This is a "public record" under New Mexico law ("It is clear that those records which are necessary and incidental to carrying out the duties imposed upon an individual by operation of law are generally deemed public records. 1961-62 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 61-137"[3]) "Public" in this case does not mean public domain, but it does mean available to the public under records requests. The legal definition of publication in the United States includes "offering to distribute" the work to the public. Since New Mexico declared its records open in 1961, this image was published (or offered for distribution) from the moment of its creation, and it bears no copyright notice nor was it ever registered for copyright. Hence it was published pre-1978 with no copyright notice.
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