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interesting archive-related article



There was an interesting article in the Poughkeepsie Journal on
Saturday about the Karpeles Manuscript Library, which has a branch in
nearby Newburgh, NY:

http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/saturday/lifeentertainment/stories/li033101s2.shtml

I found especially interesting the part of the article that read:

"Some documents in the collection, including the Confederate
Constitution of
        the United States, took great strides to attain.

        *The University of Georgia had it on display for over 100
years,* said
        Karpeles.

        He learned about the document*s existence through book
collectors and
        dealers and wrote and asked them for the document."

This gives the impression that just by "writing and asking" for a
document that a repository has had on display for 100 years, you can
obtain possession of it! I had the feeling that this document might
had been discussed on the list earler, and went back to the archives,
and found a 26 Nov. 1999 post by PK (of course!--he answers all
questions, even in retrospect) with a quote from the book, _A Gentle
Madness_ that includes:

"For almost three quarters of a century, this draft of the
Confederate
 constitution had been on deposit at the University of Georgia in
Athens,
 place there in 1908 by Cobb's descendants, who had retained
ownership of the
 document. "We assumed, after so many years, that it had been given
to us,"
 Mary Ellen Brooks, curator of rare books at the university, told me
later in
 a telephone interview. "The heirs were the true owners, and it
turned out we
 had it all that time on loan. We still have the permanent
constitution of the
 Confederacy. The one in California is the provisional constitution.
Needless
 to say, we would very much prefer to still have both."

 Karpeles heard about the availability of the document through a
bookseller. "
 I was told that the owner walked into the university one day and
said, "I'm
 afraid my family would like our constitution back.' And they said,
'What do
 you mean, your constitution?' He told them, 'Look in your file, it's
only on
 loan. It's been on loan all these years from our family.' So then
they asked
 him, 'Well why do you want it back?' And the man said, 'We need the
money.' "

 The owner agreed to give the university time to raise money to
purchase the
 document, either from the state or private subscription, but those
efforts
 fell short. "



Christine Crawford-Oppenheimer
Special Collections Librarian/Archivist

Culinary Institute of America
1946 Campus Drive
Hyde Park, NY  12538
(845) 451-1757
c_crawfo@culinary.edu

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