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The copyright in a written document is copyright in a literary work. This applies to letters, diaries, minute books, whatever. Copyright in a literary work lasts for the lifetime of the author plus 70 years from the end of the year in which he or she died. If you know the date of the creator's death, you can work it out easily. If you do not, it is safe to assume that no one lives for more than 100 years after they have created a literary work. So if the work pre-dates 1830 I would tend to assume that copyright has expired. The date of publication is irrelevant. Copyright law has been revamped recently to harmonise European law and to give copyright owners greater opportunities to make money. You can find a clear enough exposition of this on a government site: www.intellectual-property.gov.uk But note that if anyone owns a document of any age they might refuse to let you look at it and copy it unless you pay them a fee. This is not copyright. It is just money grabbing based on physical possession and contract law. This is not legal advice for which you can sue me if it goes wrong. If there seems to be a real problem, please get proper legal advice elsewhere! -- Frank Sharman Wolverhampton, UK. tel: +44 01902 763246 look: no quotes, no graphics!