[Wikimediaau-l] Copyright on images held by State Library

[Mark Ryan]

Our State Library here in the West has a large collection of
historical images, searchable and viewable directly in their online
catalogue. Here's an example:

http://tinyurl.com/2w2gzr

Every part of my law student mind screams "this circa 1900 image is in
the public domain now, no matter whatever copyright notices or demands
they slap on it", but I'm worried I've missed some key point along the
lines of "if it hasn't ever been published until they put it in their
catalogue, the copyright time doesn't start until now". Does anyone
have any more of an idea about this?

~Mark Ryan