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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