Public Domain

Next to coffee, public domain images are my favorite addiction. The New York Public Library introduced a way to get your public domain fix when it announced its enhanced public domain collections–making it easier for users to search, remix and create with the rich offerings of images, manuscripts, sheet music, and even data–all free of copyright restrictions.

For the genealogist, this means even more opportunities to find great images, such as stereoscopic photographs, menus, sheet music, and even medieval illuminations, to illustrate an ancestral experience video. Users searching the NPYL digital collections can filter with an easy “Search only public domain materials” checkbox that appears magically when clicking in the search box.

Even better, the item descriptions offer citations in MLA, APA and Chicago/Turabian format. I love you New York Public Library.

A search on “Savannah” led me to a collection of stereoscopes that includes the view at right of a man standing on the wharf by the Savannah River. The 3-D effect really pulls you into the shot.

GIF made with the NYPL Labs Stereogranimator

Enable your public domain habit. Learn more at nypl.org/research/collections/digital-collections/public-domain. Before you go there, download some helpful worksheets at http://bit.ly/AncestorTools to brainstorm some ancestor story ideas and generate some search terms.

Source citations:

Kimball, Shana. “Free for All: NYPL Enhances Public Domain Collections For Sharing and Reuse.” nypl.org. New York Public Library, 5 Jan. 2016. Web. 8 Jan. 2016. http://www.nypl.org/blog/2016/01/05/share-public-domain-collections

Rare Book Division, The New York Public Library. “Coffee House” New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed January 10, 2016. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/af816b78-c712-c09e-e040-e00a18062945

The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Photography Collection, The New York Public Library. “Along the wharf of Savannah River, Savannah, Ga.” (1895) New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed January 11, 2016. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e0-596a-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99

Who said case law is boring? My all-time favorite actor, Jimmy Stewart, and my favorite Hitchcock film, Rear Window, showed up in a court case that popped up in my first attempt to browse the U.S. Copyright Office’s Fair Use Index at http://copyright.gov/fair-use/ .

The Fair Use Index introductory webpage says “Fair use is a longstanding and vital aspect of American copyright law.” It can be confusing, too!

My ancestor’s cavalry unit was involved in the Atlanta Campaign during the American Civil War, so is it OK insert part of a scene from David O. Selznick’s movie, Gone With the Wind, into my Ancestor Story video and post it on YouTube? If not a good idea, why not? Or could it fall under Fair Use? While using this database won’t answer specific questions on whether you should or shouldn’t use copyrighted media in your family history movie, it can help give some understanding on how courts have applied the Fair Use principles.

The index doesn’t have a powerhouse search function, but it does allow you to browse and filter cases by jurisdiction and category (e.g. Film/Audiovisual, Unpublished, Photograph, Music, Computer Program and more). The index is not comprehensive and only shows the case decisions from the highest court level.

Of course, if you are really trying to find out if your specific use of a digitized photo or film footage falls under Fair Use, consult an intellectual property attorney.

If you are using images or other media that are in the public domain you don’t have to worry about Fair Use. I invite you to take a look my new eBook, Share Your Genealogy Research with Video, to learn about ways to find public domain images to bring your ancestor’s stories to life.

You can get started now with creating a short family history movie by downloading a free 2 Tools pdf worksheet here.

Photo credit: Pixabay.com

New York Public Library Makes Public Domain Easy

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