Robert Bonomi wrote:
...

And of course that made it impossible to locate the
photographers (some of whom are probably dead by now) to get copy
permission ...

Unfortunately, irrelevant. "Unable to identify" and/or "unable to contact"
the copyright owner is not a defense to copyright infringement.

Ah but ignorance on the part of the copyright holder of the
infringement
is even better than a legal defense. He can't sue if he doesn't know
there was a violation.

In many respects it IS like furniture or jigs and fixtures. If you
make an exact copy of someone's furniture or a patented jig or
fixture for your own personal use you hav violated someone's
intellectual property rights. But unless you tell them you've
done that (like by bragging about it on rec.woodworking) you're
pretty much safe from retribution.

But you might see a class-action suit against WalMart if WalMart
were to routinely copy such photos. Heck, their present policy
might be part of the settlement from a previous class-action suit.

--

FF