Re: [Leica] Migrant Mother sighted--and P.O.'d

[chucko@siteconnect.com (Chuck Albertson)]

She made whatever salary she drew from the FSA. As a government employee,
her work (along with that of everyone else employed on the FSA project) was
a "work of the United States government" for which there is no copyright.
That was the law under the 1909 Copyright Act, and the 1976 Act didn't
change it. Which is why a print from the archives basically costs you the
cost of reproduction.

Chuck Albertson
Seattle, Wash.

- ----- Original Message -----
From: "Tim Atherton" <tim@KairosPhoto.com>
To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
Sent: Monday, February 28, 2000 11:19 AM
Subject: RE: [Leica] Migrant Mother sighted--and P.O.'d


> Of course, I wonder how much Dorothea Lange directly made from it? It was
> shot for the FSA (or something similar?) and was owned by them, and was
> probably, public domain as Govt. work. Hence all the FSA images in the
> Library of Congress.
>
> Anyone know any more about this?
>
> Tim
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
> > [mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us]On Behalf Of Mike
> > Johnston
> > Sent: February 27, 2000 4:56 PM
> > To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
> > Subject: [Leica] Migrant Mother sighted--and P.O.'d
> >
> >
> > >>>This weekend I was back in Belgium and saw the exhibition of the FSA
> > photographs at the photography museum in Charleroi. This is a great body
> >
> > of work. Afterwards, my wife asked me if I knew the further fate of the
> > migrant mother in Dorothea Lange's celebrated portrait. Is anything
> > known about her whereabouts in the years following the picture?<<<
> >
> >
> > Nathan,
> > As of the early '80s she was living in relative prosperity in
> > California--she was pictured (wearing a pair of zircon-encrusted
> > hornrims) in one of the photo magazines surrounded by some of her
> > offpring--but she was reportedly mightily pissed off that she had never
> > received any reimbursement for the remarkable worldwide dissemination of
> > her picture. The phrase quoted was "not one thin dime," if memory
> > serves.
> >
> > --Mike
> >
> > P.S. It is believed that "Migrant Mother" is the most widely recognized
> > photograph ever taken. You can still buy a print of it from the L. of C.
> > for a pittance, although it will be printed from a very good copy
> > negative. The original negative is quite fragile and is stored in a
> > temperature- and humidity-controlled vault.
> >
> >
>
>