Terms of Use

The Record Institute — Archive of Rare Historical Artifacts Last revised: April 2026

1. Acceptance of These Terms

These Terms of Use ("Terms") govern access to and use of therecord.institute and any associated digital services (collectively, the "Archive") operated by The Record Institute ("TRI," "we," "us," or "our"). By accessing or using the Archive, you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the Archive.

These Terms operate alongside our Privacy Policy and our Copyright & Conservation policy, both of which are incorporated by reference.

2. About the Archive

The Record Institute is a non-profit digital archive and research museum dedicated to the preservation, study, and contextualization of 20th-century print advertising ephemera. The Archive is offered as a public good, free of charge, without subscription, and without commercial advertising.

We reserve the right to modify, suspend, or discontinue any portion of the Archive at any time, with or without notice, for editorial, technical, conservation, or institutional reasons.

3. Permitted Use

You may access and use the Archive for personal, educational, scholarly, journalistic, and non-commercial purposes. Permitted activities include:

Reading and studying editorial entries and artifact reproductions.
Citing TRI materials in academic, journalistic, and educational contexts, with appropriate attribution.
Sharing links to Archive pages on social media, in correspondence, and in other non-commercial settings.
Saving Archive content for personal study and reference.
Quoting from editorial entries under standard fair use principles, with attribution to The Record Institute.

For citations, we ask that you include the artifact title, the URL of the Dossier entry, the date of access, and the institutional attribution: The Record Institute, Seattle, Washington.

4. Restrictions

The following activities are not permitted without prior written authorization from The Record Institute:

Commercial reproduction of Archive content, including artifact images, editorial entries, multilingual summaries, or any combination thereof.

Bulk extraction of the Archive through automated scraping, crawling, or harvesting tools beyond what is permitted by our robots.txt and standard web archival conventions.

Republication of complete editorial entries, multilingual summaries, or substantial portions thereof on other websites, applications, or publications.

Misrepresentation of TRI content, including the removal of attribution, the alteration of editorial text in a manner that misstates our analysis, or the presentation of TRI materials in a way that suggests endorsement, partnership, or affiliation that does not exist.

Use in training datasets for commercial machine learning, generative artificial intelligence, or large language model systems, without the express written consent of The Record Institute. Non-commercial academic research using TRI content for computational humanities or digital archive scholarship is welcomed under separate inquiry.

Activities that compromise the integrity of the Archive, including attempts to circumvent security measures, introduce malware, conduct denial-of-service activity, or otherwise disrupt the operation of the site.

If you wish to use Archive content in a manner not covered by Section 3, please contact us through the channels described in Section 11.

5. Intellectual Property

The editorial entries, multilingual summaries, rarity classifications, valuation analyses, curatorial commentary, site design, and original photographic reproductions published on the Archive are the intellectual property of The Record Institute, except where otherwise indicated.

The underlying historical advertisements depicted in the Archive are governed by the framework described in our Copyright & Conservation policy. The status of each artifact is documented under principles of public domain analysis, fair use, and transparent attribution.

The Record Institute name, logo, the rarity classification system (B → A → S → SS → SSS → OMEGA), and the editorial format known as "The Time Traveller's Dossier" are institutional marks of The Record Institute.

Brand names, logos, and product identifiers depicted within archived advertisements remain the property of their respective trademark holders and are presented for nominative, historical, and educational purposes only.

6. User Submissions

Where the Archive permits visitors to submit information — such as inquiries through a contact form, scholarly correspondence, donation offers, or rights notifications — submissions are governed by the following terms:

You are responsible for the accuracy and lawfulness of any information you submit. You represent that you have the right to submit the information and that submission does not violate the rights of any third party.

You grant The Record Institute a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide license to use the submitted information for the purpose of responding to your inquiry, evaluating donation or rights matters, conducting institutional research, and operating the Archive. We will not publish or attribute personal correspondence without your consent.

We reserve the right to decline, ignore, or remove any submission that is unlawful, abusive, fraudulent, or inconsistent with the purpose of the Archive.

7. Third-Party Links and References

The Archive may contain links to third-party websites, scholarly resources, institutional partners, and external archives. These links are provided for reference and convenience. The Record Institute does not control these external sites, does not endorse their content, and is not responsible for their privacy practices, accuracy, or availability.

8. Disclaimers

The Archive is provided "as is" and "as available." While The Record Institute commits to scholarly accuracy and continuous editorial review, we make no warranties — express or implied — regarding:

The completeness or definitive accuracy of any historical, attributional, or material analysis published in the Archive.
The market value, legal status, or authenticity of any artifact or its physical original beyond what is disclosed in our editorial methodology.
The uninterrupted availability of the Archive or any specific feature.
The compatibility of the Archive with any particular device, browser, or assistive technology, although we strive for broad accessibility.

Editorial entries reflect documented research and good-faith scholarly judgment at the time of publication. Where corrections are warranted, they are made under the corrections policy described in our Editorial Standards.

The Archive does not provide legal advice, financial advice, appraisal services, or professional authentication. Users seeking formal appraisal, legal opinion, or authentication for any artifact should consult appropriately qualified professionals.

9. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, The Record Institute, its founders, officers, employees, contractors, advisors, and affiliated parties shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising out of or in connection with your access to or use of the Archive, including but not limited to damages for loss of profits, goodwill, data, or other intangible losses.

This limitation applies regardless of the legal theory under which damages are sought and even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages. In jurisdictions where limitations of liability are restricted by law, our liability is limited to the maximum extent permitted in that jurisdiction.

Nothing in these Terms is intended to exclude or limit liability for fraud, willful misconduct, or any liability that cannot be lawfully excluded.

10. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless The Record Institute and its founders, officers, employees, contractors, and affiliated parties from any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses, including reasonable legal fees, arising out of or in any way connected with your breach of these Terms, your misuse of the Archive, or your violation of any law or the rights of any third party.

11. Contact and Inquiries

For permission requests, scholarly collaboration, donation offers, rights matters, press inquiries, or general correspondence:

The Record Institute Seattle, Washington, USA Email: [insert official contact email]

For copyright, fair use, or DMCA notifications, please refer to our Copyright & Conservation policy.

For privacy matters, please refer to our Privacy Policy.

12. Governing Law and Jurisdiction

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Washington, United States, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles. Any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Archive shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in King County, Washington, except where applicable consumer protection law provides otherwise.

If you access the Archive from outside the United States, you do so on your own initiative and are responsible for compliance with local law to the extent it applies.

13. Severability

If any provision of these Terms is found to be unenforceable or invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, that provision shall be modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it enforceable, or, if it cannot be so modified, severed from these Terms. The remaining provisions shall continue in full force and effect.

14. Entire Agreement

These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy and Copyright & Conservation policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and The Record Institute regarding your use of the Archive, superseding any prior agreements or understandings on the subject.

15. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, in applicable law, or in the structure of the Archive. Material changes will be noted at the top of this page with the revised date. Continued use of the Archive after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms. The current version is always available at therecord.institute/terms.

The Record Institute · Seattle, Washington, USA · Established 2026