If there is doubt as to whether the supplier of the material is the copyright owner (for example, where a cutting from a newspaper is supplied for republication in the newsletter), ask further questions about where the material came from, so you (or the supplier of the material) can get permission if necessary.
You can only grant permission for someone else to use material published in your newsletter if you own copyright in that material or have authority from the copyright owner to grant such permissions. If neither of these is the case, you will generally need to refer people who wish to reuse material to the relevant copyright owner.
It’s unlikely that reproducing an image from, for example, a book, newspaper or the internet merely to illustrate a newsletter would satisfy the fair dealing defence for parody or satire. The defence will only be available if the use of the image is fair and you use it for a parodic or satirical purpose.
The “criticism or review” exception in the Copyright Act is expressed very broadly and, as a result, anyone writing or publishing a review will usually be able to use a scan of the book cover with a book review.
There does, however, need to be a “sufficient acknowledgement of the work”. In this case, the relevant “work” would be the cover art, so make sure that you attribute whoever created the cover art under the picture (you can usually find the relevant designer listed in the information on the book flaps).
Acknowledging the source of the work is not a substitute for permission. If you need permission to use a quote or extract, identifying the work is not enough.
If you get permission to use a work or a substantial part of a work, you will still be obliged to respect the moral rights of the author by providing sufficient attribution of their authorship.
Even if you provide all the information for the history, the writer of the history will generally own copyright, unless you reach some arrangement to the contrary.
This is because the general rule is that the “author” of a work is the first owner of copyright. When a work is commissioned, the person who creates the work is the owner of the copyright but the paying client has a licence to use the work for the purpose(s) for which it was commissioned. This general rule can be altered by an agreement.
If you want to own copyright in a particular written version of your family history, you will need to persuade the writer to assign the copyright to you. An assignment must be in writing and signed by the copyright owner to be legally effective.