Over the last several years, Sherman College has been in contact with a chiropractor, Scott Jackson, DC, who has created a personal digital archive of all historic chiropractic literature. He established a Facebook group that allowed chiropractic history buffs and bibliophiles to witness his process of digitizing our profession’s foundational texts, known as the Green Books.
As Scott’s collection expanded and became more comprehensive, one of our alumni and staff members, Dr. Russell Goff, reached out to Scott about his plans for distributing these texts given copyright restrictions. Initially, Scott hadn’t considered distribution deeply, as the project started as a personal tool. However, he was determined to complete the collection to provide a resource for chiropractic historians to efficiently track changes, developments, and ideas across different editions of each Green Book. Russell questioned Scott’s motivation: was it to make a quick profit, or to impact our profession? Scott emphatically stated that his goal was never financial; he aimed to make a significant impact within the bounds of copyright laws and regulations.
With the knowledge that Scott was committed to advancing the profession, Russell delved into the books, learning about the public domain and the various changes to copyright law over the years. By the time Russell began his exploration, Scott had amassed over 48,000 pages of archived books. Russell’s challenge was to determine which pages were public access and which were still under copyright protection.
Here’s a summary of Russell’s findings:
* Books published before 1928 are in the public domain, as they exceed the 95-year copyright timeline established by the Sonny Bono Copyright Act.
* Books published between the Copyright Act of 1909 and the Copyright Act of 1976 initially had a 28-year copyright term, requiring a 28-year renewal for extended protection. Those that filed for renewal were granted an extension to 75 years with the Copyright Act of 1976.
* The Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act further extended this 75-year coverage to 95 years.
* Any publication copyrighted after 1964 received automatic renewal and is thus covered by the Copyright Act of 1976 and the Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act.
* Upon examining the laws, it was found that 99% of the digitized Green Books were already in the public domain and were no longer under copyright protection.
The Delta Sigma Chi Chiropractic Fraternity approached Scott Jackson with an offer to purchase the rights for the digital distribution of the Green Books that are in the public domain. This monetary contribution helped cover the costs of the equipment and the hundreds of hours Scott dedicated to creating such a comprehensive library of digitally preserved chiropractic history. In gratitude for Sherman College’s contributions to the project, Delta Sigma Chi has gifted Sherman the digital library, which will continue to grow as more books are edited and completed.
Currently, 38 Green Books have been fully edited and are in their final edition. Another 68 are in the process of final editing. However, all 101 Green Books are available for download and use. In the coming years, additional edited versions and other books will be uploaded to enhance your digital libraries and enable cross-referencing between different versions of the same text.
