Recently, the Mother Church has resorted to sending registeredletters to some Christian Scientists inquiring as to their ownership of copies or originals of early Christian Science writings, letters to or from Mary Baker Eddy or any other item that might be considered an "unpublished" item. They are requesting copies of all of these things from the recipients of these letters. Ostensibly their purpose for doing so is to find out exactly the extent of these items in private hands so that they can exercise a reiteration of their copyright control over these items. In order for them to claim and exercise control of these items (that is, ones that have notseen the light of day thus far) they must: 1) know that they exist; 2) and "publish" (inclusion in their new library -- The MBE Library for the Beterment of Humanity -- qualifies as "publishing") these items prior to December 31, 2002. If they DO publish prior to this date, they will be able to claim copyright priviledges in such items. If they DO NOT KNOW ABOUT THEM, AND DO NOT PUBLISH THEM PRIOR TO THIS DATE, SUCH ITEMS FALL INTO THE PUBLIC DOMAIN, where they cannot ever by controled or restricted as so much of the wonderful history of Christian Science and Mary Baker Eddy has for nearly 75 years. It is our admonition to ALL holders of such information (and recipients of these letters from the church) to NOT respond to the church's requests. If such individuals simply remain quiet (and do not make public whatever previously non-public items they may have, available) until January 1, 2003, then such items will have successfully escaped the efforts of the church to be controlled and hidden until the year 2045 (unbelievably, the length of time the church would otherwise be able to control and restrict access to such information). Should you have any questions concerning this issue, or any letters you recieve from the church in this regard, it is suggested that you make a copy of tihs notice and confirm it with a qualified attorney in copyright law.