Would these be photographs that Elizabeth Kendall supplied to the police
department?  If so, does her book have some of these same photos? If so, did
Ann Rule or anyone else use those photos in books or other materials?

 

Sharon Lee Butcher, MLS, MSO

Reference Librarian

AEDC Technical Library

100 Kindel Drive, Ste C212

Arnold AFB, TN  37389-3212

931-454-4430

Fax:  931-454-5421

[log in to unmask]

  _____  

From: Archives & Archivists [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of Kennedy, Deborah
Sent: Tuesday, June 27, 2006 6:09 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Copyright question--long

 

 

Between 1974-1989 the King County Department of Public Safety (Sheriff's
Office) investigated the disappearance and murder of several young women in
King County. They narrowed their search to one suspect, Ted Bundy. While
Bundy was never prosecuted in King County the investigation was considered
to be ground breaking in the methods used. King County Archives holds the
record of that investigation. 

Eventually the Sheriff's office gathered enough information to circulate a
description of their suspect and a probable first name "Ted". After the name
was made public a woman contacted the Sheriff's office and after several
phone calls she agreed to be interviewed by the detectives in charge of the
case. In the course of that interview the woman gave the detective some
photographs of Ted Bundy. The record of that exchange reads as follows:

"R/O then requested to view photographs and [name withheld] provide
snapshots of Bundy taken within the past year and turned them over to R/O. I
then advised her that the photos along with other comparison photos would be
shown to witnesses in an attempt to make further identification or
elimination of Bundy. The interview was terminated and R/O left the
residence advising [name withheld] that I would notify her of the results of
the photo identification."

Those photographs were included in the investigation files received by King
County Archives. The woman who gave the photographs to the detective claims
copyright of the photographs. An agreement was reached that the Archives
would not release her name. That means that all contact with her is through
her attorney. Occasionally, we receive requests for copies of the
photographs. We have been providing black and white photocopies of the
photographs with a disclaimer, "King County Archives does not hold the
copyright on these materials." We have not supplied our patrons with
photographic reproductions or digital scans.  The photocopies are of
relatively poor quality which has generated subsequent requests for digital
scans and reproductions.

In fulfilling a recent request I began looking for a permanent resolution to
this issue. I have been working with one of the County's attorneys. He has
been corresponding with the woman's attorney. Currently, the copyright
holder is not considering any requests for permission to use the
photographs. In fact, her attorney is saying that providing photocopies of
the photographs with our disclaimer violates her copyrights and questions if
they are, in fact, public records. She would like the photos returned to
her.

Are these photographs "public records"? 
Can I in good conscience as the guardian of the historical record return the
photographs to her? 
If not, and if we could come to agreement with the copyright holder to do
so, would photocopies of the photographs in the collection serve the
historical purpose?

If we keep the photographs, are we violating her copyright by providing
photocopies? 

Your thoughts and opinions on this matter would be appreciated. 

Deborah Kennedy 
County Archivist 
1215 E. Fir Street 
RED-ES-0100 
Seattle, WA 98122 
206-205-1396 
 <file:///\\www.metrokc.gov\archives> www.metrokc.gov/archives 

 

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A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List sponsored by the Society of American Archivists, www.archivists.org.
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      In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
                    *or*:  UNSUB ARCHIVES
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Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html

Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <[log in to unmask]>