If you've been following my blog, you will know I picked up a couple of Fort Leonard Wood US Army Training Center Yearbooks from the antique store a few weeks back. I couldn't bear to see them stay there and not be preserved and shared. My dad attended there for his training before Vietnam, so these books have a special place in my heart.
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| U.S. Army Training Center Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri Company C, First Battalion, Second Brigade 23 February 1967 |
I shared the books I had in some of the genealogy groups and told them I would do look-ups for people. So far I haven't found anyone people were looking for, but it's possible that could turn up later. I was asked if I was going to upload the pages to the internet so people could view them on their own. I had briefly thought about it but wasn't sure if I would be able to. For one main reason: Copyright.
Most of you probably didn't know that most yearbooks, especially today, are copyrighted. And not just one copyright, but many levels of copyright. I have attended a few webinars that talk about copyright so I'm familiar with the topic. I honestly didn't realize how much is actually copyrighted. Especially yearbooks.
Judy G. Russell has a wonderful blog called The Legal Genealogist. She is a Genealogist with a law degree and she dedicates her time to helping people understand the law, especially when it comes to family history research. It's actually her webinars I've attended. So I searched her blog for answers regarding yearbooks and copyrights.
Read what she wrote on her blog
Copyright and The School Yearbook
Definitely helpful, but I still had a few more questions. So I contacted Judy directly to get some more help and answer my questions. I just wanted to be sure that legally I wouldn't get into trouble. I had thoroughly checked through the books for any mention of a copyright notice or mention of a photographer and I found nothing. So I would assume that means it would be in the public domain. I contacted Judy on the 18th and responded on the 19th.
Judy G. Russell on October 19, 2021 at 10:51 am
From a purely copyright perspective, something published in the US without a copyright notice before 1977 is in the public domain. (See https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain) But do consider privacy issues… Not everybody wants their yearbook pictures online.
I was so glad to hear that they should be in the public domain. That clears up that concern. But privacy... yes this is something I had thought about. How would these men feel having their pictures online? The truth is we are coming to a time where a lot of these men are no longer living or are passing away. And some of the men that are still living may want to see pictures of their old comrades; the old friends they served with. So at this point, I am willing to risk it to share these photos for family and friends to be able to view these pictures.
So coming up soon, these yearbooks will be available online for anyone to view. I am still researching the best place to upload these yearbooks for viewing. I'm also considering creating a database. I'm not sure yet. Still have to work out the details. But I do know I want to upload these. So stay tuned for that.
So let me end this blog post by putting this out here. I have mentioned this already in another post, but going to share it again. If you have a Fort Leonard Wood yearbook that you don't want anymore, I will take it. OR if you wish to scan the pages and contribute your yearbook to this collection, please feel free to send them to me. I will happily include them. Instructions on how to do this will come later in another blog post once I figure out where I am going to host this. But I wanted to put it out there now to hopefully draw attention.
Anyway, thank you, and stay tuned!!
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