Question: I have found an old newspaper clipping from 1912 on Ancestry.com that I would like to print out and distribute. Am I legally allowed to do so, or is the clipping still held under copyright? Does the answer change if the newspaper is now defunct (The *San Francisco Call*)?

Answer: 
The San Francisco Call (among other papers) is available online at the [California Digital Newspaper Collection](http://cdnc.ucr.edu). The copyright blurb on that site says 

> 
> All newspapers published before January 1, 1923 are in the public domain and therefore have no restrictions on use. If publishing, quoting from, or otherwise reproducing the images from this collection, we request that you credit the CDNC as follows: California Digital Newspaper Collection, Center for Bibliographic Studies and Research, University of California, Riverside, <http://cdnc.ucr.edu>.
> 
> 
> 

For more information on copyright of images from this collection, see their [about](http://cdnc.ucr.edu/about_us.html) link.

All of this implies to me that you can just get a copy of the same newspaper from the CDNC and not worry about Ancestry's policies.
[The Legal Genealogist](http://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog/2012/03/19/copyright-the-newspaper-article/) recently blogged on the topic of copyright and newspapers. However, you should also consult the terms and conditions of the website where you got the clipping. 

How do you intend to distribute it and how many copies do you want to make? Copyright prevents copying **without permission**, so you could ask for permission.