With more than 1.5 million images and 4 million feet of moving images, the Chicago History Museum’s prints and photographs collection is the single largest source of pictorial information for the Chicago metropolitan area from the early nineteenth century to the present. 

And thanks to our free backgrounds, you can Zoom from Chicago history wherever you are! Wow your family, friends, and colleagues with a view of the 1893 world’s fair or the 1933 skyline. Missing your usual springtime fun? Put yourself in Lincoln Park or with the 1908 Chicago Cubs. Download now.

Peruse a selection of digitized prints and photographs at CHM Images, our online portal. Featured galleries include images from our newly acquired Chicago Sun-Times Photography Collection, Raeburn Flerlage’s work documenting the Chicago blues and folk music scene during the 1950s–1970s, and Declan Haun’s photography capturing the American Civil Rights Era. See more images.