Hello, Everyone!

 

I have two crazy copyright questions that I'd like to bounce off of you
all. I know copyright seems to be discussed ad infinitum around here,
but please bear with me!

 

1) As a local history collection, we have a ton of anonymous photos,
usually of buildings or general outdoor scenes. We can usually give it a
time frame, but don't know who took the photo; of course, there are no
deeds of gift. Many of these photos have been used in local
publications, such as the local historical society magazine, without
thought of copyright. This was done years ago. We just acquired the
historical society's photo collection last summer, and have not received
any requests for their magazine. My question is: do we consider those
anonymous photos published works? Even though they were done with no
one's consent, probably in violation of copyright? I have the charts,
but am trying to figure out where these anonymous photos (taken in the
first half of the 20th century) fit in the charts.

 

2) After 9/11, our fire department received dozens of letters and cards
from schoolchildren across the country. Many of these were hand-drawn,
with text and illustrations. For the 5th anniversary of 9/11, we are
planning to display some of these in our room, and we would also like to
put together an on-line exhibit. Of course, our deed of gift was from
the Fire Department, and the copyright for the cards would be held by
these kids, the creators. Right? I am assuming an on-line exhibit would
be considered fair use; there are lots of lawyers in these parts, and we
don't want some lawyer mom or dad freaking out that their kids' artwork
is being put on the web. I'd just like my suspicions about fair use
confirmed or denied, so we can proceed (or not) with planning the online
exhibit. If anyone here has done a similar type of online exhibit, using
children's artwork, I'd be interested in how you handled any of these
issues.

 

Thanks for any responses you can provide, either to the list or directly
to me.

 

-Heather

 

------------------

Heather Crocetto

Archivist

Virginia Room, Arlington County Public Library

Phone: (703) 228-7724

Fax: (703) 228-7720

http://www.arlingtonva.us/Departments/Libraries/history/LibrariesHistory
Archives.aspx

 


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