This episode discusses the state of copyright law for 19th- and early 20th-century writers—and its importance to Mary Baker Eddy as she worked to protect her primary work, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, from plagiarism. Dr. Andrew Ventimiglia recounts his fascinating discoveries about Eddy’s copyright activism through his research in The Mary Baker Eddy Library archives.
To learn more about Eddy’s lawsuit against Edwin Arens, click on the glossary document accessible here.
View the copy of Arens’ pamphlet, which Mary Baker Eddy marked in preparation for her suit against him, here.
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. During 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.
