Episode 11 continues the conversation with Dr. Andrew Ventimiglia. We learn more about Mary Baker Eddy’s activity in reforming intellectual property laws, which resulted in her sharing the same copyright lawyer as Mark Twain.
Click here for a discussion on the state of copyright law for 19th- and early 20th-century writers, including its importance to Mary Baker Eddy as she worked to protect her primary work, Science and Health, from plagiarism. Dr. Andrew Ventimiglia recounts his fascinating discoveries about Eddy’s copyright activism through his research in The Mary Baker Eddy Library archives.
Podcast guest
Dr. Andrew Ventimiglia works in the field of legal history, religious studies, and media studies, with a research focus on the history and cultural effects of intellectual property law. He is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the TC Beirne School of Law, attached to the ARC Laureate project “Harnessing Intellectual Property to Build Food Security.” Ventimiglia was awarded his PhD in Cultural Studies from University of California–Davis in 2015, during which he conducted research into the intersection of religion and intellectual property law in the American spiritual marketplace. In the summer of 2015, he completed his fellowship at The Mary Baker Eddy Library, seeking “to investigate the issues surrounding Eddy’s complex intellectual property strategies.”
Dr. Ventimiglia’s work has appeared in Cultural Critique and the Journal of the American Academy of Religion. His book Copyrighting God: The Mediation of the Sacred in Religion and Law is under contract with Cambridge University Press.
