Posted by Rob (63.191.201.134) on October 10, 2002 at 13:45:13:

In Reply to: Re: Baha'i archives inaccessible -- not for long! posted by Stuart Gilman on October 04, 2002 at 06:40:10:

The primary role of Baha'i archives is to serve the needs of the Institution and community which holds them, and secondarily, the public, which includes 1)protection of legal rights and interests, 2)providing historical research for decision making, 3) personal and community enrichment, and 4)public relations; these are outlined in a publication published by the Archives Office, Baha'i World Centre, "Baha'i Archives, the Memory of a Worldwide Community". BWC: 1998).

Included in this booklet are suggestions that records of a confidential and personal nature be restricted to internal use for 30 to 50 years, or up to a century or indefinitely after the person's death.

The publication also indicates that "Allowing individuals to use the archives for research should be delayed until the later phases of the archive's development. (i.e. until papers have been processed and supervision made available).

All of these policies are not unusual for a private archives, differing in degree of openess to some degree when compared to archives policies of public institution in many lands which most academic researchers are used to.

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