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I recently had a memory flash of my High School art teacher. I remembered that she used to have what are called “source books.” A source book is a thin book that is filled with nothing but artistic clipart that can be copied and used in arts and crafts . . . usually royalty-free.

In school, I never thought much about them, because they usually had to be copied and enlarged using an inaccessible copy machine. Getting an image enlarged to the right size can be tricky. Plus, where on earth do you find these types of books? Nowadays, the images can be easily scanned at high resolution right from my computer.

Of course, many source books now come with the images on CD-ROM. I doubt that I will ever use the CD-ROMs, because I’d rather be original. But, the books alone are invaluable reference materials that can inspire.

I did a search for these lost treasures on Amazon.com (tons of products), and found a publisher that creates some very nice source books. What shocked me was how many are available, each with their own theme. To begin my collection, I bought Treasury of Victorian Designs and Emblems and Banners, Ribbons, and Scrolls, both by Dover Publications.

Inspired, I am already thinking of re-designing this website. Maybe. I’m thinking of an early Americana design.

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links—as an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying products.