Skip to Main Content

Prints & Photographs: Copyright and Rights and Restrictions Information

This guide contains general information about rights and restrictions for materials held by the Prints & Photographs Division, as well as specific rights statements for some collections, artists, and organizations.

Introduction

Photograph shows employees in the Library of Congress Copyright Office working at their desks and at the card catalog.
U.S. Copyright Office. Circa 1920. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.

This guide contains information about how to assess rights and restrictions for materials held by the Prints & Photographs Division.

The "Image Rights and Restrictions Statements" page provides statements about some specific collections (e.g. Architecture, Design, and Engineering (ADE) Drawings), artists (e.g. Ansel Adams), and organizations (e.g. Associated Press/Wide World Photographs). These specific statements should be read in conjunction with information provided on the "Copyright and Other Restrictions That Apply to Publication/Distribution of Images: Assessing the Risk of Using a P&P Image" page, which provides guidance for how to assess rights to P&P collection material in general.

How to Navigate the Image Rights & Restrictions Statements

On each statement on the Rights & Restrictions page, you will find several sections with information about the specific collection, artist, or organization. 

Access alerts you to any policies that may restrict accessing the items in person.

Reproduction (photocopying, hand-held camera copying, photoduplication and other forms of copying allowed by "fair use") notes any restrictions where an object may not reproduced.

Publication and other forms of distribution addresses all known issues relating to publishing or reproducing the image. 

Credit Line tells you how an object should be credited when used.

Prepared by indicates when the statement was last updated. 

These statements contain as much information as we know about the rights for that collection, artist, or organization. If the Rights Advisory statement within a P&P catalog record states "Rights not evaluated" and does not have a relevant rights statement on our "Rights and Restrictions Information" page, you will need to assess the rights. You can read more about that process in "Copyright and Other Restrictions That Apply to Publication/Distribution of Images: Assessing the Risk of Using a P&P Image."