Cheap Picture Frames for Historic Photos

I have just recently finished my first semester of teaching (hence my 5+ month hiatus) and am about to move into a new apartment. One of my projects: making a wall of old photographs.

Step 1: Purchased different picture frames from a local thrift store. My total cost for all of these frames was less then $8.

Step 2: Paint all the frames one color.

Step 3: Ok, so now I have picture frames that are all different shapes and size but they have the classic black look. What I'm planning on doing is getting my old photographs together and placing them in the frames. I am currently wondering whether I should use the originals or get copies of them. I started researching copyright laws to see what amount of copying photos like these I could get away with. See my blogpost on historic copyright laws here: "Can I copy that picture?". 

This picture was probably taken in the late 1800s and is no longer protected by copyright (see more about this photograph here.)