Scout
A Black Zero Labs appComing soon
The world's archives at your fingertips.
Historic photos, maps and footage from public archives, libraries and museums, found in plain words.
Every find arrives at its highest resolution, with its license checked and its credit written for you.
Search the archives
silk road caravans, 1890s
5 finds pinned, each with its license and credit
Try another search
Photo · 1890sA caravan crossing the dunesPublic domainCredit: National library, photograph collection Map · 1890sTrade routes across the steppePublic domainCredit: University library, map room Document · 1890sA merchant's travel passCredit requiredCredit: Regional archive, family papers Photo · 1890sCourtyard of a roadside innPublic domainCredit: Museum of photography, open collection Photo · 1890sPack animals on a mountain passNeeds a checkCredit: Private collection, details unclear
Photo · 1930sSteamships at the quay at dawnPublic domainCredit: City archive, port photographs Film still · 1930sCranes unloading cargoCredit requiredCredit: Film archive, newsreel collection Map · 1930sHarbor chart with soundingsPublic domainCredit: National archive, sea charts Poster · 1930sTravel poster for a sea crossingNeeds a checkCredit: Design museum, rights holder unknown Newspaper · 1930sFront page on a record cargoCredit requiredCredit: Public library, newspaper collection
Photo · 1900sA biplane on the field before takeoffPublic domainCredit: National library, early aviation Film still · 1900sThe first hop into the airPublic domainCredit: Film archive, open collection Drawing · 1900sWing drawing from a patent filingPublic domainCredit: Patent office, public record Photo · 1900sPortrait of a young aviatorCredit requiredCredit: Museum of flight, portrait collection Newspaper · 1900sA newspaper reports the flightNeeds a checkCredit: Newspaper archive, scan of a reprint
How Scout works
From a question
to a find you can use.
Series 01Search in plain words
Ask for a moment
in history.Type a portrait of a scientist, or a map of a city in a given year, and Scout searches the archives at once.
Results free to use come first, sorted by how sharp they are.
Series 02Licenses and credits
Cleared, credited
and ready.Every result wears a clear badge: public domain, credit required or needs a check.
Place it in your film and the credit appears, with a full list for your description.
Series 03Full resolution
The original,
in full detail.Scout fetches the largest original the archive holds, even giant maps.
Pan and zoom across it as slowly as you like, and it stays sharp.
Made for
The stories Scout helps tell.
Styles
What's inside
An archive researcher on call.
- Credits written for you
- On screen as you place it, and listed for your description.
- Highest resolution
- The largest original the archive holds.
- License badges
- Free to use, credit required or needs a check, at a glance.
- Maps by place and year
- Historic maps of anywhere, from any era.
- More like this
- Find the same scene in other collections.
- Plain-word search
- Describe the photo, map or film you need.
- Portraits
- Find a person by name, with the right dates.
- Public archives
- Archives, libraries and museums, searched together.
- Risk checks
- Spots unclear licenses and conflicting credits for you.
- Saved to Library
- Every find kept with its license and source.
- Sharp pan and zoom
- Slow moves across a photo that never go soft.
- Your partner researches
- Ask for images for every line of your script.
Questions
Ask the
reference desk.
Anything else? We'd love to hear from you. Get in touch
From public archives, libraries and museums, plus openly licensed collections. Results you can use freely come first, and wider sources that need a check are there when you turn them on.
Scout shows each result's license as its source publishes it, keeps only results cleared for commercial use by default and flags anything that needs a second look. Check anything flagged before you publish.
Yes. A short credit appears when you place an image, and a full credit list is ready for your video's description, with each source and license.
Scout fetches the largest original each archive holds and shows whether it's sharp enough for your film, so pans and zooms stay crisp.
Scout is coming after Flowmotion and Cutroom, together with Armature, Tweenhouse and Mirage. Join the waitlist to hear the moment it opens.
Works with
Works with the rest of your project.
Scout's finds land in the project every element shares, with their credits attached, ready to cut out, animate and place.
Where finds go next
Library
Every find is saved with its license, source and credit, ready for any project.
Flowmotion
Cut out an archive photo, layer it in paper collage and drift a camera through it.
Cutroom
Credits appear on screen as you place a photo, and in your description on export.
Darkroom
Restore and retouch an old photo before it goes into the film.
Early access cardScout
Open the world's archives
with Scout.
Join the waitlist and get early access to Scout and the whole of Black Zero Labs.
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