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Small-Scale Question Sunday for July 14, 2024

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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I cannot find a high-quality digital or audio copy of Henry Kissinger’s senior thesis, The Meaning of History, besides this crappy scan from archive.org.

If no one has one, would there be a market for me transcribing it?

The Internet Archive page also provides an OCR version of the same scan (labeled "PDF with text").

market

Don't forget that this document technically still is under copyright, so in theory you could be prosecuted for infringement, and charging money for the transcription presumably would expose you to even greater penalties.

Thanks! Completely missed that version.

Market was probably the wrong word to use here. I’d transcribe and offer for free via Internet Archive or similar, but I think that would still be infringement. Ah well!

I wouldn’t swear to it, but I think the dissertation is in the public domain. Works published in 1950 (the year Kissinger completed his dissertation) had to be registered and then renewed in the 28th year after publication. I don’t see that work in either the Stanford or U.S. Copyright Office renewal databases. It’s possible he didn’t copyright it to begin with, though you’d need to go through the 1950 and 1951 copyright books on Archive.org to be sure.

I think it is copyrighted. See "Access And Usage Rights" section here: https://collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/12481060