Ministry concerned Fairfax photos sold without permission after Rogers deal sours

The Culture and Heritage Ministry says it is concerned photographs sent by Fairfax Media to be stored and scanned in the United States have been sold without the company's permission.

Fairfax Media agreed in 2013 to transfer several million photographs spanning more than 100 years to US company Rogers Photo Archive, which would digitise and archive them for free in return for some sales rights.

Fairfax said at the time the collections were deteriorating and in a state of some disarray and that the cost of preserving and digitising them itself, which was estimated to be up to $32 million, was prohibitive.

But the deal with Rogers has since unravelled. Rogers has been put into receivership and Fairfax terminated its agreement with the company last year.

Fairfax spokeswoman Emma Carter said Fairfax had "recently become aware that a limited number of images may have been sold without approval".

Some of the material in the archives was protected by the Protected Objects Act, which is designed to protect items of cultural significance.

The Culture and Heritage Ministry said in a statement that it was "always concerned when heritage documents are lost, stolen or sold overseas". It was liaising closely with Fairfax to ensure its archives were safe and secure, a spokeswoman said.

Carter said some prints sent to the US by Fairfax New Zealand and the Sydney Morning Herald were being held by Rogers' court-appointed receiver and all materials from Australian newspaper The Age had been returned.

It was working with the receiver to find out more information about the missing items and "exploring our recovery options", she said.

"The court in Arkansas has ordered that no Fairfax images should be sold or transferred without court approval."

Another US firm, Red Alert, has made an offer to buy Rogers but as ownership of the Fairfax images had not passed to Rogers, Fairfax's pictures could not be included in any sale of its assets, Carter said.

Fairfax New Zealand's negatives had not been sent to the US, she said. "The New Zealand negatives were never sent to Rogers. They are still in New Zealand and are stored at various Fairfax locations."