We own an unpublished personal journal written by a woman from 1857 through 1864.  It was donated to our museum after having been found in 1994 in an abandoned 19th century building.  Since it had been 130 years since the last entry in the journal, and the book had been left behind by the author, we thought we would "own" the copyright because we owned the journal.  We were able to find a descendant of the author still living in the area, and with her help and that of volunteers, the journal was transcribed with the intention of publishing all of part of it (over 700 typed pages).

I called the United States copyright office, and was told that since this is an unpublished work, the descendant owns the copyright.  Also, this descendant had until December 31, 2002 to register the copyright or lose it.  You can find information about U.S. copyright law at www.loc.gov/copyright.  There are several pamphlets in adobe acrobat format to download.  For this journal, we used the information from circular 15a "Duration of Copyright..."  Also helpful is circular #1 "Copyright Basics".

Amy K. Andersen-Rude, Registrar
Customs House Museum and Cultural Center
P.O. Box 383
Clarksville, TN 37041-0383
www.customshousemuseum.org
PH: 931.648.5780  FAX: 931.553.5179  TTY: 931.553.5101


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