Who owns Dissertation or Thesis?

[weyland_pubs]

I have a Thesis and a Dissertation (i'm not sure of the plural of "thesis" :)). One is from the 1930's, the other from the 1940's. I got them at estate sales. 

Nowadays, most universities are like corporations - they claim patents and new inventions discovered by student and grad students as the university's own intellectual property. But how does it apply to a thesis? Does the student own the rights to his own research work?

More importantly, can I sell it on ebay? Not a copy, the original. I was thinking they are historical documents or something like that.  

When the student turns in his thesis, does it become the property of the college? 

[nobody*s_perfect · Accepted solution]

You can sell any original document, as long as you acquired it legally (vs stealing it from the university library).  You don't need to worry about who owns the copyright unless you plan to copy and reprint it.

Yes, generally the university will keep a copy for their archives, but of course a student wants to have their own copy for their records, which is probably what you have.

[tapi-szem]

The plural of thesis is theses. No idea about the legalities.