Terms of submission
Version 1.0 · in force from 21 September 2026
These terms apply to anything you send through the submission form. They are written to be read, not to be got past. If a clause does not make sense to you, write and ask before you send.
What you must be able to say
By sending a submission you state that:
- the photographs are yours to share, because you took them or because whoever took them agreed;
- the text is your own, and where you quote or repeat someone you say so;
- nothing you send is subject to an agreement that forbids you to share it, such as a sale condition, a loan agreement, or a court order.
If that turns out not to hold, tell the register. Material sent by someone who did not have the right to send it is taken down.
What you grant the register
You give the register permission to keep, reproduce, and publish what you send, as part of the record of the object, for as long as that record exists. This permission is not exclusive and it cannot be withdrawn once the object has been entered. It is granted at no charge, and no payment is due either way.
The reason it cannot be withdrawn is the same reason register numbers are never reused: a record that can vanish is not a record. Someone citing an entry in five years has to find the same entry.
What you keep
Everything else. You remain the owner of your photographs and your words, and you can publish, sell, or license them anywhere else, to anyone, on any terms. Nothing here stops you using your own material. You also keep the object itself: the register does not ask for it, take possession of it, or acquire any interest in it.
Changing your mind
The register draws a line between the object and the person who wrote about it. The record of the object stays. You can always be taken out of it.
- Your name and attribution. On request, the entry is changed to attribute the account to an unnamed private submitter. There is no time limit and no reason required.
- Your email address and any correspondence. Deleted on request.
- The description, the history, and the photographs. These stay, unless one of the cases below applies.
What is removed on request
Whatever stage the record has reached, the register takes material down when:
- you sent it by mistake, and say so;
- it was not yours to send;
- it shows a person who is identifiable and has not agreed to appear, or shows the inside of a private home, or carries information you did not intend to publish;
- publishing it would put you or someone else at risk.
The register does not weigh these against its own interest in keeping the entry. It removes the material and, where the entry cannot stand without it, withdraws the entry.
What the register decides for itself
Whether to enter an object at all. Sending a submission does not oblige the register to publish anything, and it is under no duty to explain a decision not to.
Whether to withdraw an entry later. Human remains, grave goods, and objects taken from people who are still identifiable are treated with more caution than the rest, and the register may withdraw an entry on that ground without being asked.
How the object is described. The register never states that a claim is true. It sets down what is asserted, who asserts it, and what the register itself has established, and keeps those apart.
People other than you
If your submission is about an object that belonged to someone who is still alive, or contains photographs in which another person can be recognised, say so. That person has rights of their own here, and they are not yours to give away.
Age
Do not use the form if you are under 16. If you are under 16 and want to write to the register, ask a parent or guardian to send it for you.
Which version applies
The version in force when you send is the version that binds you, and its number is recorded on the confirmation you are sent. Later versions do not apply to submissions already made. If these terms change in a way that affects an entry already published, the register asks again rather than assuming.
If you are not the submitter
If something here is yours and should not be, write to privacy@badprovenance.com. Say which entry, which material, and what your connection to it is. You do not need a lawyer to make a complaint and you will not be asked for one.
Where to write
About a submission or an entry: contact@badprovenance.com. About your details, including anonymising an entry or deleting your address: privacy@badprovenance.com. Quote your receipt number if you have one.
What is collected and what is stored is set out on the privacy page.