Why don’t you own the rights to all the images in Special Collections?
Answered By: Su Kim Chung
Last Updated: Jul 21, 2015

  • We collect unique materials about Southern Nevada as part of our mission to document the history of our region, support research and scholarship, and help preserve our region’s memory and identity.  We are an educational institution.
  • In the past few decades, when individuals and companies have donated their archives to UNLV, we have asked the donors to sign a gift agreement that transfers physical ownership and copyrights to UNLV.  However, this gift agreement only transfers those rights that the donors owned.  In a typical archival collection, the donors did not own the copyrights to all of the material they collected in their files.  Their archives often contain materials - brochures, photographs, letters, videos, and more - from a variety of sources and other creators who retained their copyrights. Upon request, we can check whether we have a gift agreement for a collection and share the terms of the agreement.  We do not have gift agreements for all of our collections. It is your responsibility to determine how the gift agreement applies to the image or item you want to use. 
  • Even though we don’t own the rights to all of the historical materials in our collections, we believe it is important that we preserve these materials for future generations to access.  We are a trusted physical custodian for our region’s rich history.
  • We welcome all to use the materials we collect in accordance with copyright law and fair use.