[Personal_archives] What to do when...

[Sarah Romkey]

Hello SISPA members,

At the section meeting in Halifax, we discussed using the listserv more 
often to ask for opinions, advice, etc. So I'm going to get the ball 
rolling!

One of the discussions at the meeting was about what to do when someone 
offers to donate items to another person's fonds. I've just had such an 
offer today. Assuming that you consider this to be undesirable, how do 
other folks handle this?  This is my current draft response to the offer:

"It is very generous of you to think of us, however we do not as a rule 
add documents to a person's or organizations fonds that did not 
originate with the creator or the original donor, for a variety of 
reasons including privacy and the  provenance of the documents. I do 
thank you very much for the offer."

Privacy is an issue in my mind in this case because the records offered 
would reflect an aspect of this particular creator's life that he never 
chose to contribute to his own fonds.

Any thoughts or suggestions? I'd be very happy to hear them.

Cheers,

Sarah

-- 
Sarah Romkey
Archivist
Rare Books and Special Collections 
University of British Columbia Library
Irving K. Barber Learning Centre
1st Floor, 1961 East Mall Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1Z1
604-822-2232 / sarah.romkey at ubc.ca