Requests for Permission to Publish at National Trust Historic Sites

REQUESTS FOR PERMISSION TO PUBLISH IMAGES HELD BY NATIONAL TRUST HISTORIC SITES

The following guidelines relate to requests to buy, rent and/or publish photographs that are owned and managed by National Trust Historic Sites.  National Trust Historic Sites receive requests from authors, researchers, and general members of the public for copies and/or use of many types of photographs, including but not limited to:

• Publishable quality photographs of specific objects in the museum collections
• Publishable quality photographs (or scans) of archival materials, including photographs
• Publishable quality photographs of buildings, installation shots, or landscapes at the Site
• Photographs for personal use or reference (not necessarily publishable quality)

The logistics of providing the image to the Requestor, and the decision about what fees to charge, are managed individually by each National Trust Historic Site.  The NTHP headquarters office does not maintain an inventory for each site of photographs that can be provided to Requestors.

 

REQUEST FORMS

The Request for Permission to Publish Images Held by National Trust Historic Sites form should be provided by Site staff to the Requestor, and returned from the Requestor to Site staff.  A copy of the completed form should be provided by the Site to the Director of Museum Collections in the National Trust Historic Sites Department.  There are two versions of this form:

FORM WITHOUT FEE SCHEDULE: This version of the form is for use by National Trust Historic Sites that have developed their own fee schedules.  Sites should attach their own fee schedule to this form:

Request for Permission to Publish Images Held by National Trust Historic Sites (without fee schedule)

FORM WITH FEE SCHEDULE: This version of this form includes a basic fee schedule that has been established by the National Trust Headquarters Office.  This form is recommended for Sites that have not developed their own fee schedule:

Request for Permission to Publish Images Held by National Trust Historic Sites (with fee schedule)

 

FULFILLING IMAGE REQUESTS

1)    Determining if the National Trust Historic Site has the right to publish the requested image

• Before proceeding with a reproduction request, staff at the National Trust Historic Site must first determine, to the best of their ability, if the National Trust owns copyright to the object/item that is depicted in the photograph.  Ownership of the museum collection piece, artwork, etc., does not guarantee ownership of all associated copyrights.
  • Example: a Site may own an artwork in the collection by a living artist, who has maintained the copyright to his/her artwork.  If a Site receives a reproduction request, the Requestor must contact the artist and the artist may grant (or may not grant) permission for the image to be used by the Requestor.  If the artist grants permission, the Site may then provide the reproduction-quality photograph to the Requestor.
• Before proceeding with a reproduction request, staff at the National Trust Historic Site must first determine, to the best of their ability, if the National Trust owns copyright to the photograph in question.  Ownership of the photograph does not guarantee ownership of associated copyrights.
  • Example 1: a Site may have hired a professional photographer to take photographs at the Site, with the Site receiving a set of photographs from the photographer.  If the Site or NTHP headquarters does not have a copy of the contract that confirms copyright transfer of those images, then the Site may not be able to provide subsequent publication permission to a Requestor.  In such a case, it may be necessary for the Site staff to contact the photographer once again to work out copyright permissions. 
  • Example 2: A Site may have in its inventory photographs that are copies of photographs owned by other repositories or held in other collections.  Such photographs may be mixed in with photographs owned by the Site, so this can be difficult to determine.  If Site staff can determine that the Requestor is requesting use of an image owned by another repository, the Requestor must ask the original repository for permission to publish; the Site cannot grant permission to publish on behalf of the original repository.
• Reproduction of artworks or other collection pieces that are on loan to a Site—from either a private lender or an outside organization—must be negotiated directly with the lending Lender or Organization, unless the Site has received prior permission, in writing, to negotiate on the Lender’s/Organization’s behalf.  If the Lender is a private individual, it may be most prudent for the Site staff to contact the Lender directly with the details of the publication request, rather than disclosing personal details directly to the Requestor.

 

2)   Determining what size and/or type of image is required

• After determining that the Site has permission to grant use of the photograph to the Requestor, the Site staff needs to determine if a reproduction-quality image is available that fulfills the Requestor’s needs.  The Requestor needs to provide clear details about what size/ format/ resolution image they require. 
• The Requestor may ask for images in a variety of possible formats, such as black & white or color photography; color transparencies; slides; or digital images.
• If providing a digital photograph or a digital scan of a photograph, Site staff may choose to treat digital images as rentals, in a similar manner to providing color transparencies.  For example, the digital image(s) can be burned to a CD and mailed to the Requestor; the Requestor then would be required to return the rental CD to the Site within the designated amount of time.  If, instead, the digital images are provided directly to the Requestor (by email or ftp), then the Requestor must agree to the Conditions of Use relating to the expected use of the image, which outline the duration of time in which use of the image is permitted.  The Requestor must agree to destroy the image upon conclusion of the permitted use/ time period.
• If the Site does not have a digital image readily available, the Site may need to accrue expenses in either having photography taken of the object(s) or scanning existing photograph(s) at an appropriate resolution.  Site staff should procure bids, or otherwise price out, the work needed to make the image available, including a determination of the amount of staff time this will take.  The Site may choose to ask the Requestor to pay for these costs, may choose to absorb the costs at the Site, or may work out a division of the costs with the Requestor.  It is important for the Site to provide the Requestor with an appropriate amount of time to consider the fees and then confirm or deny if they will be able to pay that expense.
• If a Site does not have a digital image, it is the responsibility of the Site staff to have the digital image made.   Site staff SHOULD NOT release an original photograph or museum object to a Requestor so that the Requestor can have the reproduction-quality image made on behalf of the Site.

 

 3)   Determination of fees & payment, and providing image to the Requestor

• Determination of the reproduction, publishing, and/or rental fees, and whether to waive any of the associated fees, is at the discretion of each National Trust Historic Site.  The NTHP form provides a fee schedule that can be used as a frame of reference for the Sites, but determination of fees is at each Site’s discretion and with the approval of the Site Director. 
• All fees are to be sent from the Requestor directly to the National Trust Historic Site.
• Requestor must pay fees prior to receipt of any image(s).
• A Site may use its discretion to set the timeframe for processing image requests.  Sites may wish to apply additional fees to rush orders.  The payment of extra shipping charges or processing fees for rush orders are the responsibility of the Requestor.

 

4)   Completion of order

• Sites staff should plan a system of tracking image requests within their own record-keeping that pays particular attention to deadlines, the expiration of rental periods, and assigning late fees if images are not returned or jobs are not completed within the previously agreed-upon time frame.
• A copy of the completed reproduction form should be sent from the Site to the Director of Museum Collections at National Trust Headquarters, for inclusion in the accession files (if a museum collection piece is being reproduced) or Site files (if the image is of the Site buildings and/or grounds).
• Two (2) copies of the final published work should be sent to the Site.  In turn, Site staff are requested to provide one (1) of these two copies to National Trust Headquarters, per the instructions as listed on the Request for Permission to Publish Images Held by National Trust Historic Sites form.

 

If you have any questions about the procedures or forms listed above, please contact Terri Anderson, the John & Neville Bryan Director of Museum Collections at the National Trust for Historic Preservation, 202-588-6232, terri_anderson@nthp.org or fax 202-588-6232.