IF RG has purchased, traded for, or otherwise was granted the copyright to Travis' manuscript, he has the protection of the copyright. He would need to prove that he had legally obtained such copyright from the current legal owner, which I presume would have to be Travis' heir(s).
Without proof that he has obtained the copyright from the legal owner(s) he can't file for registration of the manuscript legally. He could file fraudulently of course.
All of which is not that critical to the discussion because of the provision of Fair Use in copyright law - so long as we (the public) are using only portions of said copyrighted materials NOT FOR PROFIT and NOT in whole, (you can use a whole chapter for instance) you are protected against copyright infringement lawsuit anyway.