[meteorite-list] copyright questions - newspaper articles & correspondence

[The Tricottet Collection]

Dear list members,

I'd like to give access on my website to transcripts of my newspaper articles and original correspondence related to meteorites (and minerals & fossils...):

http://www.thetricottetcollection.com/library_met_newspapers.html
http://www.thetricottetcollection.com/library_met_manuscripts.html

However I haven't done it until now because I don't know the laws regarding copyrights.

Would someone know if diffusing a transcript instead of a scan is legal?
Should articles be more than 30 years old for instance?
If the newspaper does not exist anymore, is there still a copyright?
What is the situation for correspondence letters that I own, from living or deceased individuals?

I'm especially looking for information related to US law, but also to the Italian one. I'd like to give access to a high resolution digital copy of the famous Walter Molino drawing of Holbrook in the 1946 newspaper La Domenica del Corriere, based on a copy I own.


Thank you for your help,

Arnaud


The Tricottet Collection
(Historic Minerals, Fossils & Meteorites)
http://www.thetricottetcollection.com/
http://www.facebook.com/TheTricottetCollection
http://twitter.com/TricottetColl#