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Univ. of Texas’ Ransom Center offers free access to images in its collections

Tom Hoepf
Tom Hoepf
The Robert Louis Stevenson collection at the Ransom Center includes manuscripts and letters written by the Scottish novelist, as well as letters and manuscripts about him by others. Image courtesy of the Ransom Center, Project REVEAL
The Robert Louis Stevenson collection at the Ransom Center includes manuscripts and letters written by the Scottish novelist, as well as letters and manuscripts about him by others. Image courtesy of the Ransom Center, Project REVEAL

AUSTIN, Texas – To lower barriers to use of its collections, the Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin has adopted an open access policy, removing the requirement for permission and use fees for a significant portion of its online collections believed to be in the public domain.

In conjunction with the release of the policy, the Ransom Center launches Project REVEAL (Read and View English and American Literature), a year-long initiative to digitize and make available 25 of its manuscript collections of some of the best-known names from American and British literature of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Among the authors represented in Project REVEAL are Joseph Conrad, Hart Crane, Thomas Hardy, Vachel Lindsay, Jack London, Katherine Mansfield, Robert Louis Stevenson and Sara Teasdale.

The Project REVEAL initiative generated more than 22,000 high-resolution photographic images, available for use by anyone for any purpose without restriction or fees. The Ransom Center does, however, ask for attribution alongside the use of its images.

“I am pleased to be at the Center during this time of transformative change,” said Liz Gushee, head of digital collections services. “Having the images of Project REVEAL freely available is a significant step toward enhancing the online experience of the Center’s patrons who seek to explore and use its wealth of collection materials.”

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