I would appreciate some feedback on the following situation.  A museum
director in my collecting area (University Archives with partial regional
collecting mission) asserts that the components of a collection owned by a
deceased city historian are not related, and can be broken up.  These are
historic newspapers (full run), photos, computer databases ranging from
city lot histories to city personnel records, historic phone books, and
some ephemera.  The newspapers and phonebooks were used to generate the
databases, some of which are incomplete.  The original set of photos
belonged to the newspaper, and many subsequent additions to the
photographs have also been used in the newspaper.  The city and the local
preservation commission are very interested in permanent preservation of
the newspapers.  This director wants to split the collection up,
maintaining that the components are not related.  What he wants to do is
to keep the databases and photographs, and unload the newspapers and phone
books.  In archives land, this collection is related in several different
ways -- by collector, by users (who often access different or all parts of
it in the same visit), and by its provenance (newspaper office and
interrelated creation).  In a fit of cynicism, I wondered if this director
was keeping the material which he feels can generate cash (his shop has
a 'healthy' fee schedule for photos and copies), and unloading the stuff
that won't.  In addition, splitting this material up pretty much directly
goes against the wishes of the deceased (I was there when he said what he
wanted, 2 days before he died).  There is no signed donor agreement. My
questions are 1) is this also a related collection in museum land, (& I
and the city are just supposed to be too dumb to figure it out)?, and 2)
Should I suggest that if this person wants the rug, he'll have to take the
dog (that's sleeping on it)?

Thanks

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