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Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

Rights and Reproductions

National Anthropological Archives

1886 Watercolor drawing of two Korean girls jumping and playing
Manuscript 211195 (019), Girls playing board jumping, Ch'oryang Korea, 1886.

(for images of 3-dimensional objects in the collections, see "Photos of Artifacts" below)

Rights and Reproductions

Images of most historical photographs, maps, drawings, etc. in the Anthropology Archives’ collections that appear in the online Collections Search Center may be downloaded and printed for personal or classroom use, without prior written permission, provided that the files are not changed, a copyright notice (where applicable) is included, and the source of the image is identified as either the National Anthropological Archives or the Human Studies Film Archives.   All other uses require prior written permission from the Archives.  Please submit requests using the Archives’ Reproductions and Permissions request form (below). 

Smithsonian Directive 609 dated July 15, 2011, permits Smithsonian bureaus to charge fees for the right to reproduce and use images in their collections.  At the Archives' discretion, fees may be waived, reduced, or publications accepted in lieu of fees.  All requests for fee waivers and reductions must be placed in writing.

Please note that the National Anthropological Archives and Human Studies Film Archives grant permission for reproduction on a case by case basis, and only to the extent of the Archives’ own rights relating to each request. Although reference staff will do its best to provide you with as much information as possible, the ultimate responsibility for ascertaining whether additional related rights exist, and for obtaining all other necessary permissions rests with the user. Additionally, the Archives reserve the right to exercise judgment about the ethical use of materials prior to granting permission.

For general conditions concerning reproductions and permissions, please refer to page 2 of the NAA Reproduction and Permission Request Form.

The Archives offer high-resolution digital images (in TIFF format) of materials in its collections for purchase.  Orders may be placed using the NAA Reproduction and Permission Request Form (below). The cost is $50 per image file. Image fees support the continued digitization of archival collections. Payments are non-refundable. 

For information about requesting low-resolution digital images for personal research purposes, please send all inquiries to naa@si.edu

Duplicates of many sound recordings in NAA collections may be purchased from the Archives using the NAA order form for A/V Materials (below). The cost depends on desired format, condition, and length of original recording. Note that mp3 versions of many sound recordings may be listened to online via the Collections Search Center catalog.  For more information contact the Reference Archivist. 

All of the Smithsonian's wax cylinder recordings – including those produced by Frances Densmore, Jesse Walter Fewkes, James Mooney, Truman Michelson and J.N.B. Hewett – were transferred to the National Archives and, later, the Library of Congress. Many of these early recordings are available from the American Folklife Center in the Library of Congress. To learn more about these recordings, please consult The Federal Cylinder Project: a Guide to Field Cylinder Collections in Federal Agencies. (Washington, D.C.: American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, 1984-1985).

Screening copies of some titles in the moving image collections of the Human Studies Film Archives (HSFA) may be purchased for research, classroom and personal use. The cost is $50 per hour of recorded time. Note that HSFA does not have the rights to duplicate all of the collections. To order copies, please complete the  A/V Materials order form (below), listing the collection title(s) and number(s) as they appear in the Collections Search Center (CSC).

Permission for public or commercial use of moving images is granted on a case-by-case basis. For information on duplication for use in production, contact HSFA staff at HSFA@si.edu.

Please note that the HSFA does not lend its collections for personal or classroom use.

Forms

 

Questions?

Please contact naa@si.edu

Patchwork dress for a baby, with colorful stripes
Seminole Baby dress, catalog number E363971-0

 

Photos of Artifacts

Non-Commercial Use

Digital images and data copied from our online collections database may be used for personal, research, educational or other non-commercial purposes according to the SI Terms of Use. Please remember to cite the catalog number and “Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Anthropology”.

 

Order Photographs

When objects have images online, higher resolution copies of these images may be available (up to 5 images at a time). Please contact Esther Rimer for assistance. You will need the image number or catalog number. 

If there are no photographs on file, and you would like to request original, professional-quality photography, please contact Esther Rimer to inquire about fees and scheduling.

 

Photo Permissions

If you plan to include images provided by the Smithsonian or NMNH in a publication or for commercial use, please fill out an Anthro Permission Request Form and return it to Esther Rimer. Requests are routed to the relevant curator for approval, and may take several days to process.

3D imaging

If you would like to access the collections for 3D scanning or other non-2D imaging, please see the Anthropology Sampling, Casting, and 3D imaging page. Researchers must submit a proposal requesting access and describing the intended uses for this data. In general, researchers must provide their own equipment and software.