One point not raised in the discussion so far is the ability of the Court or Grand Jury to subpoena the documents they believe relevant if they are denied access through normal channels.  As happened with the Egon Schiele paintings at the MOMA earlier this year.  (For details of the
case and appeal, check the New York Law Journal's web site.)

It might be much easier to simply permit access under your normal policies and procedures, and provide the lawyers (from both sides) whatever copies might be needed for the case.

Richard Gerrard
Registrar
Heritage Toronto

South Charleston Museum South Charleston, WV wrote:

> In response to Mr. Bing's comments:  Perhaps I did not clearly state the
> reason for my concern regarding litigation access.  The question of whether
> or not to provide access to archival material in the museum's collection was
> not the issue, but rather protecting the neutrality of the museum.  I am
> most interested in ways of keeping the museum and its collection out of the
> courts.  Neither the staff or the governing board wish to be involved in
> such a situation.  Access to the collection is open to all, with
> restrictions on days/times as available, but I would not like to see items
> from the collection being pulled as "evidence" and therefore removed from
> the collection, either on loan or seized by the courts.  Obviously, I am
> more interested in preserving the NEUTRALITY of the museum and it's staff.
> Any suggestions or comments on this is appreciated.
>
> >From: "John A. Bing" <[log in to unmask]>
> >Reply-To: Museum discussion list <[log in to unmask]>
> >To: [log in to unmask]
> >Subject: Re: Access to collections by lawyers
> >Date: Fri, 23 Jul 1999 21:49:57 GMT
> >
> >On Fri, 23 Jul 1999 09:58:49 -0500, Nicholson wrote:
> >
> > >John Bing's response to this question was very provocative, I thought.
> >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?  I cannot believe that any court would allow a repository to
> >be
> > >sued simply for providing access to its collections.
> >
> >         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.
> >
> >  Litigation is not a part of any museum's mission statement that I know
> >of.
> >  And, while a court may throw out a suit, anyone can sue anyone for most
> >any
> >reason.  And once sued, legal fees and bad publicity usually result.
> >         Maybe I take an overly negative view of the situation, but then,
> >it is
> >clearly stated to be my gut reaction to the request.
> >
> >John Bing
> >
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