The Public Domain Unleashed

Edward Curtis created a 20 volume set titled The North American Indian from 1907 to 1930. This set was published in a limited edition and sold by subscription. The lavishly illustrated volumes were printed on the finest paper and bound in expensive leather, making the price prohibitive for all but the most avid collectors and libraries. Subscriptions sold for about $3,000 in 1907; the price rose to about $4,200 by 1924.

The 20 volumes contain 2226 plates (images.) There are around 75 photogravure plates in each bound volume, with image sizes averaging 5 1/2 by 7 1/2 inches; each accompanying portfolio holds around 35 loose photogravure sheets, with image sizes averaging 12 by 16 inches. In total, there are 1506 plates in the bound volumes and 720 plates in the portfolios.

The entire set of images has been digitized and is online available for anyone to download at the Library of Congress (http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/award98/ienhtml/curthome.html.) From there, you can download any or all of the images and use them any way you want as all the images are in the public domain.

Here are a few ways the images can be used:

1. They could be compiled into the original volumes and produced as a electronic version of the book on CD. An example of this is shown here: http://www.thehistoricalarchive.com/products/The-North-American–85.html
2. They could be used to produce a series of 20 printed books - one for each section. Or one book of all 20 volumes. Depending on its size and quality of paper used, this could be a reasonably inexpensive product or a very expensive coffee table book. You could even sell the 20 volumes as a subscription - with each volume in its own folio - much like Time Life does for its book series.
3. You could create an American Indian art poster website where you could sell the images on a variety of papers - including canvas.
4. You could use some of the illustrations as part of a new book about a particular North American Indian Tribe.
5. You could combine the images with your favorite image editing tool and make some poster sized pieces of art that could then be printed on fine art paper or canvas and signed and distributed as a limited edition original work.
6. You could use the images to make postcard sets to be sold in gift shops in tourist areas where the various tribes of Indians lived.

There are many more ways these images could be used to create products but this list should be enough to get you thinking about ways you could use this set of fantasic American Indian images to generate one or more revenue streams for yourself.