nara.getarchive.net
Items in the PUBLIC DOMAIN
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I think I had previously submitted a post some time back pointing out the spectacular Fraktur documents / family registers/ bibles that are on display at the National Archives on this link that follows - Most of them are related to pension files submitted for patriots who served in the Revolutionary War - and needed documents to support their claims.
https://nara.getarchive.net/collections/revolutionary-war-dutch-frakturs-pennsylvania?page=1
These images have been uploaded to FamilySearch Memories and are in process of being tagged to entries in FamilySearch Family Tree. https://www.familysearch.org/photos/gallery/album/634475
Note that the National Archives government site makes no mention of copyright or permission needed to use the images and even includes an easy download option.
Another similar site - is the State Library of Virginia - which over the years has collected thousands of Family Bibles and scanned them and made them available on their web site here:
http://image.lva.virginia.gov/Bible/
here is one specific exampler: http://image.lva.virginia.gov/Bible/50978.pdf
Here again the holding institution has made such documents easily available, in digital format, made them easy to download, and claimed no exclusive rights to the images.
Both of the above examples were Family Bibles / Registers - but there are numerous other examples of items, of a genealogical nature, that were often created in the 17th, 18th, and 19th century - that have been digitized and made available via the holding library/archive/museum. These examples I share are just barely even scraping the surface.
and my intent really was not so much to focus on Family Bibles - but rather to explain and clarify PUBLIC DOMAIN rights.
In the past 2 decades, more and more institutions like this have slackened their "terms of use" policies and aligned themselves with various legal cases that indicate that such items normally fall into what we refer to as "PUBLIC DOMAIN". In short the idea that such items don't really belong to any "one person / institution" - but rather belong to all of us as citizens of the nation and even world.
PUBLIC DOMAIN documents are exempt from COPYRIGHT and often from any terms of exclusivity of use. In most cases this applies to just about any item published before 1923. Also virtually all government documents (including census records - are also under the PUBLIC DOMAIN).
One should realize that just because one has a copy of an old photo, or own a family bible, or a scan of a old document, or a transcription of some item of genealogical value - that in and of itself - does not give the person right to claim exclusive use or copyright - simply because they hold/own a copy. Correspondingly - just because someone has a similar item posted on a web page or included in some report - in and of itself - does not mean they can claim copyright or demand exclusive use.
Here is a link to various related laws/rules on the matter
https://community.familysearch.org/s/feed/0D53A00004r8RPqSAM
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