Today in Copyright History: 12/31
As there was nothing else going on at the time, on December 31, 1864, President Abraham Lincoln appointed Ainsworth Rand Spofford to be the sixth Librarian of Congress. Spofford served as de facto Register of Copyrights until the position of Register was established in 1897.
Reposted from the History of Copyright Timeline at the U.S. Copyright Office.