Archive/Oral History question
A not so hypothetical
question: A publisher wants to publish a
book about a deceased state politican. There
exists an archive with oral history interviews
and stories about this person. The interviews
and stories were collected by staff of the
archive. The interviewees (mainly other
state politicians) were sent copies of the
interviews.
Author A did research
in the archive when it was first opened--made
copies, notes, all of the things one does
when researching. Author A now has a manuscript
about this person that includes quotoes
and stories from the archive.
A family
member of the person has now closed/denied
access to the archive for a period of time
(several years)--the archive facility has
complied with this and is no longer granting
access to the material in the oral history
archive for this person.
We do not
know the legal status or standing between
the family member and the archive, but I'm
not sure how much that matters since we
are not in a position to question the decision
to close it.
The question is, can we
publish this manuscript that contains material
from the archive?
We can contact some
of the interviewees (some have died) and
get their permission to include material
from the interviews. We are assuming they
didn't sign away their rights in the interview
when they made the interview, but we will
check on that.
I've tried to look at
this as a copyright question, as a joint
authorship thing, as fair use, and a couple
of other things.
Any opinions would
be most appreciated.
Thanks,
Laura
--
Laura Young Bost, Rights Manager
University
of Texas Press
P.O. Box 7819, Austin,
TX 78713-7819
tel:512/232-7625; fax:512/232-7178
email:
laura@utpress.ppb.utexas.edu
Please visit
our NEW website at http://www.utexaspress.com
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Received on Sat Jan 20 2007 - 19:58:32 GMT
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: Mon Mar 26 2007 - 00:35:57 GMT