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Giuliani Papers, follow-up



I was greatly pleased to have found the following petition on the list and
much appreciate the citation of the Daily News article which I had missed.
I am somewhat perplexed at the total lack of response to the list when I
first posted this a few days ago and am glad that there is an
ART-associated response. I would like to reiterate my personal request for
enlightenment as to whether papers of public officials pertaining to public
service are routinely removed from public archives and allowed to be
processed by the ex-public official's employees. Is it usual that copies
are made either for use of the original or recipient archive or do the
materials become exclusive property of the new custodian? I know that I am
asking for a specific answer to a general question, but I have to repeat
that I would have some trouble with the potential for escaping
accountability that would result from these items passing into private
hands. When I see the NY Times, a paper that I consider more supportive of
the ex-Mayor than myself,  editorially using the word hijacking in
reference to Giuliani's action it gets my attention. I have insufficient
archival experience to differentiate between normal procedure and
manipulation by the generator of the papers. I personally have my opinion,
but I wonder what does someone wearing their archivist hat think.

During my tenure as the custodian of the papers of the composer Henry
Cowell (a span of about 18 months during 1999-2000), I was frustrated by
the obstacles to access that had been put in place by various of his
successors (i.e. family members and trustees) and I believe that Cowell
scholarship suffered from this. In my opinion, it is obvious that the
potential for harm is immeasurably greater when we are talking about
elected officials. I would still enjoy getting some additional feedback
from the community on this :

Regards,

Peter Hirsch
Cataloger - Dance Division
phirsch@nypl.org
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
40 Lincoln Center Plaza
New York, New York  10023
(212) 870-1728

<Date:    Tue, 29 Jan 2002 14:09:04 -0500
<From:    Mindy Gordon <gordonm@MAIL.ROCKEFELLER.EDU>
<Subject: Mayor Giuliani's Offical Papers
<
<The following is a posting from Ira Galtman, President of the Board of the
<'Archivists Round Table of Metropolitan New York.'  Please join ART in
<responding to this timely issue.
<
<PETITION TO KEEP FORMER MAYOR GIULIANI'S OFFICIAL PAPERS PUBLIC
<Former Mayor Giuliani, in an unprecedented and ill-advised action, has
taken
<personal control of his official city papers. Under a contract worked out
in
<the last days of his administration, Giuliani will have the right to block
<public access to any papers in which he deems he has a "private interest,"
<unless Mayor Bloomberg renegotiates the agreement. Please consider joining
me
<in signing on to the following petition, which will be forwarded, with all
<names that have arrived by Wednesday (January 30) at 12:00 noon, to Mayor
<Bloomberg.
<
<- Mike Wallace, Director, Gotham Center for New York City History
<We the UNDERSIGNED endorse the attached New York Times editorial, and urge
<the city to arrange for the immediate return of all public documents to
<public custody.
<
<Name:
<Affiliation:
<E-mail:
<City Papers Belong to the Public
<New York Times Editorial, January 26, 2002
<A week before he left office, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani quietly worked out a
<deal with New York City's records commissioner to move his papers to a
<private storage facility in Queens, where they now reside. This
<unprecedented and self-serving contract gives him the right to choose an
<archivist to catalog a roomful of city documents and to initially
determine
<what is public and what is not. Mr. Giuliani's people have described this
as
<an effort to help the city by financing and thus speeding up the archiving
<process. Not coincidentally, it will help Mr. Giuliani maintain control of
<his image and get quick access to material he needs to fulfill a $3
million
<book contract to write about his days as the city's mayor.
<The idea of a high elected official controlling his own documents troubles
<many historians, archivists and journalists, harking back to the days when
<Richard Nixon left the White House with truckloads of papers and tapes.
Mr.
<Giuliani left office under far different circumstances, but the former
mayor
<has a long record of refusing to allow access to public documents
concerning
<his administration. While the contract makes it clear that Mr. Giuliani
<cannot legally shred or delete documents without city approval, his own
<history does not breed confidence that his hand-picked archivists would
err
<on the side of openness.
<As it stands, most of the work will take place out of the city's reach,
<overseen by Mr. Giuliani's new nonprofit Center for Urban Affairs Inc. The
<city is supposed to have a say on how matters work at the Queens warehouse
<and what documents get shared with the public. But in reality, the
<overworked city archivists and the busy corporation counsel are not going
to
<be able to spare the time to oversee the Giuliani staff's day-to-day
<activities.
<While speed in organizing the papers may be important to Mr. Giuliani and
<his publishers, the top priority for the city is keeping all the material
<secure so that a complete record will eventually be available to
historians.
<The Giuliani forces are supposed to come up with an archiving proposal by
<the end of next week, and the city's advisory board on archives plans to
<discuss this hijacking of documents at a meeting next month. Both
occasions
<offer opportunities to make certain these papers are catalogued and
<controlled by someone whose first responsibility is to history, not to Mr.
<Giuliani.
<If speed is Mr. Giuliani's concern, then he should be allowed to help
<underwrite the cataloguing so that archivists can do the job more quickly.
<But the original documents should be returned to the city's direct control
<first. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has defended the contract, must
rethink
<his position. The mayor has the right to cancel the agreement within 90
<days. He should do so unless Mr. Giuliani is willing to renegotiate.
<http://www.nytimes.com/
<For more information, see:
<David Herszenhorn, "Giuliani's Papers Go to Private Group, Not City"New
<York Times January 25, 2002.
<Wayne Barrett, "Hijacking History: Rudy Heists City Archives to Shape His
<Own Legend," Village Voice, January 23 - 29, 2002.
<JoAnne Wasserman, "Mike Troubled by Rudy Locking Up His Papers," New York
<Daily News, January 25, 2002.

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