The Great Read: Who Should Control the Legacy of This Master Photographer?
A settlement is reached in the case of Mike Disfarmer, who renounced his family. Decades later they sued to take back his life’s work. When heirs battle the people who built their legacies, the art may be at stake.
The New York Times
The Great Read

March 11, 2026, 2:01 p.m. Eastern time

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A vintage photograph of a man holding a camera outside a house in the early 1920s.

Disfarmer Family LLC

Who Should Control the Legacy of This Master Photographer?

A settlement is reached in the case of Mike Disfarmer, who renounced his family. Decades later they sued to take back his life’s work. When heirs battle the people who built their legacies, the art may be at stake.

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