Manuscripts and Archives: Factors Touching Their Handling in All Fields Since the 18th Century in England and the U.S.

FAIN: FA-11522-76

Clement E. Vose
Wesleyan University (Middletown, CT 06459-3208)

To study the history of manuscripts and archives in England and the U.S. Specifically, to investigate the ways manuscripts, archives, and letters are handled and the history of this treatment. To be considered in the study are the conditions developed in the 18th and 19th centuries, that contributed to treating “official" papers as the private property of the office-holder. Grantee will consider legal and constitutional theories that are helpful in rationalizing distinctions between "private" and "public" papers, questions of literary rights against rights of possession, the correct cautions for judging wise deeds of gifts, questions of the "right of privacy" against the assertion of scholars and journalists of their "need and right to know