Smithsonian Photography

I recently read a post in the New Basement Tapes section on courseweb pertaining to the Smithsonian (SI) asserting copyright of photographs loaded on SmihsonianImages.SI.Edu.

The article noted that the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) asserts copyright and reuse restrictions on aviation photogrphs in their collection even in the absence of copyright. While I do agree that this policy is a bit extreme, I do believe the Smithsonian has the right to assert copyright in certain instances. For example, images of artifacts taken by Smithsonian employees should be copyrighted by SI.

The article also stated the funding received by SI was more than $650 million every year. However, the funds support 18 museums (all maintain libraries)and galleries, 9 research centers, and the National Zoo. The funding also is for staffing, maintaining the buildings, caring for the collections, and making the collections accessible through databases. Additionally, it's free to enter the various Smithsonian museum, which it should be so I don't believe that SI declaring copyright on certain images to obtain additional funds is so crimmal.

Lastly, check out this site which contains images from various SI museums http://photography.si.edu/

J