I share your frustration! Unfortunately, it's an inherited situation and 
I'm trying to sort it out in the best way we can. Thanks to you and Barbara 
Batson both for things to watch out for and ways to fix it.

Margaret Bullock
[log in to unmask]

--On Thursday, August 17, 2006 11:57 PM -0400 "David E. Haberstich" 
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>
>
> In a message dated 8/17/2006 4:02:21 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
> [log in to unmask] writes:
>
> I'm wondering if any of you have a similar situation. An elderly
> photographer has given us her archive of negatives.  However, she
> continues
> to get requests for prints of her photographs from collectors and for
> publications--this is a much needed source of income for her.
>
> She would like to have a formal agreement with us as to how all this
> should
> work now and after her death. Who handles what, who gets what profits
> etc.
> We are looking for examples of this type of agreement--if any of you have
> a
> similar situation and would be willing to share how you handle it, I'd
> appreciate it.
>
>
>
> I don't have a sample agreement to send because this is precisely the
> kind of situation I've always avoided like the plague.  I would not
> accept a donation of a negative archive in the first place if it is still
> being used actively by the photographer/donor.  Are the negatives loaned
> back to the photographer for her to make prints?  If you have stringent
> registrarial rules about loans--as most museums do or should have--this
> could become a nightmare.  Or are they simply loaned back on an informal,
> casual basis?  If the negatives are still being used, what, really, is
> the point of the gift?  Did the photographer/donor take a tax deduction
> for the gift?  If so, I think that allowing her to continue to derive
> income from their use is questionable.  I think I'd want a lawyer to look
> this arrangement over.  If it is deemed acceptable after some qualified
> legal scrutiny, your institution should certainly get a percentage of the
> photographer's profit.  I dunno, though.  This just strikes me as a bad
> idea.  Sorry to take such a "negative" view.
>
> David Haberstich
>
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