Can I have permission to publish ... from the Archives?

[NOTE: The following response pertains to material from the Pacific University Archives. If you are answering a question about an item that belongs to another collection or institution, e.g. photographs in WashingtonCountyHeritage.org that belong to the Washington County Museum, please refer the question to the appropriate person at that collection.]

Thank you for your email. Below my signature, I have copied our standard permission language. To summarize, it is not necessary to ask our permission to publish material to which we do not own the copyright. Because of [age or other reason], the [item] is most [likely or not likely] in the public domain, though we cannot legally guarantee this. Cornell University publishes a chart that may help you to identify what is and is not in the public domain in the United States, here: http://copyright.cornell.edu/resources/publicdomain.cfm . For the purposes of the Cornell chart, the [item] would probably be considered [an unpublished anonymous work, or other type].

If you do publish the item, we ask that you provide a credit line for the photograph that states it comes from the “Pacific University Archives.” We do not charge licensing fees.

Thank you for contacting us, and we wish you the best of luck with your publication!

[Signature]

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The Pacific University Archives is committed to providing broad access to its collections for teaching, learning, and research. Pacific University owns the copyright to some, but not all, of the materials housed in its archives. Copyright for materials authored or otherwise produced as official business of Pacific University is retained by the university and requires its permission for publication. For other materials, such as personal papers of individuals or historic photographs, Pacific University often does not own the copyright. Accordingly, you are solely responsible for determining the copyright status of any materials you may wish to use, to investigate the owner of the copyright, and to obtain permission for your intended use. In all cases, you must cite the Pacific University Archives as the source, and, if a particular material is copyrighted, you must cite all copyright information and comply with all other terms or restrictions that may be applicable to that material.

Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.