5 Steps to Research

Copyrighting an Ancestor's Journal

QUESTION: My father kept a journal during the summer of 1860. This journal was given to me by my stepmother before she passed away last summer. I gave it to my daughter who has edited it and wants to publish it. Originally, we were going to give it to family members, but my daughter feels it may have a wider audience, either all or part of it. She would like to have the copyright to this journal in its original and subsequent formats. Who owns the journal? As far as I am concerned she owns it, but we want to know if we should take any legal steps to assure her ownership.

ANSWER: This question is often on the minds of genealogists, as we all come into possession of “family papers” of some form, and we want to know how we should handle them, especially when it comes to sharing their contents with others both in and out of the family.

The matter of ownership of the manuscript diary appears clear, as you describe a short, unfettered path from the author to its present possessor. Your daughter appears to be the legal owner of the diary.

Copyright is a different matter. During his lifetime your father’s diary was protected by contemporary copyright laws. However, you are considering copyright of an edited publication. It appears that what your daughter publishes as an edited version of the original diary may be eligible for copyright protection, and I would urge her to seek such protection for her work through the United States Copyright Office. This federal office has a great amount of information on the copyright law and how to obtain its protection for published works of all kinds. The mailing address is: U.S. Copyright Office, Library of Congress, 101 Independence Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20559. (They are on the Web at http://www.loc.gov/copyright .)

(Please note that the above is personal opinion, not legal advice. You should contact an attorney if you are seeking competent legal opinion.)