Scott Joplin died in a state hospital without a will, his papers were lost in a trustee's estate, and his widow's trust won $177,980 in 1977

Scott Joplin sold Maple Leaf Rag in 1899 for $50 and a royalty of one cent a copy. He spent his money trying to stage his opera Treemonisha, which failed at a 1915 reading. He died of syphilitic dementia at 48 and was buried in an unmarked grave at St. Michael's Cemetery in Queens. He had no will. His widow, Lottie, renewed the Treemonisha copyrights in 1938 and 1940 and in 1952 assigned them to clarinetist Wilbur Sweatman as trustee. Lottie died in 1953 and left her property to the trust. In 1959 Sweatman assigned the copyrights to his own publishing company, signing as "executor of the estate of Scott Joplin," though no court had ever appointed him. Sweatman died on 9 March 1961. Joplin's unpublished manuscripts, held by Sweatman, were lost or destroyed while his heirs fought over his estate. Treemonisha premiered in Atlanta in 1972. ASCAP placed a marker on the grave in 1974. Joplin received a special Pulitzer Prize in 1976. In 1977 a federal court awarded the Lottie Joplin Thomas Trust $73,242.46 against one publisher and $104,738.17 against Crown Publishers for using Treemonisha.