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The Library of Congress provides several search systems for finding digitized images as well as descriptive information about images and image collections. The most useful search systems are described below along with special instructions for locating relevant images of presidents. Be sure to read all information about rights and restrictions related to reuse of the images.
Many presidential portraits can be both searched and viewed in the Prints & Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC). In many cases, a description can be found, even if the material has not been digitized.
On the Portrait Gallery pages of this guide, a suggested search has been provided for each president, which attempts to limit the search to portraits for which there are no known restrictions for usage. You may find additional results by adjusting the search terms that you use.
For example, searching "Johnson, Lyndon B." will return fewer results than "Johnson, Lyndon" with his middle initial omitted. "Lyndon B. Johnson," with a period after the "B" may return results different from "Lyndon Baines Johnson." Yet different results may turn up when searching "LBJ."
Adding or removing the term "portrait" may also yield additional results, including, potentially, commentary materials, such as political cartoons and posters.
Our collections are strongest in portraits of presidents from George Washington to Harry Truman. Presidential libraries can be helpful with resources for presidents starting with Herbert Hoover.
On site in the Prints & Photographs Reading Room, you can find many additional presidential portraits and images related to their lives in the Presidential File and in other collections. Thousands of presidential images have not yet been digitized and must be accessed in person.
