In the summer of 2015 I was a Junior Fellow at the Library of Congress. Most Junior Fellows are pursuing degrees in library science and have special skills, like fluency in Arabic or expertise in Russian history. I came as a graphic designer to work for the Conservation Department, in the conservation lab alongside women in smocks washing centuries-old documents. I was tasked with creating educational materials on book preservation for schools, libraries, and special collections reading rooms.
I immediately dove into the Library’s digital archives of WPA posters, which have inspired me for years. It was very exciting to be working in their tradition: government sponsored art, free for public use. In the 1930s, WPA artist Arlington Gregg made a poster series for book care which showed books being abused in various ways, with captions: Don’t gum up a book! A bookmark would be better! (One thing I love about WPA PSAs are their simple directives.) In homage, I stole the slogan from one of his posters: “Be Kind to Books Club: Are You a Member?”
The characters of the Be Kind to Books Club are all public domain figures—Dorothy and the Wicked Witch, Dracula, Robin Hood, Cerberus—except for Tarzan.
The original concept for the clean hands PSA was Spider-man, who is my number one comic book crush. Don’t read with sticky fingers! I emailed the legal team at Marvel, asking if they’d be willing to give the Library permission to use their character in a not-for-profit image. Unsurprisingly, Marvel wasn’t interested.
So I set my sights lower, on a classic literary character that was perhaps the inspiration for Spider-man. I was surprised to find that Tarzan, despite being written in 1912, is still under trademark, though the US copyright has expired. Edgar Rice Burroughs incorporated himself in 1923 and trademarked all of his characters (ERB’s literary dynasty is fascinating, for anybody who’s interested in branding and intellectual property laws). As long as a trademark is in regular use, it can be extended indefinitely.
It took a lot of convincing to get Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc. to give permission, and ultimately it was contingent on the conditions that the Library would not monetarily profit from Tarzan, and that his image be clearly credited. They were also sold on the fact that, as a member of the Be Kind to Books Club, Tarzan is portrayed as a good role model to kids.
The happy epilogue is that I finally did get to meet Spider-man, in the Prints & Photographs Division. Steve Ditko’s inked art for Amazing Fantasy #15, Spider-man’s origin story, is kept there in acetate sleeves.
The Be Kind to Books Club, and other materials I designed, are available for libraries to download and print from the webpage of the Library’s Preservation Directorate.
