In the very early days (from RFC 3):

  DISTRIBUTION

  One copy only will be sent from the author's site to"

        1.  Bob Kahn, BB&N
        2.  Larry Roberts, ARPA
        3.  Steve Carr, UCLA
        4.  Jeff Rulifson, UTAH
        5.  Ron Stoughton, UCSB
        6.  Steve Crocker, UCLA

  Reproduction if desired may be handled locally.

https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc3.html