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Saturday, March 26, 2011

Why Do Some Natural History Museums Prohibit Photography?

On Thursday I went the Anchorage Museum to visit the Mammoths and Mastodons exhibit currently on display there, and was told no photography was permitted.  I was told the Field Museum of Natural History was responsible for the policy, but some twitter communication with the Field Museum's media department has confused this point, so I need to get to the bottom of the issue of who set the policy first before I post more on this.

In general, I dislike no-photography policies. There seems to be no legitimate need for them, when one of the purposes of a museum is public education. More as events develop.

2 comments:

ReBecca Hunt-Foster said...

The Texas Tech Museum did that to me also, and then had the gumption to tell me they owned all photos I took of their exhibits. Excuse me?!?! Bite me please. Museum of the Rockies often has the no photo policy too it seems. Its different every time I visit.

Dicing with Dragons said...

My word, these quaint museum folk seem ignorant of basic copyright law.

(Or, at least, of how I don't sign away my copyright on anything I produce unless I'm compensated for it via contract and a 100% upfront payment.)

I find this trend, if it is one, to be pretty disturbing.