Access and copyright

Since its foundation in 1935, the International Institute of Social History has collected and accepted records and personal papers to make them available to the public. It is true that owners and donors can restrict access and rights to duplication and publication for a certain period of time, especially to protect individuals or their privacy. But in the absence of such restrictions access is free to all users. There are no limits to duplication and publication, except for existing national and international laws on copyright, privacy, libel, etc. Copyright laws allow duplication for non- commercial individual research.

The same rules apply to the Occasio Digital Social History Archive. All documents collected were intended for public use, and no one has placed any explicit restriction on access, duplication or publication. We make the documents available here because they were expressly meant to be distributed worldwide through the Internet: people should not have to travel to Amsterdam to see them.

Yet, legally, the authors of the documents retain the copyrights. The fact that those who send a message to a list on the Internet ought to know that they relinquish control over its distribution makes no difference at all. Consequently, you may use the documents in the Occasio archive exclusively for the purpose of non-commercial individual research. For all other purposes you should get in touch with the author of the document concerned. Failing to do so constitutes an infringement of copyright.

Note to Authors: We will respect all requests from authors who want their documents excluded from distribution through the Occasio project. Although it is impossible "to undo things done, to call back yesterday", and the documents in question will continue to be archived, here they will be replaced by a notice stating they can be consulted only at the IISH. Please send a message to Jenneke Quast.

The Archive

• The full text search in public APC newsgroups is available:
  Search for specific newsgroups or full text in all public newsgroups.
• The archive on messages from and on Former Yugoslavia since 1992
• The closed (private) APC newsgroups search page, only available for researchers from the premises of the International Institute of Social History
• Homepage of the Occasio Project