The Library of Congress is not aware of any U.S. copyright protection (see Title 17, U.S.C.) or any other restrictions on the materials in the Charles L. Todd and Robert Sonkin Migrant Workers Collection, except as noted below. The Library of Congress is providing access to these materials strictly for educational and research purposes. The written permission of the copyright owners and/or other rights holders (such as publicity and/or privacy rights) is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use of protected items beyond that allowed by fair use or other statutory exemptions. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.
The special character of collections that result from ethnographic field research is outlined in What is an Ethnographic Field Collection? and an account of this collecting project is described in The Charles L. Todd and Robert Sonkin Collecting Expedition. The Library of Congress has carefully researched the content of this collection to ascertain any possible legal rights embodied in the materials it contains. As is often the case with materials collected in the course of ethnographic field research, however, it is difficult or impossible to sufficiently identify specific songs sung by participants which precludes performing a comprehensive assessment of the copyright status of underlying musical rights in lyrics or compositions. The identification of specific speakers or singers included in sound recordings is also often difficult or impossible.
The collection includes 436 sound recordings, 371 of which are included here. A group of 36 recordings have not been placed on the Internet at this time because the underlying musical lyrics or works may be protected by copyright. The entire collection is available to researchers in the American Folklife Center reading room at the Library of Congress. The staff of the American Folklife Center is eager to learn more about the musical compositions and performers included in the collection and encourages the public to contact them with any information at:
EMAIL: folklife@loc.gov
OR
Library of Congress
American Folklife Center
101 Independence Avenue, SE
Washington, D.C. 20540-4610
Credit Line:
The Charles L. Todd and Robert Sonkin Migrant Worker Collection,
Library of Congress, American Folklife Center