I missed this earlier in the week. Search Engine Land:
TimeWarner and Google have announced that starting today Google will make available millions of images from the Life Magazine photo archive. The vast majority (97 percent) of these images have never been seen by the public (they were sitting around in physical envelopes). These are hard-copy photographs that have been or are being scanned by Google and will be hosted by Google. They will show up in Google.com and Google Image search results. All these photos are available in high-resolution (5 and 6 megapixels).
The images will be free to use for “personal and research purposes” but will be digitally watermarked to prevent unauthorized or unlicensed commercial uses. There are links to appropriate contacts for those who want to use the images commercially.
READ ON for a discussion of whether or not they’re actually legally available for personal and research use (my read says that for all practical purposes they are).
They have their own homepage, but will also be integrated into Google’s core image search index. Photos are labeled by subject and organized by decade and category. They can also be searched by photographer and date.
There are about 3 million photos posted now; 7 million more will be added as they are scanned. The press release about the project; the FAQ page; CNet’s story & gallery.
Via John Dickerson’s Slate Gabfest cocktail chatter.