Archive Contributions & Reproduction Policy

Last updated: September 2026

The Wychwoods Local History Society collects, preserves and shares material relating to the history of the Wychwoods and surrounding area.

Our archive has been built over many years through the work of Society members and through photographs, documents, memories and other material generously contributed by individuals, families and organisations.

This policy explains how we handle material offered to the Society and how material in our collections may be used or reproduced.

1. A volunteer-run archive

The Wychwoods Local History Society and its archive are run by volunteers.

The archive is maintained as part of the Society’s voluntary local-history work. It is not operated as a commercial archive, professional archival institution or commercial image library.

We aim to preserve, catalogue and describe material carefully, but the level of detail available may vary according to the information supplied with an item, the age and provenance of the material, and the time and resources available to volunteers.

Historical descriptions, dates, names and identifications are recorded in good faith and may sometimes be incomplete, uncertain or incorrect.

We welcome corrections and additional information from people with relevant local knowledge.

We also aim to respond to archive, copyright and reproduction enquiries as promptly as reasonably possible, although response times may vary depending on volunteer availability and the amount of research required.

2. What we collect

We welcome material that contributes to the understanding and preservation of the history of the Wychwoods and surrounding area.

This may include:

photographs and negatives;
postcards;
letters, diaries and personal papers;
maps and plans;
programmes, posters and notices;
newspaper cuttings;
local publications;
business, club, school and community records;
oral histories and recorded recollections;
sound and video recordings;
digital photographs and documents;
research notes and transcriptions; and
information identifying people, places, buildings and events.

We are particularly interested in material that adds information or context to items already held in the Society’s collections.

3. Offering material to the archive

Please contact the Society before sending or delivering significant quantities of original material.

Where possible, we would like to know:

who is providing the material;
what the material relates to;
approximately when it was created;
who created or took it, if known;
the names of people shown or mentioned, where known;
how the contributor came to possess it; and
any known copyright, confidentiality or other restrictions.

This information can be as valuable as the item itself and helps us maintain an accurate historical record.

4. Donations, loans and digital copies

Material may be offered to the Society in several ways.

Permanent donations

Where an original item is donated permanently, ownership of the physical item passes to the Society unless another arrangement is agreed in writing.

Transfer of the physical item does not automatically transfer copyright or other intellectual property rights.

Loans

In some circumstances the Society may agree to borrow material temporarily, for example so that it can be scanned, photographed or researched.

The terms of any significant loan should be agreed with the owner.

Digital copies

Contributors may provide digital copies while retaining the original material themselves.

We particularly welcome this arrangement where families wish to retain original photographs or documents but are happy for a copy to be preserved in the Society’s archive.

5. Copyright

A person may own an old photograph, for example, without necessarily owning the copyright in the photograph.

Unless copyright has been explicitly transferred to the Wychwoods Local History Society, copyright remains with the existing copyright owner.

Where the copyright owner is known, we will record that information where reasonably practicable.

Where the copyright status or rights holder is unknown, we will take reasonable care in considering whether and how the material should be reproduced or published.

6. Permission granted when material is contributed

Unless otherwise agreed with the Society, by voluntarily contributing material to the archive you give the Wychwoods Local History Society a non-exclusive, royalty-free permission to use the contributed material for the Society’s historical, educational and charitable activities.

This may include permission to:

preserve and catalogue the material;
scan, photograph or otherwise digitise it;
create preservation and working copies;
store it in the Society’s physical and digital archives;
include catalogue information about it;
display it on the Society’s website;
include it in the Society’s photographic or other online archives;
reproduce it in Society publications;
use it in exhibitions, talks and presentations;
use it for research and educational purposes; and
make it available to researchers and members of the public in accordance with this policy.

This permission does not transfer ownership of your copyright to the Society.

If a contributor wishes to place particular restrictions on the use of material, these should be discussed and agreed with the Society when the material is contributed.

7. Material belonging to somebody else

Please tell us if you are contributing material that you did not create yourself.

For example, this may include:

photographs taken by another photographer;
material inherited from a relative;
documents created by an organisation;
newspaper or magazine material; or
copies obtained from another archive or collection.

Please provide any information you have about the creator, copyright owner or source.

By contributing material, you are not being asked to guarantee that you own every possible right in it. We do, however, ask contributors not knowingly to give the Society material for publication where they know that doing so would infringe somebody else’s rights.

8. Personal information and people represented in the archive

Historical records inevitably contain information about people.

Photographs may identify individuals, while letters, documents, oral histories and catalogue descriptions may contain names and other biographical information.

The Society seeks to balance:

the preservation of the historical record;
the value of making local history accessible;
the rights and reasonable expectations of living individuals; and
applicable data protection and privacy law.

We may retain personal information where it forms a legitimate and relevant part of material of enduring historical value.

However, publication online is considered separately from preservation. We may decide to restrict, redact or withhold material from public access where publication would create an unreasonable intrusion into the privacy of a living person or otherwise be inappropriate.

Further information about how the Society handles personal information is available in our Privacy Policy.

9. Sensitive and confidential material

Please tell us when contributing material if you believe it contains information that is confidential, sensitive or subject to an agreed restriction.

Examples might include material concerning:

living individuals;
medical or health information;
private family matters;
children;
confidential correspondence;
financial information; or
information that could cause significant distress if published.

The Society may restrict access to particular material, delay publication, redact information or decide not to accept material where appropriate.

Contributing material to the archive does not necessarily mean that every part of it will immediately be made publicly available.

10. Selection and retention

The Society cannot undertake to accept or permanently retain everything that is offered to it.

We may consider factors including:

relevance to the history of the Wychwoods;
historical significance;
duplication of material already held;
condition;
provenance;
storage requirements;
copyright or privacy issues; and
the resources required to preserve and catalogue the material.

Where possible, any significant conditions concerning the retention or return of original material should be agreed when it is deposited.

The Society may periodically review its collections and archive practices to ensure that material remains relevant to its historical purposes.

11. Cataloguing and descriptions

We aim to describe archive material as accurately as reasonably possible.

However, much of our information has been assembled from:

handwritten notes;
historical records;
recollections;
information supplied by previous contributors;
earlier catalogues; and
identifications made many years after an event.

Names, dates, locations and descriptions may therefore sometimes be incomplete, uncertain or incorrect.

As a volunteer-run archive, records may also vary in the amount and style of information they contain, particularly where items were catalogued at different times or under earlier systems.

Where there is uncertainty, we will try to indicate this where practicable.

We welcome corrections and additional information from people with relevant knowledge.

12. Reproduction of material from the archive

Making material available through the Society’s website or archive does not mean that it is free of copyright or may be reproduced without restriction.

Personal research

Material may generally be viewed and referred to for private study and personal research.

Limited copying may also be permitted where allowed by law.

Publication and public use

Please contact the Society before reproducing archive material in:

books or magazines;
newspapers;
websites;
social media publications;
films or television;
exhibitions;
commercial publications;
advertising;
merchandise; or
other material intended for public distribution.

Whether permission can be granted will depend upon the rights associated with the particular item.

The Society can only grant permission for rights that it owns or is authorised to license.

Where copyright belongs to somebody else, you may need to obtain permission directly from the relevant rights holder.

13. Reproduction requests and response times

Reproduction and archive enquiries are handled by volunteers.

Some requests can be dealt with quickly, while others may require us to:

locate original material;
check catalogue records;
establish provenance;
investigate copyright ownership;
produce a new scan; or
consult another Society member.

We therefore cannot guarantee a particular response or turnaround time.

Where a request is time-sensitive, please tell us when contacting the Society and we will do our best to assist.

14. Reproduction fees

The Society may make a reasonable charge for providing high-resolution images, undertaking research or supplying material for publication or commercial use.

Any charge will normally reflect factors such as:

the nature of the proposed use;
the work involved in locating or preparing the material;
scanning or reproduction costs; and
whether the use is commercial or non-commercial.

Reduced or no charges may be appropriate for personal research, education, community projects or other non-commercial purposes.

Any fee charged by the Society does not remove the user’s responsibility for obtaining any additional copyright or other permissions that may be required.

15. Image quality and watermarks

Images displayed through the public website may be reduced in size, compressed or watermarked.

Higher-resolution versions may be available on request where the Society is able to supply them.

The existence of a higher-resolution copy does not imply permission for unrestricted reproduction.

16. Crediting the archive

Where Society material is reproduced with permission, we normally ask that it is credited.

Unless another form of acknowledgement is specified, an appropriate credit is:

Courtesy of the Wychwoods Local History Society

Where the original photographer, creator, donor or collection is known, we may request that this information is included as part of the credit.

Please do not remove existing credits, copyright information or other identifying information from archive material.

17. Commercial use

Use of archive material for advertising, merchandise, commercial publishing or other commercial purposes requires prior permission from the Society.

Additional permission from the copyright owner or another rights holder may also be required.

The Society reserves the right to decline a proposed commercial use where it considers the use inappropriate or inconsistent with the nature or provenance of the material.

18. Corrections and additional information

Local history benefits from shared knowledge.

If you recognise a person, place or event in our archive, or believe that one of our descriptions contains an error, we would be pleased to hear from you.

Where appropriate, additional information may be added to the archive record and the source of that information recorded.

Historical descriptions will not necessarily be altered simply because interpretations differ, but significant factual errors will be corrected where appropriate.

Because records are maintained by volunteers, corrections may not always appear immediately.

19. Copyright, privacy and takedown requests

Despite reasonable efforts, historical collections can contain material for which the copyright owner, contributor or full circumstances are unknown.

If you believe that material published by the Society:

infringes your copyright or another intellectual property right;
has been incorrectly attributed;
contains inaccurate information about you;
unreasonably affects your privacy; or
should not have been made publicly available,

please contact us.

Please identify the material concerned and explain the basis of your request.

We will consider the matter and, where appropriate, may temporarily remove online access while the issue is investigated.

Depending upon the circumstances, we may:

correct the catalogue record;
add further attribution;
restrict public access;
remove the material from the website;
seek further information about its provenance or rights status; or
conclude that continued preservation or publication is appropriate.

Some requests may require research or consultation with other volunteers, contributors or rights holders before a final decision can be made.

Removal from the public website does not necessarily require the Society to destroy an archival record that it is otherwise entitled to preserve.

20. Orphan and unidentified works

Some older archive material may have no identifiable copyright owner or may have been acquired so long ago that its full provenance can no longer be established.

The Society will take a proportionate approach to such material, considering factors including its age, provenance, historical significance, proposed use and the likelihood that rights remain in force.

Where new information about ownership or copyright becomes available, we welcome contact from rights holders or their representatives.

21. Responsibility of people reproducing archive material

Anyone wishing to reproduce material is responsible for ensuring that their proposed use complies with copyright, privacy, data protection and any other applicable legal requirements.

Permission from the Society should not be taken as a guarantee that no other rights apply unless the Society expressly confirms this.

22. Changes to this policy

Archive practice, technology and the law may change over time.

We may therefore update this policy periodically. The date at the top of this page will be updated when significant changes are made.

23. Contact us

If you would like to:

offer material to the archive;
provide information about an existing archive item;
request a reproduction;
enquire about using an image or other material;
report a copyright or privacy concern; or
discuss any aspect of this policy,

please contact the Wychwoods Local History Society through our Contact page.