The Museum holds the copyright for the large majority of the photographs in its collection. Many of these have been donated by the photographers or their representatives and the copyright has been signed over to the Museum. In some cases, copyright status and photographer are unknown, or copyright has expired. Some photographers have handed over copyright but should still be acknowledged, while others have retained copyright and so permission is required for any external use. The copyright status (where known) of each image is shown beside the title, caption and keywords.

We also hold some images derived from archives of professional photographers held by other institutions. Mostly, these have not been included on this website nor can we offer prints, but they can be examined in our library and prints can be obtained from the holding institution. An exception is the Valentine collection (1851-1967) which can be used subject to the following acknowledgement: “The major archive of monochrome topographical views by James Valentine & Co. is held by the University of St Andrews Library.” For further details see: http://special.st-andrews.ac.uk/saspecial/

In putting images from the photograph collection on this website, we have made every effort to avoid copyright infringement. If you have evidence that we have made a mistake, please contact us so that we can investigate and put the matter right.

The collection images on this website carry a watermark. They may be downloaded for personal use only, under the following conditions:

• No commercial use;
• Attribution must be given;
• No modification allowed.

Any other use requires permission. For copyright clearance, clarification or permission from rights holders, please contact us.