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Copyright Notices | February 2005

8

Copyright Lore¤ Frank Evina

Prior to the enactment of the secondgeneral revision of U. S. copyright law

in 1870, the clerks of 44 judicial dis-tricts in the United States registeredclaims to copyright and issued certifi-cates. A major reason for centralizingcopyright registration and deposit inthe Library of Congress was to ensurethe creation in one location of com-plete and uniformrecords of copy-right ownership.Unfortunately,many registrationrecords main-

tained by districtcourt clerks dur-ing the first 80

 years of Americancopyright wereinconsistent andfragmentary.Therefore, whenthe 1870 Act wentinto effect, it wasimperative that anefficient number-

ing and record-keeping system bein place.

In anticipa-tion of the largenumber of registration applicationsthat would soon be sent to Washing-ton, the Library printed handsome

leather-bound ledgers, lettered in goldand measuring approximately 12 by 

18 inches, that provided space on eachpage for four separate copyright entries.

Each entry was hand-written andpersonally signed by Librarian of Con-gress Ainsworth Rand Spofford, whoserved as de facto Register of Copy-rights until that position was created

in 1897. This newfunction had animmediate impacton the overalloperations of theLibrary, which

was still housed incrowded quartersin the west frontof the CapitolBuilding and em-ployed a total of twelve staffers. Inhis 1870 report toCongress, Spof-ford stated, “Thefact that upwardof 5,000 copy-

rights have beenrecorded in theoffice during lessthan 6 months’operation of the

law, with the great additional labor andresponsibility involved, suggests thenecessity of increased assistance being

provided for the Librarian. I have beenobliged to employ two of the library force constantly upon the business of 

recording copyrights and preparingcertificates of the same, besides devot-ing more than half of my own time tothe prompt dispatch of the businessinvolved.”

Spofford asked Congress for twoadditional assistants to be employed inthe copyright department at salaries of $1,800 and $1,200 respectively.

By the end of 1870, a grand total of 5,600 copyright registrations were en-tered into several volumes of the copy-

right record books. The first registra-tion made in the Library of Congressunder the 1870 Act was for a book en-titled San Domingo, by De BennevilleRandolph Keim (1841–1914). Both de-posit copies of this book are preservedin the Library’s Rare Book and SpecialCollections Division. ‡

Service Flag Draws Distinguished Visitor

 Miss Nathalie Wells (right) examines the Copyright Officeservice 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 theVisual Arts Section in the Examining Division). Miss Wells,

whose visit was coordinated by Senior Public InformationSpecialist Frank Evina (left), also is a Library retiree. ‡

 An original ledger from 1870 containing records of copyright registrations is on

display outside lm-401.

The Copyright Office and deposits as it appeared in 1898