Ancestry.com Sharing and Newspapers.com Clips

Question

I recently learned about Ancestry.com sharing links, and Newspapers.com clips.  Links to these can be seen by people who don't have paid membership, so it seems like a good king of link to include on Wikitree pages.

But I'm wondering what happens when I stop paying for my membership.  (Not planning to anytime soon, but ... realistically ... considering how old I am, it could be any minute now.)  When my memberships lapse, do all these links lapse with them?  Does anybody know?

Comments

I recently found via internet search a clipped newspaper item that was relevant to the person whose ancestry is my current line of research.

I forget how long ago the item was "clipped" and shared, but I could see it without any kind of paid membership.

I believe the shared links are meant to last, else why would they be sharable at all.

---

I often will look for a free version of the newspaper shared online , from state archives, newspaper depositories , of google news as alternatives when possible.

---

fyi - Steve Harris created a template for Newspapers.com clippings:
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Template:Newspapers.com

Answer 1

Hi, Alan. Once you create an Ancestry.com shared image or a Newspapers.com clipping, the item can remain regardless of your account status. I'm uncertain about images of Ancestry.com sources, but Newspapers.com does allow you to make a clipping public or private (see https://blog.newspapers.com/how-and-why-to-use-our-clipping-embed-tools/). I don't know what happens to your private clippings if you close your account, but the public ones remain public and available.

An aside is that, some time ago, Wikipedia began recommending that, where feasible, source citations include links captured for archive at the Internet Wayback Machine (https://web.archive.org/). Because link addresses, or URLs, can change, that's a simple method to prevent "link rot" and to help ensure that the link cited remains available. Where WikiTree has an external link template available--as for Ancestry.com source records--that's what I use in profiles. But for others I've gradually been trying to get into the habit of going to the Wayback Machine, pasting a link into the "Save Page Now" field, and then using both the original link and the Waybacked URL in citations on WikiTree. An ounce of prevention and all that. It takes only a few seconds to do, but it helps ensure there's a valid link for years to come. An example of how I typically include this at the end of a citation:

Image of obituary [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/92237249/obituary-for-myrtle-a-threalkeld-aged/ freely viewable] courtesy of Newspapers.com; and also at an Internet Archive [https://web.archive.org/web/20220312234537/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/92237249/obituary-for-myrtle-a-threalkeld-aged/ capture of the clipping].

P.S.: And of course what Kerry said about always having a fully-qualified bibliographic citation. Nothing beats the actual details in the text.

Comments

Thanks for the best-answer star, E! Great first initial, by the way. 

Answer 2

Hi Alan,

While I can't speak exactly to your question, I can share some of my experience. I have used the free version for years, as well as an enhanced version available at many public library. I tried a trial member ship too.

Many of the documents used as sources I can no longer access. They still exist on the profile, but viewing the documents is denied.

You may want to try calling their help line to discuss it further.

Answer 3

The links remain alive after your subscription ends.  I've had Ancestry.com and Newspapers.com subscriptions in the past but not currently.  All of the sharing links on Ancestry and clippings on Newspaper.com remain available.  Ancestry could change its policies at any time in the future, so it's prudent to have a good citation to go along with the link.

Answer 4

I was under the impression that newspaper articles, obituaries, etc. from Newspapers.com could not be placed on profiles due to copyright issues.  Please correct me if I am wrong about this.  For this reason I have not added any obituaries to my profiles.

Comments

You can certainly abstract the obituary and include a link to the clipped image.

---

Jean, you might want to read a short article at the Newspapers.com official blog titled, "How (and Why) to Use Our Clipping & Embed Tools." It describes how to use clippings, that they can be freely shared and/or embedded in other websites, and why Newspapers.com encourages their use.

---

Thank you. I have found a lot of obituaries that give information. Good to know I can share this information.

---

Thanks for sharing that interesting blog post Edison.  I wish that Wikitree supported the embedded clipping method they describe.   It's intriguing that the posting of clipped images on websites such as Wikitree appears to be authorized without noting any restrictive terms and conditions:

"Although you can download newspaper articles from our site as an image file (.jpg), the Embed tool is often more useful when publishing online.

If you use a .jpg file in your blog, website, online article, etc., only the image is shown."

The careful reader should note that this doesn't obviate the need to consider copyright implications.  I'd venture to say that the majority of Newspapers.com content is in the public domain and there are no copyright concerns.  For those articles that are still under valid copyright protection by the publishing newspaper, the blog post doesn't negate the need to follow applicable laws and rules.

---

Yep; I agree about the copyright considerations, Kerry. Which is why I actually don't mind not being able to embed the clipping image on WikiTree. By referencing only the URL of the clipping, the visitor goes to a Newspapers.com-provided address to view the image and detail. The item itself isn't placed on or hosted at WikiTree, and copyright and publication rights issues reside with the terms, conditions, and agreements of Newspapers.com.

That said, copyright is always a fairly complex matter and we have to take care--speaking only of U.S. law since it's my only real familiarity--not to quote verbatim anything published after 96 years from the most recent January 1 (so we're clear through 1926 now, 1927 in a little more than five months) unless we're certain we have the rights to do so. Information, of course, can't be copyrighted, so we can always paraphrase a newspaper obituary or article if we want to include the text in a profile...or excerpt small snippets under "fair use" per 18 U.S. Code section 107.

All of which is pretty much the same thing Stu said some 12 hours ago in only about a dozen words. Sigh.