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. It is my understanding that unless there are compelling reasons, like the fragility of the originals, lack of staff to oversee the researchers, or legal restrictions, that basically as public institutions (yes, you private non-profits), we could not deny access. Anybody? Claudia Nicholson Curator Museum Collections Department Minnesota Historical Society 345 Kellogg Blvd. W. St. Paul, MN 55102-1906 e-mail: [log in to unmask] Phone: 651-297-7442 FAX: 651-297-2967 ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://museums.state.nm.us/nmmnh/museum-l.html. You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).