Our historical society has been undertaking a project of scanning photos that are owned 
by members of the community for inclusion in our research catalog (most of these we 
would have never seen if it hadn't been that they get their originals back).  
As of right now the donor/loanee(?) brings in their photos, we scan them, make a CD of 
the scans as well as attach each image to a catalog record (donation form shown 
as 'loaned for scanning'), and return the original photos to the donor/loanee.  This 
way it seems everybody benefits--we have images for our research files, and the owner 
knows if something happens to their originals and CD copy there is a high-quality scan 
in our files.
We make these photos 'Image restricted' so that permission from the owner is needed for 
any publication.
What happens if the original loanee dies/moves away, and we cannot find any family for 
permission?  Can restricted images become unrestricted after a period of time?
We hate not to have these images, but if all anyone can do is look at them on our 
cataloging, then they do very little good and we have spent time and energy for 
nothing.  
This has happened with a large group of portrait photos taken in the 1940s that 
are 'image restricted'.  Most of these 500+ photos are sitting in our files and the 
owner information is long useless.  We don't wish to have it happen again.
Any input would be welcome.  Thanks.  Clarke Co. Hist. Assoc., VA

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