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Photo and archive permission form for a memoir
The photographs make a family book. They are also the part people fight about. Whose album was it, who took the picture, who gets the original back, and whose name goes under it. This form settles all four in one page, before the scanner warms up.
To use a photograph in a book you need permission from whoever owns its copyright, which is often not the person who owns the print. This form records who owns each photograph, letter or document, what the book may do with it, the credit line, and when the originals go back.
- Who signs
- Whoever owns or holds the photographs, letters or documents: a relative, a studio, a company, a library.
- When
- When the items are lent, before anything is scanned.
- Length
- 7 clauses, each with a plain-English note
- Formats
- Word and PDF. Free, no sign-up.
Not legal adviceThis is a template, not a lawyer-drafted legal document and not legal advice. It replaces the verbal agreement most of this work runs on, so both sides have the terms in writing. Laws differ by country and by state. Have a lawyer where you live read it before anyone signs. I am a writer, not a lawyer. These are the documents I would want in place, written in plain English so you can see what each line does.
The form, clause by clause
Each clause reads as it does in the download. Type straight into the blanks and tick the options you want (a line with a box is an option: keep one), then download your filled copy in Word or PDF from the bar at the bottom. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
Who is giving permission
1.1My name: [OWNER FULL NAME]. Address: [ADDRESS].
1.2I am lending, or giving copies of, the items listed in Schedule 1 (the “Items”) to [WRITER NAME] for a book about [SUBJECT NAME], commissioned by [CLIENT NAME] (the “Book”).
What it meansName the person who holds the items. In a family, that is often not the person who took the photograph.
What I own
2.1I confirm that ☐ I own the Items and the copyright in them ☐ I own the Items but not the copyright, which belongs to [NAME, OR “UNKNOWN”] ☐ I hold the Items for [NAME OR ORGANISATION].
What it meansOwning a print and owning its copyright are different things. A studio portrait from 1962 may belong to the studio, or to the person who paid for it. Tick what is true and let the writer chase the rest.
What may be done with the Items
3.1I give [CLIENT NAME] a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free permission, for the full term of copyright, to scan, copy, crop, restore and reproduce the Items in the Book, in every edition, format and translation, and in publicity for the Book.
☐ Colour correction and restoration are allowed. ☐ The Items may not be altered beyond cropping.
What it meansNon-exclusive, so the family can still use the photographs elsewhere. The second line is for anyone who does not want their grandmother’s face retouched.
Credit
4.1Credit line: [FOR EXAMPLE, “COURTESY OF THE MEHTA FAMILY”] ☐ No credit needed.
What it meansPeople care about this line more than you would think. A plain one reads “Photograph courtesy of the Mehta family archive”. Ask, and print what they ask for.
People shown in the photographs
5.1Where a living person can be recognised in an Item, I confirm that ☐ they have agreed to its use in the Book ☐ I have not asked them, and the Writer will ask before the Item is used on the cover or in publicity.
What it meansThe copyright owner can say yes and the person in the picture can still object, above all to a cover. Inside a family book, nobody objects to a wedding group. For the cover, ask the person whose face is on it.
Care and return of originals
6.1Originals will be handled with care, stored safely, and returned to me by [DATE] by [HAND / INSURED COURIER]. If an original is lost or damaged while lent, [CLIENT OR WRITER] will [PAY THE AGREED VALUE OF / ARRANGE PROFESSIONAL REPAIR OF] it. Agreed value: [AMOUNT OR “NONE”].
What it meansThe original of a wedding photograph cannot be replaced. Agree a return date and a method, and agree in advance what happens if the courier loses the box. Scanning at the owner’s house avoids the risk.
Withdrawing
7.1I may withdraw permission for any Item by writing to [WRITER EMAIL] before [DATE OR “THE BOOK IS SENT TO PRINT”].
What it meansAs with interviews, a clear cut-off date protects everyone.
Schedule 1: the Items
1/ [DESCRIPTION, YEAR, ORIGINAL OR COPY]
2/ [DESCRIPTION, YEAR, ORIGINAL OR COPY]
3/ [DESCRIPTION, YEAR, ORIGINAL OR COPY]
Signatures
Take the form with you
Photograph and Archive Permission Form: Word (.docx) to edit, PDF to print. Free, no sign-up. Blanks are highlighted. Or fill it in on this page and download it filled.
Know a writer who works on a handshake?
Most freelance work starts with a phone call and a promise. Then the invoice is late, or the scope doubles, and nobody wrote anything down. Send this form to one writer, or one client, before their next job starts. It is free, it needs no sign-up, and it saves an argument later.
India and other countries
India
Under section 17(b) of the Copyright Act 1957, a photograph or portrait taken for payment at someone’s request belongs to the person who asked for it, unless they agreed otherwise. So a family studio portrait belongs to the family that paid, not the studio, unless they agreed otherwise. Copyright in a photograph lasts 60 years from the year it was published. A letter’s copyright belongs to the person who wrote it, not the person who received it, so a letter from your grandfather to his brother needs permission from your grandfather’s heirs.
UK
Photographs taken before 1 August 1989 are owned by whoever owned the film or negative, often the person who commissioned them. Later photographs belong to the photographer unless assigned in writing. The person who wrote a letter owns its copyright; the recipient owns the paper. For a known author, copyright lasts 70 years after the author’s death.
US
Copyright in a photograph belongs to the photographer unless it was a work made for hire or assigned in writing. Works published in the US in 1930 or earlier are now in the public domain. Unpublished family photographs and letters stay protected for 70 years after the author’s death. An orphan work, whose owner cannot be found, carries some risk: record your search.
UAE
Federal Decree-Law No. 38 of 2021 protects photographs, and publishing a photograph of a person can also need that person’s consent under UAE privacy law. Get the owner’s signature and, for recent photographs of living people, their consent too.
Singapore, Canada and Australia
All three protect photographs and letters under their copyright acts, with the author or their heirs as the default owner. Rules on old photographs differ, so tick “unknown” when you do not know who took a picture, and keep a note of how you tried to find out.
Questions people ask
Who owns the copyright in an old family photograph?
It depends on the country and the year. In India a portrait taken for payment at the family’s request belongs to the family, unless agreed otherwise. In the US and the UK after 1989 it belongs to the photographer. The form records what the owner knows and who to ask.
Do I need permission to use family letters in a biography?
Yes, from whoever owns the copyright, which is the writer of the letter or their heirs, not the person who kept it. The form covers both the holder and the copyright owner.
What happens if an original photograph is lost?
The form lets you agree a value and who pays before anything is lent. Better still, scan at the owner’s house and keep the originals there.
What is the right wording for permission to use photographs?
Name the photographs, the book, the uses (print, ebook, cover, publicity), the credit line, and get the owner’s signature. Clause 3 of this form has the wording ready.
Are 100-year-old photos still under copyright?
Often not. In India a published photograph is protected for 60 years from the year after publication. In the US anything published in 1930 or earlier is free to use. In the UK most photographs are protected for 70 years after the photographer’s death. An unpublished family photograph can still be protected, so check the country and the year.
Do you need permission to use someone’s photo in a book?
You need permission from the copyright owner. If a living person can be recognised, ask them too, above all for the cover.
Hiring a writer for a family book?
Send me the contract you have been offered, or ask for mine. I respond within 48 hours, in confidence.