WPA Writers Project materials
- March 20, 2006 @ 1:12pmjwbkmn says:I know that government documents are in the public domain, but I want to be sure about a particular instance. The NJ section of the WPA Writer's Project created a series of leaflets called "Stories of NJ" for use by schools, which include historical anecdotes, etc. Would I/we be free to reproduce these without getting clearance from, well, somebody? I would of course note the source, both for "moral" reasons and because it is interesting in itself.
Thanks again for the site. - March 20, 2006 @ 6:59pmJMiller says:Hi jwbkmn,
Do you have the actual leaflets? Is there a copyright notice indicated anywhere? I don't know specifically about these historical leaflets, but after doing some online searching, it appears that at least some of the WPA works might have been copyrighted by some entity (like a historical society). Whether that entity renewed the copyright (required at that time), is another question. If you look at the Public Domain chart (link on the right), you'll see information about when works fall into the Public Domain. You may want to check around with other folks who've used the WPA writings to see what they know.
You don't say what your situation is, but you also might want to consider that your use may be Fair Use (there are many places you can look for information about Fair Use; here is one site: http://www.utsystem.edu/OGC/intellectualProperty/copypol2.htm#test).
Good luck,
-JMiller - March 21, 2006 @ 8:10amCOvalle says:Note that all not government documents are in the public domain. Federal documents generated by the government are most likely to be in the public domain. There are some exceptions to that, however, when dealing with contracted works. State documents are not necessarily in the public domain.
[quote]I know that government documents are in the public domain, but I want to be sure about a particular instance. The NJ section of the WPA Writer's Project created a series of leaflets called "Stories of NJ" for use by schools, which include historical anecdotes, etc. Would I/we be free to reproduce these without getting clearance from, well, somebody? I would of course note the source, both for "moral" reasons and because it is interesting in itself.
Thanks again for the site.[/quote] - April 25, 2006 @ 3:02pmarchivist1 says:I have a similar question about slave narratives that are in the local history center. We have physical possession of the narratives and would love to digitize them for publication on the web site so that people can use them from remote locations. We are looking for signs of copyright now based on your information.
If we do not locate any signs of copyright, would it be possible for the organization that has possession of these, the entity to copyright them now if they are not copyrighted? I can envisions several types of publications that would make these narratives more broadly available to the public. - April 26, 2006 @ 4:50pmJMiller says:If the slave narratives are unpublished, created before 1886, and the author is unknown, it looks like they are in the public domain. (See this chart: (http://www.copyright.cornell.edu/training/Hirtle_Public_Domain.htm) If you create a new work out of the narratives (such as compiling them, adding annotations, illustrations, etc.), then you can copyright that new work, but not the narratives themselves.
I hope this helps.
-JMiller
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