You sent them in by email. The SRI NIC had a template file you'd fill out and email it in. For example, see RFC-1032: https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1032 http

You sent them in by email. The SRI NIC had a template file you'd fill out and email it in. For example, see RFC-1032: https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1032 https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1032 I registered my first .edu in 1986 (maybe 1987) and my first .com in 1988. It was done similarly for getting IP blocks assigned. I emailed in a form around 1986 and got a class B assigned for my university (still in use).