Copyright Notices | February 2005

Copyright Lore
¤ Frank Evina

Prior to the enactment of the second leather-bound ledgers, lettered in gold

general revision of U.S. copyright law and measuring approximately 12 by
in 1870, the clerks of 44 judicial dis- 18 inches, that provided space on each
tricts in the United States registered page for four separate copyright entries.
claims to copyright and issued certifi- Each entry was hand-written and
cates. A major reason for centralizing personally signed by Librarian of Con-
copyright registration and deposit in gress Ainsworth Rand Spofford, who
the Library of Congress was to ensure served as de facto Register of Copy- The Copyright Office and deposits as it
the creation in one location of com- rights until that position was created appeared in 1898
plete and uniform in 1897. This new       
records of copy- function had an
right ownership. immediate impact
Unfortunately, on the overall provided for the Librarian. I have been
many registration operations of the obliged to employ two of the library
records main- Library, which force constantly upon the business of
tained by district was still housed in recording copyrights and preparing
court clerks dur- crowded quarters certificates of the same, besides devot-
ing the first 80 in the west front ing more than half of my own time to
years of American of the Capitol the prompt dispatch of the business
copyright were Building and em- involved.”
inconsistent and ployed a total of Spofford asked Congress for two
   

fragmentary. twelve staffers. In additional assistants to be employed in

Therefore, when his 1870 report to the copyright department at salaries of
the 1870 Act went Congress, Spof- $1,800 and $1,200 respectively.
into effect, it was ford stated, “The By the end of 1870, a grand total of
imperative that an fact that upward 5,600 copyright registrations were en-
efficient number- of 5,000 copy- tered into several volumes of the copy-
ing and record- rights have been right record books. The first registra-
keeping system be An original ledger from 1870 containing recorded in the tion made in the Library of Congress
in place. records of copyright registrations is on office during less under the 1870 Act was for a book en-
In anticipa- display outside lm-401. than 6 months’ titled San Domingo, by De Benneville
tion of the large operation of the Randolph Keim (1841–1914). Both de-
number of registration applications law, with the great additional labor and posit copies of this book are preserved
that would soon be sent to Washing- responsibility involved, suggests the in the Library’s Rare Book and Special
ton, the Library printed handsome necessity of increased assistance being Collections Division. ‡

Service Flag Draws Distinguished Visitor

Miss Nathalie Wells (right) examines the Copyright Office
service flag honoring employees who served in World War
II. The flag was the project of her father, David Wells, who
   

retired in 1960 as head of the Miscellaneous Section (now the

Visual Arts Section in the Examining Division). Miss Wells,
whose visit was coordinated by Senior Public Information
Specialist Frank Evina (left), also is a Library retiree. ‡