how would copyright work for these? They were never copyrighted, so they're not outside the copyright->public works window. could super evil publisher copyright them? maybe I should just google for copyright.
It sounds like this is mostly stuff that appeared in newspapers in the 1800s, so the term of any possible protection they had has long expired. Unpublished writings would be treated differently, but even they would be out of copyright if first published today.
Not that long ago. A copyright term of life plus 70 years would mean that protection ended in 1980. Well, 1980 seems like a long time ago now but I was there.
Stuff published in the 1800s wouldn't have ever had the life-plus-70 term, they'd have the shorter fixed term-plus-renewal scheme from the 1831 and 1909 copyright acts.
For anything that was unpublished, you're right, though if they'd been found and published before 2002, they'd still be protected until 2047.
All documents have copyright, as I understand it, automatically. Although, I guess these were created before that was established, so perhaps you are right and they were never copyrighted...? IANAL and all that.
