Detroit News photo archives on eBay

**buildingsofdetroit** · December-06-09, 05:05 PM

Some of you may have heard that in an effort to cut costs, the Detroit News closed - and sold - its library. Well, a bunch of the photos are now up on eBay under seller truant1. I e-mailed the seller and he confirmed it.
Personally, as a historian, I find it sad and revolting to see these irreplaceable images from our city's past sold piecemeal to the highest bidders. It seems like the News could have gotten a tax deduction or SOMETHING had it donated them to a library where they could be enjoyed by - and preserved for - all.

**Leo B** · December-06-09, 05:12 PM

I was under the impression that the News Photo archive was donated to the W.P. Reuther library at WSU. I am not certain the scope of years this covers, but the News supposedly got out of the archive biz some time ago.

Leo

**buildingsofdetroit** · December-06-09, 05:57 PM

Originally Posted by Leo B

I was under the impression that the News Photo archive was donated to the W.P. Reuther library at WSU. I am not certain the scope of years this covers, but the News supposedly got out of the archive biz some time ago.

Leo

That's true. But I don't know if it was ALL of the photos. If it were, how can this guy be selling the hard copies? I can't imagine the Reuther scanned thousands of photos and gave them back, but maybe. I'm more upset about the clip files, which I heard were sold with the photos. While the articles are preserved on microfiche or microfilm, the clip files are broken down by topic - and that makes things MUCH easier than poring over hundreds of thousands of pages of newsprint on a small screen looking for an article.

**detroitbob** · December-06-09, 06:33 PM

I will ask a friend who is still employed at the NEWS what the deal is. I had understood the photofiles went to WSU with the news retaining rights to use the pictures when and if they needed them.

**Baselinepunk** · December-06-09, 07:36 PM

Something stinks. With the amount of connectivity and relationships at the local archival level; I am very surprised that, if true, no archive was able to "rescue" this material. There are means at the Burton, Reuther, et. al for situations like this.

It very well could be the bean counters are chuckin` boxes and this stuff is being recovered via dumpster diving; but I hope not. If true it would be plain fucking wrong on every level. Perhaps this person has been charged to liquidate as a means to generate cash, but again ... see above.

**smogboy** · December-06-09, 07:44 PM

Is there a link to this eBay auction?

**pffft** · December-06-09, 07:46 PM

The guy who bought the photo clip file did so with the provision that he digitize all of it for the News. What went to the Reuther some years back were old negatives, glass negs etc.
The trouble with photo prints is, over the years, they get stolen. All newspaper photo archives need to be digitized, but it takes money...

**bigtreble** · December-06-09, 09:03 PM

truant1 is currently selling 78 photos on ebay:
LINK

Of his 56 completed listings, 37 of them sold for a total of $650.43 [[not including shipping):
LINK [must be logged in to view completed auctions]

The highest item was an 8"x10" photo sold for $43.88 [[+$4 shipping):
Orig Studio Portrait Charles Lindbergh Press Photo 1927

**bigtreble** · December-06-09, 09:11 PM

Originally Posted by pffft

All newspaper photo archives need to be digitized, but it takes money...

truant1's 'About Us':
"We've taken the time to include large pictures, front and back, of the photos."

Hopefully he securely archives all of the digital scans used for eBay.

**Baselinepunk** · December-06-09, 09:40 PM

How this person became vested with this material will be the interesting conversation. The wild thing is that if this is legit, or not -- there can be an oppositional bitchfest from both sides.

It's like a bit of caramel encased in dark chocolate, rolled in all that dastardly nuget goodness type of situation.; the popcorn vendors stand to make a mint.

**56packman** · December-06-09, 10:45 PM

Has anyone checked to see if it is just a vendor making prints off of VMC and selling them on Ebay? There is an Ebay vendor who does this with LIC-HABS pictures from their website. His customers don't know that they can download and print the same photos free of charge.

**jiminnm** · December-06-09, 11:22 PM

Originally Posted by buildingsofdetroit

Some of you may have heard that in an effort to cut costs, the Detroit News closed - and sold - its library. Well, a bunch of the photos are now up on eBay under seller truant1. I e-mailed the seller and he confirmed it.
Personally, as a historian, I find it sad and revolting to see these irreplaceable images from our city's past sold piecemeal to the highest bidders. It seems like the News could have gotten a tax deduction or SOMETHING had it donated them to a library where they could be enjoyed by - and preserved for - all.

If you're that concerned, why don't you bid on them and treat them as you think they should be treated? Why do they have a higher obligation than you?

**pffft** · December-06-09, 11:54 PM

p.s. The library was not closed. It's never been open to the public [[except to some researchers, for a fee).

**Huggybear** · December-07-09, 12:36 AM

Three things about copyrights:

1. Buying a copy of something does not give you reproduction or sale rights for the content.

2. The same goes for downloading something off a web site.

3. You cannot copyright things that have passed into the public domain.

**buildingsofdetroit** · December-07-09, 12:46 AM

Originally Posted by 56packman

Has anyone checked to see if it is just a vendor making prints off of VMC and selling them on Ebay? There is an Ebay vendor who does this with LIC-HABS pictures from their website. His customers don't know that they can download and print the same photos free of charge.

Packman,
No, these are the original prints from the News library. They were sold to a "private collector." I asked the seller if that were these photos, and he/she confirmed it was.

**buildingsofdetroit** · December-07-09, 12:48 AM

Originally Posted by jiminnm

If you're that concerned, why don't you bid on them and treat them as you think they should be treated? Why do they have a higher obligation than you?

Oh, please, let's not go there.
The buyer/seller is free to do whatever he or she wants to do with them. I'm merely saying that the News could have gotten a tax write-off or something if it donated them to a library. That's what the Freep is looking at doing, I've been told. Maybe the News got more from the sale to a dealer than it could have via donation. It owned the photos, and it could do what it wanted with them. This was not intended to be a holier than thou thread.

**pffft** · December-07-09, 01:02 AM

Huggybear is correct -- buying a photo archive does not mean you have the copyright, nor do those to whom you sell copies of the photos.

Chuck_MI · December-07-09, 02:18 AM

Originally Posted by buildingsofdetroit

I'm merely saying that the News could have gotten a tax write-off or something if it donated them to a library.

I think that , in order to realize a net gain from a charitable contribution to a church/nonprofit, a company has to actually reap a profit. The Detroit News hasn't made a profit in a while. Maybe I'm wrong. Wouldn't be the first time.

Anyway, thanks for the link, whomever provided it. It was cool to see old photos of the Sky Patrol, especially the Sikorsky "bubble chopper".

**aoife** · December-07-09, 08:25 AM

Hi all,

I actually work with the Detroit News Collection at the Reuther Library. The files that the Reuther has are the original photo-negatives, not the prints. What we have and what the News Library had are very different. Although we might have a few things that they no longer had prints of, their photo file collection is/was far more extensive.

Apparently the images up on eBay are the News print files not images printed off of the Virtual Motor City. The latter would be fairly impossible since the images were made low-resolution and watermarked to prevent that sort of thing from happening- any "photo" you would print off of there as an 8x10 would look pretty lousy.

**RealityCheck** · December-07-09, 04:34 PM

In a timely coincidence, I came across this comment published yesterday in a Syracuse Post-Standard interview with novelist/veteran NY journalist Pete Hamill, who speaks there this week:

I’m so concerned with morgues and libraries of the newspapers. I know from writing historical novels, one of the great sources is bound volumes [[of newspapers).

They tell you all the detail that historians don’t. How much was a pair of shoes? What did a guy pay to go to the ballpark in 1934 during the Depression. How many people where there? The details you could find in the morgues, the bound volumes that have the advertising. At the very least there ought to be grant money somewhere to scan every page of it.

**buildingsofdetroit** · December-07-09, 05:50 PM

Originally Posted by RealityCheck

In a timely coincidence, I came across this comment published yesterday in a Syracuse Post-Standard interview with novelist/veteran NY journalist Pete Hamill, who speaks there this week:

Very true. I have a copy of a newspaper from 1913 that tells you the first ticket ever bought at MCS was paid for with a $10 gold piece and who bought it.

**treinman** · December-11-09, 04:06 PM

Check out LegendaryAuctions.com. They are selling dozens of old glass-plate negatives from the Detroit News. Beautiful shots of Navin Field, and Briggs Stadium.

I'm assuming the above are from the same original batch. Only these sports ones garnered more attention.

-- Tim

**Evelyn** · December-11-09, 05:10 PM

That's terrible... I've done some research at the Reuther, and the collection of old News negatives was very impressive. It was my understanding that the News held onto the negatives prior to 1980. And as of a few years ago, the News still had photos from the early 1990s. I can't believe the paper would simply eBay their photos!

I've heard from a few archivists that the Grand Rapids Press simply threw away their photo collection sometime in the 1970s. Ebay is a better option, but still a far, far cry from donating historical photos somewhere where they can be preserved and made available to the public.

**EastsideAl** · December-11-09, 07:19 PM

Originally Posted by treinman

Check out LegendaryAuctions.com. They are selling dozens of old glass-plate negatives from the Detroit News. Beautiful shots of Navin Field, and Briggs Stadium.

I'm assuming the above are from the same original batch. Only these sports ones garnered more attention.

-- Tim

That's horrible. Are these pictures that Reuther has a copy of? If not, why weren't they included in the material given to them? And who is selling these? Is it the News itself? Someone they gave or sold them too? Or someone who just swiped them and is now looking to make a fast buck off of our history?