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Commons:Deletion requests/File:Georgia O’Keeffe in Hawaii, 1939, Yale University.jpg

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File:Georgia O’Keeffe in Hawaii, 1939, Yale University.jpg

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Photo is not in the PD. Nor is it "anonymous". The photographer is widely known. His name is Harold Stein and he is famous for helping establish the Boy Scouts in Hawaii and likely worked closely with the LDS. See also w:Hawaii series by Georgia O'Keeffe#Photographs for citations. Quote: "O'Keeffe only took 17 photos, all on the island of Maui. Two additional photos (Georgia O'Keeffe in Hawaii) were captured by Harold Stein, a Boy Scout leader and amateur photographer, who also served as a guide and driver for O'Keeffe when she visited the island of Maui." IIRC, O'Keeffe borrowed his camera for her own photos. For what it is worth, Jennifer Saville was likely one of the first to publish the photos in her book Georgia O'Keeffe: Paintings of Hawaii (1990). On the verso of the title page, she attributes the rights of the photo in question to Patricia Jennings Morriss Campbell, who was still alive in 2018 when the NYBG exhibited the photo and was interviewed by the media, although since that time, the photo has been exhibited by others in the 2020s (see the link to the article up above for details). The history of that photo becomes clear in 2011, when the author, now known as simply "Patricia Jennings", publishes her book Georgia O'Keeffe's Hawaii. On p. 31, she indicates that O'Keeffe gifted her the photo (originally taken by Stein), which O'Keeffe wrote on the back, "For Patricia, from Georgia." For reference, this came about because Jennings was 12 years-old when she and her father hosted O'Keeffe at their house in Hana. O'Keeffe maintained some contact with her by letter, thanking her and wishing her well. The photo was a gift from O'Keeffe to Jennings for her hospitality. Viriditas (talk) 00:40, 30 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

So the photographer Harold Stein gave a print of the photo to O'Keeffe, presumably in 1939 or not much later? Since the current US definition of publication is from 1978, courts had to come up with their own definitions before then, see Commons:Deletion requests/File:Minerva Kohlhepp Teichert 1908.jpg. Which means the book publication in 1990 might or might not have been the photo's first publication for the purposes of copyright law. @Clindberg: Any thoughts on this? --Rosenzweig τ 08:47, 30 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
According to this source, it looks like Yale added the photo to their Alfred Stieglitz/Georgia O'Keeffe Archive (YCAL MSS 85) [1] at some point, perhaps after O'Keeffe's death, but it's not clear. It does say that these archives were finally processed between 1994-1996. It looks like except for Saville 1990 and Jennings 2011, all the other sources use the image from the Yale archive, which from my reading wasn't "published" until the mid-1990s. Viriditas (talk) 19:48, 30 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Looks like 2013 sources like Hawaii Magazine still credit Jennings.[2] Viriditas (talk) 20:46, 30 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
It turns out that File:Georgia O’Keeffe in Hawaii, 1939, Yale University.jpg is not Jennings' photo, but one of another in the series. Jennings photo is the one where O'Keeffe is not smiling. Viriditas (talk) 21:29, 30 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
  •  Keep It looks like at least one print were distributed at the time of creation and there was no attempt to register the image for a copyright. The registration database and renewal database have no entries for Harold Stein. He didn't need to go though the expense of registration if he controlled the negatives. We have the same situation with the Bachrach images we host. --RAN (talk) 16:51, 30 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
    The Yale archive says "Photographs of O'Keeffe accompanying the letter of 1939 March 31 were taken by Harold Stein." There's a series of them in the collection.[3] I would like to upload them and use them. I will tag them all as public domain because they were not published with a copyright. Viriditas (talk) 19:55, 30 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
    Just uploaded File:Georgia O'Keeffe in Hana, Maui, Hawaii March 1939 Harold Stein.jpg, which is 2/3 of the series and a higher quality of the same image under discussion. I believe I have the exact date of the photo in my notes somewhere, so if I find it, I will add it later. Viriditas (talk) 21:48, 30 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
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