Sam Bass Warner (1889–1979) was the fourth Register of Copyrights in the United States Copyright Office.

Sam Bass Warner
4th Register of Copyrights
In office
February 1, 1945 – May 28, 1951
Preceded byClement Lincoln Bouvé, Richard Crosby De Wolf (acting)
Succeeded byArthur Fisher
Personal details
Born1889
Chicago, Illinois
DiedApril 23, 1979
Guilford, Connecticut
Alma materHarvard Law School (J.D.), Harvard College (B.A.)
Military service
Branch/serviceUnited States Army

Born Sam Perkins Fiske in Chicago, Illinois, May 27, 1889, he was the first son of Asian art collector and female museum specialist Gertrude Bass Warner and George F. Fiske. Following their divorce and his mother's marriage to Murray Warner, Warner would take his stepfather's surname and, like Murray, attended Phillips Exeter Academy. Warner traveled extensively throughout Asian with his parents and, as an amateur photographer, he took many of the turn-of-the-century lantern slide photographs now housed in the University of Oregon Knight Library Special Collections & University Archives.[1] Later, Warner attended Harvard College and Harvard Law School. Prior to entering the Copyright Office, he specialized in criminal law, writing several books and articles and teaching at the University of Oregon Law School, Syracuse Law School, and Harvard Law School. Warner was enlisted in the United States Army, serving in World War I as an aerial observer and later as an attorney in the War Production Board during World War II.

Warner served as Register of Copyrights from February 1, 1945 until May 28, 1951. During his tenure, he oversaw many improvements in the Office and its registration procedures. Most notably, he reorganized the many disparate units of the Office into four divisions – Cataloging, Examining, Reference, and Service.

Sam Bass Warner died on April 23, 1979, in Guilford, Connecticut.

Bibliography

edit
  • Sam Bass Warner; Henry Bromfield Cabot (1936), Judges and Law Reform, ISBN 0-405-06179-X

References

edit
Notes
  1. ^ Helmer, Normandy. "Gertrude Bass Warner Lantern Slides". Archives West. Orbis Cascade Alliance. Retrieved 3 May 2017.
Government offices
Preceded by Register of Copyrights
1945–1951
Succeeded by