Crowdsourcing at the Library of Congress: New! Early Copyright Title Pages Campaign launches

By the People Bulletin

 

New campaign: Early Copyright Title Pages! 

With the help of our colleagues in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division and in consultation with the Copyright Office, By the People has launched its largest campaign to date! American Creativity: Early Copyright Title Pages celebrates some of the first published (and never published) works of the United States. From 1790 through 1870, authors registered copyright by completing a form at the local federal district court, paying a fee, and depositing a printed title page with the court clerk. In 1870, with the passage of the Copyright Act, all of those records were transferred to the Library of Congress and many didn't see the light of day until 2020 when the Library digitized the collection. 

You might recognize some of the titles in this campaign, but many others have been lost to obscurity or were never actually published. These pages cover every subject imaginable from dramatic plays to religious texts to musical scores, novels, and scientific works. Making these title records more accessible will help historians and book enthusiasts everywhere better understand the early printing history of America. 

Jump into these title pages and see what you can find! 

TODAY: Join us for a copyright conversation

Join us this afternoon (10/7) at 3:00pm EDT for a fasctinating virtual conversation about copyright and book history to mark the launch of the American Creativity campaign. Hear from experts John Cole (Historian of the Library of Congress), Zvi Rosen (Southern Illinois School of Law), George Thuronyi (Copyright Office), and Elizabeth Gettins (Rare Book Division). More details and a Zoom link can be found here. 

Updated instructions for transcribing shorthand

If you've come across shorthand in the Theodore Roosevelt papers or any other By the People campaign, you might have wondered how to transcribe it. Shorthand is a writing method that uses symbols for words or phrases in order to more efficiently and quickly capture notes (some examples here and here). Many forms of shorthand exist and we have found that shorthand transcription is really closer to translation. When you recognize text as shorthand, do not transcribe it. Instead, where it appears on the page type [[shorthand]]. You can find these new instructions and many other tips in our "How-to" pages.

 

Happy Fall! 

Abby & the By the People team