I wonder if anyone would be able to provide us with information re the copyright in Olsen's Fisherman's Nautical Almanack, which was published by ETW Dennis of Scarborough until 2000 when the company went into liquidation.
We run the Crew List Index Project which is a not-for-profit private project aimed at improving access to the historical records of British shipping and seafarers. The project is into its twentieth year and has worked with volunteers, archives and museums around the world. Our web site is here: http://crewlist.org.uk/.
On our site, for free, we have image sets of data sources, for example the Mercantile Navy List, which are a major online resource for maritime researchers. We've been aware that our information on fishing vessels is a bit thin, and at some stage in the future we would like to be able to include images of the fishing boats directory that was part of the Olsen's Fisherman's Nautical Almanack. Before we can do that, we need to establish what the copyright position is.
We know that the company was dissolved in 2009. Any remaining assets then passed to the Treasury Solicitor Bona Vacantia Division and we are in touch with them to see if they do indeed hold the copyright and if it could be waived. It is possible that, prior to that, the copyright was transferred to another company, but we have no information about that.
Any information would be much appreciated, and we would also be glad to know of libraries, museums and archives which hold copies of Olsen's. We've tracked down some of the obvious ones but there may be single copies or small runs in local museums, which it would be good to know about.
Pete and Jan Owens, CLIP
We run the Crew List Index Project which is a not-for-profit private project aimed at improving access to the historical records of British shipping and seafarers. The project is into its twentieth year and has worked with volunteers, archives and museums around the world. Our web site is here: http://crewlist.org.uk/.
On our site, for free, we have image sets of data sources, for example the Mercantile Navy List, which are a major online resource for maritime researchers. We've been aware that our information on fishing vessels is a bit thin, and at some stage in the future we would like to be able to include images of the fishing boats directory that was part of the Olsen's Fisherman's Nautical Almanack. Before we can do that, we need to establish what the copyright position is.
We know that the company was dissolved in 2009. Any remaining assets then passed to the Treasury Solicitor Bona Vacantia Division and we are in touch with them to see if they do indeed hold the copyright and if it could be waived. It is possible that, prior to that, the copyright was transferred to another company, but we have no information about that.
Any information would be much appreciated, and we would also be glad to know of libraries, museums and archives which hold copies of Olsen's. We've tracked down some of the obvious ones but there may be single copies or small runs in local museums, which it would be good to know about.
Pete and Jan Owens, CLIP