Good Morning Museguys,

Last week I contacted a South Texas museum that holds the papers of a deceased local historian. The papers probably include some information that I could use for a current project. I talked to the museum director on the phone about arranging a visit so I could review the material. The director told me that the museum has a policy that forbids access to its collections by outside researchers. She offered to have a staff member do the research for an hourly fee. Over the years I have occasionally encountered a museum or archive that charged outside researchers a fee to access its material, and of course many institutions will provide staff to research its collections for a fee as a convenience to outside scholars who for one reason or another do not wish to visit. But I have never before run into an institution that by policy will not allow outside access. But, then, I haven't been all that active the last few decades. So I'd like to know if this type of access (well, non-access) policy is unheard of, becoming common, common, or what. And, does AAM have a best practices policy position, or anything else on access--I wasn't able to find any specifics on the AAM website? Thanks for your help. Happy trails, David

David Haynes    [log in to unmask]    San Antonio

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