Thank you to those who responded to my request for advice on software
for starting a photo archive.
I have another question now, about copyright issues relating to the
manuscripts I have been photographing.
A brief background:  these are manuscripts written on parchment bound
between wooden boards, that were brought by the Ethiopian Jews from
Ethiopia to Israel. The contents are prayers and religious texts, copied
from earlier manuscripts; the prayers are related to the oral liturgical
tradition. The authorship is unknown: the Ethiopian Jews traditionally
attribute many of them to Abba Sabra, a 15th-century monk, but their
origins may well go back earlier.
The manuscripts I have handled date probably to the early 20th or the
19th century. For some of them, I have been able to find out from the
Qes (priest/religious leader) who lent them to me the name of the
scribe/copyist (generally an Ethiopian Jewish monk or Qes), and his
relationship to the present owner (e.g. grandfather, teacher). Others
are said to have been bought or commissioned from professional copyists
(sometimes Ethiopian Christian - but copied under supervision by an
Ethiopian Jewish monk or qes, to ensure faithful copying and that no
Christian expressions were included).
I am translating one of these manuscripts from Ge`ez into English,and
also recording oral history from the Qessotch regarding the social
background and provenance of the manuscripts. I have been told that the
copyist of the book I am translating died about 50 years ago, and that
his grandchildren are living in Israel.
How I gained access to the manuscripts: the Qessotch asked me to make
photocopies of them and get these bound for their own use and
distribution among the community (since many of their books had got lost
during their journey from Ethiopia to Israel), and allowed me also to
make a copy for myself. (This is a rare privilege: they have been
traditionally very secretive about their books and reluctant to show
them to outsiders or to part with them. They are now very concerned
about the survival and continuance of their religious and cultural
heritage in the very different conditions of Israel; and I have been
fortunate in gaining their confidence to the extent that they entrust
their books to me.)

I would like to know what copyright laws might apply in this situation.
For example, my photographs of the manuscripts are my own work; if I
want to publish them or to deposit copies in a public archive, do I need
the permission of the owners of the original manuscripts?
What is the status of a scribe/copyist who copies by hand a pre-existing
text? - is he the "creator" of this work, even though he is not its
author?

Margaret Hayon
Student of Museology, University of Haifa, Israel
and researcher of Ethiopian Jewish heritage.