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Re: How do I know which material is public domain?
Lisha Penn
Jul 22, 2019 3:29 PM
3 people found this helpfulDear Mr. Gilbrech,
Thank you for posting your request on History Hub!
Photographs that were taken by the United States government employees, either military or civilian, working in an official capacity, are considered to be in the public domain. Permission is not required to use these items. However, photographs that were taken by private citizens or by
organizations other than the United States government may be subject to copyright laws. It is the user responsibility to identify the copyright owner and to obtain all necessary clearances before making commercial, broadcast, or other use of this material.
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of
photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Under certain conditions specified in
the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specific conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be “used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research.” If a user makes a request for, or later uses a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of “fair use,” that user may be liable for copyright infringement.
If you decide to use the photograph, drawing, or document in your publication, we request that you cite it properly following the guidelines in General Information Leaflet No. 17 on our website at https://www.archives.gov/publications/general-info-leaflets/17-citing-records.pdf.
We hope this is helpful. Best of luck with your research!
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Re: How do I know which material is public domain?
3 people found this helpfulSee also the responses to Are records from your catalog copyrighted?
All of the images on the page you link were created by the US Army Signal Corps (as indicated by the RG 111 notation) and are therefore public domain.
The United States Copyright Office has created a pamphlet on Duration of Copyright for works that were not in the public domain when first created.The following blogs have information about researching WW II Photographs.
https://unwritten-record.blogs.archives.gov/2017/03/30/how-to-research-photographs-relating-to-world-war-ii-army-units/https://unwritten-record.blogs.archives.gov/2017/08/10/researching-wwii-navy-ships/