Ms. Pickering -- the problem is, there's no standard answer. What you
can charge for reproductions and copyrights is totally up to you, when
you have a private collection. In such a case, just like everything
else, value is all about rarity, exclusivity, and what terms your
market will bear.

Other collections (like the publicly owned state archives in FL where
once upon a time I was a film archivist) have statutes directing their
duplication and pricing systems. Although publicly funded, such
institutions still must find ways to generate revenue to support their
programs -- and like yours, deserve to gain from the use of their
collections.They charge nominal one-time fees for various format
copies of material in the public domain.

If what you have is special and in demand, don't be afraid to play
tough. And do expect all your potential customers to be poverty
stricken. When I was producing something, in the other role as a
user/patron of such archives, I was always poverty stricken -- and
made every kind of deal under the sun. Sometimes I traded out services
that were "better than money" because of my expertise in the subject
matter or the handling of the archival materials.

And in the third role, as archival footage provider, I had the
pleasure of playing hardball with the Disney corporation for some cool
underwater footage I shot. During negotiations they explained that
they couldn't pay very much, of course, because they too are
perpetually...... poverty stricken. ;-))

Regards,

Chris Brown

ATELIER Kathleen Brown
www.kb-atelier.com

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