{"word_count": 178, "character_count": 1058}
The Schlesinger Library does not actually own the copyright in most of the photographs we have in our collections. Some are in the public domain (images by photographers who died before 1934 or images published before 1923), some were created anonymously and therefore the copyright holder cannot be known (of these only those created before 1884 fall into the public domain right now), and in some cases, we have received permission ourselves from the copyright holders to publish their images in VIA. VIA is intended as a research tool, not a source of images for publication. We watermark our name on the images that we contribute to VIA so researchers will know immediately the source of the image should they require a better reproduction or seek permission to publish an image. We have made no claim of copyright in public domain images, but as the owners of the physical objects--the original photographs themselves--we are within our rights to charge a use or access fee if a researcher chooses to get an image from us. (Mail der Bibliothek, Harvard)