Moderation in Everything, Access in Nothing?: Opinions about Access Restrictions on Private Papers

Abstract

Archivists have written extensively about access issues relating to case files (legal, medical, social work) and confidential information collected by governments. Meanwhile, the profession's official perspective on disclosing private information in "traditional" private papers such as collections of letters has undergone an important but much quieter transformation. According to some recent archival manuals, the release of any incoming letter in a manuscript collection may represent an invasion of privacy, so archivists are told to impose restrictions beyond the wishes of donors. These changes leave theory dangerously out of step with archival reality and raise troubling questions concerning the state of archival ethics.

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