George Grant copyright question

George Grant has inspired the collector's instinct in many of us. I've got several spiral bound manuals he self published, plus a hard bound copy of "The Master Fly Weaver" I paid too much money for on EBay. Plus about a dozen small paper backed booklets I bought from the Big Hole River Foundation. I also have two of his flies, that I bought directly from George. I paid $5 bucks each in 1979 and thought I was being a spendthrift. I also have three or four audio cassettes George recorded in his own voice. I bought them from George at TU "Fly Fishing Fair" back in the late 1970s (I organized the fly tying that year).

Almost nobody has those cassettes. And George himself is gone. I could probably turn those cassettes into MP3 files and either give them away or sell them. But what about copyright? Do these still belong to his family? Perhaps I should call someone at the Big Hole River Foundation. They'd probably love to sell those cassettes as a fund raising tool. He tells a pretty good story--yarns about Jack Boehme, Franz Pott and others.

I won't claim to know anything about copyright law, but I know for certain that you need to find out who holds the copyright. His passing in no way moved the work into public domain. I'd guess either his family inherited the copyright if he was self published.

If there were a copyright filed for the material it extends for 70 years after the owners death. His estate would be entitled to any profits from the sale of the material. If he were working for a fly shop, guide service, etc., the rights could belong to them. I am not a lawyer but I spent a lot of money to learn this lesson.

I was hoping to give the stuff away, not sell it. We'll see. I think I'm on the right track.....to contacting the right people.
MT State University does have copies of all 4 cassettes in the Renne Library.