Connecting to Collections Care Online Community

Making Papers Public

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    • #134502
      Amber Skantz
      Participant

      Hi all, I’m looking for some advice.

      Our organization was given a collection of papers by a living author in 2009, with specific instructions that the author would “prefer no use be made of these personal papers in (their) lifetime”. In our contract, the wording is thus: “papers will not be made public until after (the author’s) death”.

      Our question is this: does this mean that they cannot be on display, say, behind glass in a locked case? Or is it ok to display as long as no one has actual, touching access? We have several opinions in on this one…

      Thanks in advance.

    • #134503
      LINDA EDQUIST
      Participant

      Amber
      I would say that from the “no use be made” means not use anywhere including an exhibit. It seems pretty clear that it is the content of the material is what the donor wants to keep private till after their death. If they did not want anyone handling the objects till their death they would have just kept them in their possession not given them to another party to care for.
      If you really not sure I would say you need to contact the estate or your organization legal consul before doing anything public with them.
      Linda

    • #134539
      Evelyn
      Participant

      I agree, making no use of is pretty specific and they shouldn’t be used for exhibit.

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