washington. Color photo by Carol Highsmith, about 2000.

• Roadside stand near Birmingham, Alabama. Photo by Walker Evans, 1943.

• Fishing Boat. Astoria, Oregon. Photo by Russell Lee, 1941.

• Herring Fishing, Norway. Color stereo photograph, about 1900.

• Fishing. Fish Story. Photo by Theodor Horydczak, 1935.

• Fishing. Three fish. Photo by Theodor Horydczak, 1935.

• Fish. Color print, 1898.

• A catfish figure in Belzoni, Mississippi, the farm-raised Catfish Capital. Photo by Carol Highsmith, 2017.

• Sailfish specimen. Photo by Harris & Ewing, 1936

• Tetraodon angusticeps (narrow-headed puffer fish). Plate 28 in volume 4 of "The Zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle." Book illustration, 1839-1843. Rare Book Division

• Sergeant major or Cow pilot (top) and Rainbow parrot fish (bottom). Color illustration by Hashimein Murayama in The Book of Fishes, 1924. General Collections.

• Mission San Juan Capistrano, Southern California. Color photo by Carol Highsmith, 2012.

• Feeding the carp, Park at Fontainebleau, Paris, France. Print after the painting by P.C. Comte, 1878.

• Woman wearing a hat shaped like a fish. Photo by Theodore Marceau, 1914.

• The Lost Trail: a comedy drama of western life by Anthony E. Wills. Color theater poster, 1907.

• What are you going to do about it? Color print, 1879.

• The "Hooch hound" in action. Photo by National Photo Co., 1922. (Dog trained to detect liquor during prohibition.)

• Mt. Hood (11,225 ft.) one of America's famous mountains, from Lost Lake, Oregon. Stereograph photo by Underwood & Underwood, 1902.

• The Adventures of today are the memories of tomorrow: National parks. Color poster by Dorothy Waugh, 1930s.

• A Monstrous Fish. Illustration in Thevet, La Cosmographie universelle ... (Paris, 1575). Rare Book Division

• Black bass fishing. Color print, 1907.

• Field and Stream. Cover illustration by Osborne Mayer, Volume 20, Number 1 (May 1915). General Collections

• Paradise Brook Trout Co. Henryville, Pennsylvania. (Trout farm) Color advertisement, mid-1900s.