Hello, 

I am a graduate student in museum studies at the Harvard Extension School and am preparing for a paper concerning ethics within museum policies. My topic deals with the acessability of museum collections to students, scholars and really anyone inquiring for the abilty to research through cataloges, documentation and non-displayed holdings. My core question is this: if the generalized definition of a museum is to house, record and preserve the cultural material of humanity, shouldn't the artifacts/art and their associated documentation be available to the public without curatorial filtering? Does the museum have a greater responsibiliy to a researcher desiring specific information or to the integrity of the item? This question is assuming that there are no restrictions put on the collections by a donor or bequest and that the articles requested for research do not have any conservation or fragility issues. While this situation loosely relates to the issues brought to light with Kennewick Man a couple of years ago, I am also referring to closed-stacks libraries and archives associated with museums and schools that allow very restricted use.

I would appreciate any opinion or knowledge anyone has regarding these issues, and maybe references that may help.

Thank you!
Adele Barbato
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