Please note that because we cannot guarantee the copyright status of specific items; you reproduce materials found in our holdings at your own risk.

United States copyright law (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. One of the conditions specified in the law under which libraries and archives may furnish a photocopy or other reproduction is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be "used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research". If a user requests, or later uses a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of "fair use", that user may be liable for copyright infringement.

Generally, materials produced by Federal agencies and materials published before 1923 are in the public domain and may be reproduced without permission. However, not all materials in our holdings are in the public domain. Some materials found in our holdings may be copyrighted. Please note that it is your responsibility to identify the copyright owner and to obtain permission before making use of this material in any way. Images on our web site that are in the public domain may be used without permission. If you use images from our web site, we ask that you credit us as the source. Please note that some images on our site have been obtained from other organizations. Permission to use these images should be obtained directly from those organizations.

We have done our best to limit the restrictions on our collections as we are a research facility. Many of our collections were donated before significant changes in the Copyright Law occurred as well as the advent of the World Wide Web. We have a liberal take down policy, where if an alleged copyright owner comes forward after seeing his or her material on our website or in our Digital Document System and is uncomfortable with this use, it will be removed so the matter can be investigated and resolved.

Certain individuals depicted may claim rights in their likenesses and images. Use of photographs or other materials found on USAMHI's website may be subject to these claims. Anyone who intends to use these materials commercially should contact the individuals depicted or their representatives. We cannot confirm copyright status for any item. We recommend that you contact the United States Copyright Office at The Library of Congress to search currently copyrighted materials. The U.S. Army Military History Institute reserves the right to refuse to accept a copy order if, in its judgment, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of copyright law.

Two resources to assess whether a work has passed into the public domain from Cornell University and the University of North Carolina can be found at:

For more information on this topic and how to investigate the Copyright status and potential Fair Use of a work see the website on "Copyright and Fair Use" maintained by the Stanford University Libraries at: