MS Mus. 1813/2/1/220-227

A piecemeal sub-sub-series of business papers and correspondence, found among Leslie Boosey's files at acquisition and labelled with his name, but generally not directly concerning him. The files give the impression of having been extracted from the records of various other personnel or departments of Boosey & Hawkes, Ltd.: Ken Straker of the Education Department, Carl A. Rosen of the Copyright Department, and the Copyright Department generally. They also incorporate extensive correspondence involving Boosey & Hawkes' American branch, Boosey & Hawkes, Inc. of New York, especially with Sylvia Goldstein in her capacity as Head of Rights.

The organising principle of this sub-sub-series is uncertain. The correspondence concerns copyright more than any other subject, but some files have very little to do with it. Neither is it clear why this series apparently belongs to Leslie Boosey's files. It may be important that the files which now form sub-sub-series MS Mus. 1813/2/1/197-210 (Leslie Boosey's General files, B-, 1927–1945) were, when re-boxed at Boosey & Hawkes some time around the year 2003, originally labelled 'LAB Copyright Filing' ('LAB' standing for 'Leslie Arthur Boosey') even though the papers themselves were not particularly concerned with copyright. It is possible that the label 'Copyright Filing' was intended rather for this sub-sub-series, though its piecemeal composition leaves this in some doubt. Another possibility is that either Ken Straker or Carl Rosen inherited the other's files, or that the position of the sub-sub-series as a whole is anomalous.

Kenneth W. Straker was manager of the Education Department at Regent Street from at least November 1954 until 21 February 1958.

Carl A. Rosen occupied a senior position in the Copyright Department from at least the late 1940s until his retirement in July 1958, but was also heavily involved in general publishing matters and the Hire Library. A note among Dr. Roth's files record his duties in 1949 as follows: 'Responsible for all copyrighting. Secretary of Music Publication Committee. Responsible for forwarding of all music MSS and proofs'. Neil Powell, in 'Benjamin Britten: A Life for Music' (London: Windmill, 2013), refers to him as a 'publicist'. In 1955 he completed '50 years of unbroken service' for the firm. (MS Mus. 1813/2/1/112, MS Mus. 1813/2/1/113).