Hello! I’m new to the listserv and the museum field. I am not quite as familiar with copyright as I would like to be and I was hoping somebody would be able to answer my question. Part of my responsibilities is to organize the museum’s archival and photograph collection. Just today I was contacted by a volunteer who would like to use some photographs in our collection for publication. The photos are part of a collection donated to us by a law firm who inherited the photos from an oil company here in Virginia. The company has long been disbanded and the lawyers have passed away. Am I right to assume the copyright for the photographs lies with the museum? Thanks!

Jessica Waite