Historical Images, Sources, Rights, and Attribution

Images are an important part of NewThoughtHistory.org.

Portraits, book covers, periodical pages, advertisements, manuscripts, photographs, newspaper clippings, and archival documents can reveal details that written descriptions alone cannot provide.

They are also historical sources in their own right.

For that reason, NewThoughtHistory.org aims to identify the origin, creator, date, repository, and rights status of images whenever reliable information is available.

This page explains how images used throughout the site are sourced, credited, evaluated, and corrected.

Our Image Credit Standard

Whenever practical, an image used on NewThoughtHistory.org should be accompanied by enough information to answer five basic questions:

What is it?

Who created it?

When was it created?

Where does the image come from?

What is its known copyright or licensing status?

Not every historical image has complete documentation.

A nineteenth-century portrait, for example, may survive without a known photographer or exact date.

When information is uncertain, we prefer to acknowledge that uncertainty rather than invent missing details.

Typical Image Credit

A standard image credit may include:

Title or description — Creator, date. Collection or repository. Rights status or license.

For example:

Portrait of [Historical Figure] — Photographer unknown, c. 1895. [Collection/Repository]. Public domain.

For a Creative Commons image:

[Image Title] — Jane Smith, 2018. CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

For an archival image:

[Description], 1902. [Collection Name], [Repository], item [identifier].

The exact format may vary according to the information supplied by the source.

Historical Photographs

Historical photographs can provide evidence about:

people;
organizations;
buildings;
conferences;
religious gatherings;
publishing operations;
historical locations;
and material culture.

Whenever practical, we attempt to identify the photographer, date, subject, collection, and repository.

However, captions attached to photographs are not automatically assumed to be correct.

An image copied repeatedly across websites can accumulate incorrect names, dates, or locations.

For historically important photographs, we prefer attribution based on the original archive, library, museum, publication, or another traceable source.

Portraits of New Thought Figures

NewThoughtHistory.org may use historical portraits of people such as:

Phineas P. Quimby,

Emma Curtis Hopkins,

Warren Felt Evans,

Charles Fillmore,

Myrtle Fillmore,

Malinda Cramer,

Nona Brooks,

Annie Rix Militz,

Ralph Waldo Trine,

Thomas Troward,

Ernest Holmes,

and other people connected with New Thought history.

An old photograph is not assumed to be free of restrictions merely because its subject lived long ago.

Whenever practical, we investigate the specific image, its creator, publication history, repository, and stated rights information.

Public Domain Images

Public-domain material can generally be reused without copyright permission in jurisdictions where the relevant copyright has expired or otherwise does not apply.

However, determining public-domain status can involve more than estimating the age of the subject.

Relevant considerations may include:

date of creation;
date of publication;
creator;
creator’s death date;
jurisdiction;
publication history;
and applicable copyright law.

For that reason, NewThoughtHistory.org does not automatically label an image Public Domain merely because it appears old.

We seek supporting rights information whenever practical.

U.S. Government Images

Works created by employees of the United States federal government as part of their official duties are generally not protected by U.S. copyright law.

This makes repositories such as the National Archives valuable sources of reusable historical imagery.

However, not everything held by a federal archive was created by the federal government.

Collections can contain donated photographs, privately created material, and other items that remain subject to restrictions.

We therefore review the rights information associated with the individual record rather than assuming that everything hosted by a government archive is public domain.

Creative Commons Images

NewThoughtHistory.org may use images distributed under Creative Commons licenses.

The specific license matters.

Depending on the license, reuse may require:

creator attribution;
source attribution;
a link or reference to the license;
disclosure of modifications;
or distribution of adaptations under compatible terms.

We aim to follow the requirements of the license attached to the specific image.

A typical Creative Commons credit may look like:

Image Title — Creator Name, CC BY 4.0, via Source.

If the image has been materially modified:

Image Title — Creator Name, CC BY 4.0. Cropped from the original.

CC0 and Open Access Collections

Some cultural institutions release digitized collection material under Creative Commons Zero (CC0).

CC0 allows broad reuse without the copyright restrictions associated with ordinary copyrighted material.

NewThoughtHistory.org may use such material where relevant.

Even when attribution is not legally required, we generally prefer to identify the institution and collection.

Historical attribution serves an additional purpose beyond copyright compliance:

it helps readers locate the original object and investigate it for themselves.

A useful credit might therefore read:

[Object Title], [Creator], [Date]. Smithsonian Institution, CC0.

Wikimedia Commons

Wikimedia Commons can be a valuable discovery source for historical photographs and other media.

However, each Commons file has its own rights information.

We do not assume that every file uses the same license.

Before reuse, the individual file description should be checked for:

creator;
original source;
date;
copyright status;
license;
attribution requirements;
and modification requirements.

Where possible, we also follow the provenance beyond Wikimedia Commons to the original museum, library, archive, publication, or collection.

This can provide better historical metadata and help verify the image’s identification.

Library, Museum, and Archive Collections

NewThoughtHistory.org may use or reference images from:

libraries;
museums;
archives;
universities;
historical societies;
religious archives;
government repositories;
and other cultural institutions.

Each institution can have its own terms governing digital reproductions.

The fact that an institution holds an original object does not necessarily mean that the institution owns copyright in that object.

Likewise, a public-domain underlying work and a modern digital reproduction can involve different rights questions depending on the circumstances and jurisdiction.

We therefore review the information provided for the specific item whenever practical.

New Thought Organizational Archives

Organizations associated with New Thought preserve historically important photographs, publications, correspondence, and artifacts.

Images originating from such collections may be especially useful for documenting:

founders;
ministers;
churches;
conferences;
publications;
headquarters;
prayer ministries;
and organizational history.

When using organizational archival material, we aim to identify the organization or collection clearly.

An archival credit does not imply that the organization endorses NewThoughtHistory.org or our interpretation of the historical record.

Book Covers and Title Pages

Historical books are central to New Thought history.

Images of title pages and book covers may be used to help readers identify particular works and editions.

Whenever possible, the accompanying information identifies:

author;
title;
edition;
publisher;
publication year;
and source of the digitized copy.

The copyright status of the underlying historical book should not automatically be assumed to apply to every modern edition, introduction, cover design, annotation, or digital presentation.

Historical Periodicals

Magazines and journals played an important role in the development of New Thought.

NewThoughtHistory.org may reproduce or reference:

covers;
title pages;
advertisements;
article pages;
illustrations;
and other excerpts

when historically relevant and legally appropriate.

The image credit should identify the publication and date whenever possible.

For example:

Modern Thought, Vol. X, No. X, 189X. Digitized copy: [Repository].

Periodical pages can serve as primary sources, so provenance is especially valuable.

Newspaper Clippings

Historical newspapers may be used to document lectures, conventions, book advertisements, organizations, obituaries, controversies, and other events.

A newspaper image should ideally identify:

newspaper title

publication date

page

article or advertisement title when available

and

archive or repository.

A newspaper clipping is evidence of what the newspaper published.

Its presence on NewThoughtHistory.org does not imply that every claim contained in the clipping has been independently verified.

Manuscripts and Letters

Images of correspondence and manuscripts can provide unusually direct access to historical evidence.

Credits should identify, where available:

author;
recipient;
date;
collection;
repository;
box or folder;
manuscript identifier;
and rights information.

Where only part of a manuscript is displayed, readers should not assume that the excerpt represents the entire document.

Links to the complete archival record may be provided when available.

Image Captions Are Historical Claims

Captions are treated as editorial content.

A caption such as:

Emma Curtis Hopkins, c. 1890

contains historical claims about both identity and date.

Those claims should therefore be researched like other factual statements.

When identification is uncertain, we may use language such as:

Believed to depict…

Traditionally identified as…

Photograph attributed to…

Date unknown

c. 1890.

False precision is avoided.

Unknown Creators

Some historical images survive without reliable information about their creators.

In those cases, we may use:

Photographer unknown

Artist unknown

Creator unknown

or another appropriate description.

We do not use anonymous unless the source actually establishes that the work was intentionally published anonymously.

Unknown and anonymous do not necessarily mean the same thing.

Approximate Dates

When an exact date cannot be established, an approximate date may be used.

Examples include:

c. 1895

1890s

before 1902

date unknown.

The degree of precision should reflect the available evidence.

Cropping and Basic Editing

Historical images may occasionally be cropped or adjusted for presentation.

Basic adjustments can include:

cropping;
resizing;
rotation;
exposure correction;
contrast adjustment;
or removal of surrounding scanner borders.

Such changes should not alter the historical content or create a misleading impression.

When a modification is significant enough to affect interpretation, it should be disclosed.

Restoration

Old photographs and documents may contain scratches, dust, fading, tears, stains, or other deterioration.

Digital restoration may sometimes improve readability.

However, restoration should not silently invent historical information.

Where restoration materially reconstructs missing visual content, it should be identified as a restored or reconstructed image.

The original historical source remains the evidentiary record.

Colorized Historical Images

Colorization can make historical photographs more visually accessible, but added colors are generally interpretations unless reliable color information survives.

A colorized photograph should therefore be clearly identified.

For example:

Digitally colorized version of an original black-and-white photograph.

The colorized image should not be presented in a way that implies the colors are necessarily historically documented.

AI-Generated Historical Illustrations

NewThoughtHistory.org may occasionally use generated or reconstructed illustrations for explanatory or decorative purposes.

An AI-generated image is not a historical photograph or primary source.

Generated imagery should never be presented in a way that could reasonably cause readers to mistake it for authentic historical evidence.

Where such imagery is used, it should be labeled appropriately, for example:

AI-generated illustration

Historical reconstruction

Artist’s reconstruction.

AI-generated portraits should not be used as substitutes for authentic portraits without clear disclosure.

AI Restoration and Enhancement

Artificial intelligence may also be used to:

upscale;
remove damage;
sharpen;
colorize;
or reconstruct historical images.

These processes can introduce details that were not present in the original.

When AI has materially altered an image, we aim to disclose that fact.

For historical research, the unaltered original should remain the authoritative visual source whenever available.

Decorative Images

Not every image on NewThoughtHistory.org functions as historical evidence.

Some images may be decorative illustrations, icons, diagrams, maps, or design elements.

Where an image is purely illustrative, it should not be presented as documentary evidence.

This distinction is especially important for historically styled artwork that could otherwise be mistaken for an authentic nineteenth- or early twentieth-century image.

Maps and Diagrams

Maps, timelines, family trees, influence diagrams, and relationship charts created for NewThoughtHistory.org are editorial visualizations.

Their data should be based on cited historical evidence where applicable.

A diagram showing:

Person A → Person B

should not imply a documented teacher-student relationship unless the underlying evidence supports that relationship.

Visual presentation does not reduce the evidentiary standard.

Rights Statements

Depending on the source, image credits may include rights statements such as:

Public Domain

CC0

CC BY 4.0

CC BY-SA 4.0

No Known Copyright Restrictions

Used with Permission

or another designation supplied by the rights holder or repository.

These terms are not interchangeable.

In particular, No Known Copyright Restrictions should not automatically be rewritten as Public Domain.

The original rights statement should generally be preserved.

Attribution Does Not Equal Permission

Crediting an image and having permission to use it are separate issues.

Attribution tells readers where material came from.

Permission or a license determines whether and how copyrighted material may be reused.

Writing:

Courtesy of [Archive]

does not by itself create permission to reproduce an image.

Likewise, properly citing copyrighted material does not automatically eliminate copyright restrictions.

NewThoughtHistory.org therefore considers both attribution and reuse rights.

Copyright Status Can Be Uncertain

Historical copyright research can be complicated.

Sometimes no definitive rights information is available.

In those situations, we do not intentionally describe uncertain material as unquestionably free of copyright restrictions.

Where appropriate, we may identify the rights status supplied by the holding institution, such as:

Copyright status undetermined

No known copyright restrictions.

Users wishing to reuse an image should conduct their own rights assessment rather than relying solely on an image’s appearance on NewThoughtHistory.org.

Third-Party Rights

Depending on the material and jurisdiction, other issues may include:

privacy;
publicity rights;
trademarks;
contractual restrictions;
donor restrictions;
cultural restrictions;
and repository terms.

An open copyright status does not necessarily eliminate every possible third-party right.

Image Source vs. Image Creator

These are often different.

For example:

Photographer: John Smith
Source: Library X

The library may preserve and digitize the photograph without having created it.

Our credits aim to distinguish the original creator from the institution providing access whenever that information is available.

This distinction improves both attribution and historical provenance.

Original Source Preferred

When the same historical image appears on multiple websites, we prefer to identify the earliest or most authoritative traceable source.

For example, if a portrait appears on:

a blog,

Wikimedia Commons,

and a university archive,

we may use Wikimedia Commons to discover the image but follow its metadata back to the university collection.

This helps avoid copying incorrect captions or incomplete attribution.

Image File Names and Metadata

Where practical, images should use descriptive file names.

For example:

emma-curtis-hopkins-portrait-c1895.jpg

is more informative than:

IMG004832.jpg.

Internal image records may also preserve:

title;
subject;
creator;
date;
source;
source URL;
collection;
identifier;
rights status;
license;
alt text;
caption;
and modification history.

This metadata makes future verification and corrections easier.

Alt Text

Alternative text primarily exists to help users understand meaningful visual content when they cannot see the image.

Alt text should describe relevant visual information rather than simply repeat keywords.

For example:

Portrait of Emma Curtis Hopkins seated beside a writing desk

is more useful than:

Emma Curtis Hopkins New Thought history metaphysical teacher photo.

Accessibility takes priority over keyword stuffing.

Correcting Image Credits

Image credits can contain errors just like article text.

We welcome corrections involving:

misidentified people;
incorrect dates;
wrong photographers;
incorrect collections;
inaccurate licenses;
broken source links;
mistaken copyright status;
and missing attribution.

Where reliable evidence demonstrates an error, we aim to correct the credit.

Significant corrections may also be handled according to our Corrections Policy.

Rights Holder Requests

If you believe an image on NewThoughtHistory.org has been incorrectly attributed, used under an incorrect rights designation, or otherwise raises a legitimate rights concern, please contact us.

Useful information includes:

the page containing the image,

the image concerned,

the nature of the issue,

your relationship to the work or rights holder,

and

supporting documentation where applicable.

We will review credible requests and take appropriate action where warranted.

Reusing Images From NewThoughtHistory.org

The presence of an image on NewThoughtHistory.org does not necessarily mean that NewThoughtHistory.org owns the image or has authority to grant reuse permission.

Images may originate from:

public-domain collections;
Creative Commons sources;
archives;
libraries;
museums;
organizations;
individual contributors;
or other rights holders.

Anyone wishing to reuse an image should consult the credit associated with that specific image and, where appropriate, follow the source to determine applicable terms.

Do not assume that the copyright status of the surrounding NewThoughtHistory.org article applies to third-party images embedded within it.

Our Preferred Credit Record

For important historical images, our ideal internal record contains:

Title / Description:
What the image depicts.

Creator:
Photographer, artist, publisher, or other creator.

Date:
Exact or approximate creation/publication date.

Subject:
People, organizations, places, or objects depicted.

Original Source:
Publication, manuscript, photograph, or collection from which the image originates.

Repository:
Library, archive, museum, institution, or collection preserving the item.

Identifier:
Catalog, accession, photograph, box/folder, or item number where available.

Rights Status:
Public Domain, CC0, Creative Commons license, No Known Copyright Restrictions, copyright holder, or other known status.

Source Location:
Stable catalog or item page when available.

Modifications:
Crop, restoration, colorization, reconstruction, or other significant change.

This information may not always be displayed in full beside an image, but preserving it helps maintain the historical record behind the website.

Our Image Standard

Before publishing an important historical image, we aim to ask:

Do we know what this image depicts?

Can its identity be verified?

Do we know approximately when it was created?

Can we identify the original creator or source?

Can we trace it to a reputable collection or publication?

What rights or licensing information accompanies it?

Does the required attribution appear correctly?

Has the image been modified?

Could the presentation mislead readers into thinking a reconstruction is an original historical image?

If important information remains uncertain, the caption or credit should reflect that uncertainty.

Images as Part of the Historical Record

New Thought history was documented visually as well as in writing.

Portraits preserved the faces of teachers and organizers.

Book covers and title pages documented publishing history.

Newspapers recorded lectures and public controversies.

Photographs preserved churches, conferences, headquarters, and communities.

Letters and manuscripts preserved handwriting and original revisions.

Advertisements showed how teachers presented themselves to contemporary audiences.

These materials deserve the same care we give written historical sources.

For NewThoughtHistory.org, an image is not merely decoration.

When used as historical evidence, it should be identified, sourced, contextualized, credited, and preserved with enough information for future readers to investigate its history for themselves.