One of the debates that circulates in the museum and archives field is about accessibility – how do we allow the public to learn from our collections while still appropriately protecting our objects and documents? This question is especially pertinent at the moment, as a so-called Presidential historian named Barry Landau and his “research assistant” Jason Savedoff have been charged with stealing documents from a number of historical societies and archives, including the Maryland Historical Society. The Baltimore Sun has been doing an excellent job covering the story, and the latest article can be found here. What do you think: is our responsibility to ensure that people experience and learn from historical objects, or to protect our collections at the expense of accessibility?
