> On Fri, 23 Jul 1999 09:58:49 -0500, Nicholson wrote:
>  By what policy or authority would you deny access to your collection to
> any
> >citizen, if there is no restriction on the use of the material to which
> they
> >want access?
>
John Bing responded:
>         I made my comments based on the original facts:
>  1. that it is a private non-profit museum, and,
>  2.  that the lawyers wanted to see the photos in connection with
> litigation.
>
>
John:  I think that you are confused about what exactly the business of a
private non-profit museum is.  It is "private" in the sense that it is not
attached to an entity of government.  The government grants a private museum
non-profit status because it is considered to be carrying out a mission that
is beneficial to the public, so it gets a tax break.

In the case of museums in the United States, that mission is usually
considered to be an educational one.  Private non-profit museums in the
United States do operate for the public benefit, and any restrictions on
access to the collection (which we hold in trust for ALL citizens) can fall
under the scrutiny of the state attorney general.  The board of trustees of
your museum is free to make any access rules it wants regarding the
collection, but it is possible that unreasonable restrictions (like not
granting access to lawyers contemplating litigation, for instance) would not
be allowed to stand.  Lawyers are taxpayers too.

I also wanted to take a moment to respond too to Olivia's comment about
access to the collections at the National Archives:  I worked there for 12
years, and while most researchers are required to disclose the project they
are working on, that is done in order to help them find records that would
be most likely to provide them with information.  To my knowledge, NARA has
never screened potential researchers.  In fact, use in litigation is
probably the second-largest use to which federal government records at the
National Archives are used (following genealogy!).

Reasonable restrictions on access to our collections is not just a good
idea, but a required part of a good collections management program.
However, the restrictions must be based on something reasonable, like
condition of the artifacts or restrictions on the original gift--we cannot
base it on fear of being sued.

Claudia Nicholson

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