2009/3/30 Gerard Meijssen gerard.meijssen@gmail.com:
Hoi, Historic has the meaning of old and it has the meaning of relevance. For archives and museums the rights issue is not really their concern they are interested in who produced what material. This is more relevant to them based on what their core function is. The fact that a photographer may also be the right holder is seen as a bonus.
I think you are talking about a non-issue here. A photo from a PD painting is not subject to copyright. Which would fall under the first option I mentioned.
Mathias