A diverse selection of thoughtful and provocative essays that explore the legal, ethical, administrative, and institutional considerations that shape archival debates concerning the administration of access to records containing personal information.

Menzi L. Behrnd-Klodt is both an archivist and an attorney, holding advanced degrees in history, library and information science, and law, all from the University of Wisconsin. Currently she is corporate counsel for American Girl, Inc., a children’s book publisher and toy company that is part of Mattel, Inc., where she focuses on intellectual properties, licensing, and business agreements, and she oversees the corporate archives and records programs. Previously she managed research and library services and established the corporate archives at American Girl. She also established the corporate archives at CUNA Mutual Insurance Group, Madison, Wisconsin; was archivist at Circus World Museum, Baraboo, Wisconsin, and the Wisconsin Historical Society, and consulting archivist at Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii. Menzi consults to many other historical societies, museums, cultural organizations, and businesses on
legal, archives, and records issues. Her legal practice encompassed business and insurance law. She frequently speaks at professional meetings on legal issues for archives and teaches basic archival workshops and is a past chair of SAA’s Privacy and Confidentiality Roundtable.

Peter J. Wosh is the director of the Program in Archival Management and Historical Editing at New York University, a position he has held since 1994. Prior to that, he served as director of Archives and Library Services at the American Bible Society and University Archivist at Seton Hall University, where he was also responsible for administering the Archives of the Archdiocese of Newark. Wosh holds a Ph.D. (1988) and an M.A. (1979) in American History from New York University, as well as a B.A. with Highest Distinction in History from Rutgers University (1976). He is a fellow of the Society of American Archivists and has written and spoken widely on archival and history topics. Previous books include Covenant House: Journey of a Faith-Based Charity (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005); Spreading the Word: The Bible Business in Nineteenth-Century America (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1994); with Joseph Mahoney, The Diocesan Journal of Michael Augustine Corrigan, Bishop of Newark, New Jersey, 1872–1880 (Newark: New Jersey Historical Society, 1987); and Guide to Northern New Jersey Catholic Parish and Institutional Records (South Orange: New Jersey Catholic Historical Records Commission, 1984).

"Privacy and Confidentiality Perspectives fills a crucial void in the corpus of archival literature. . . . Based upon the knowledge and experience of professionals who already have been forced to navigate their way through the maze of competing interests and the seemingly contradictory precedents, the readings describe situations to which archivists from any type of repository can relate. Archival educators especially will find this anthology a gold mine of current information that can be used to stimulate thought and discussion in classes and help to prepare the next generation of archivists for the challenges they will face."
--TIMOTHY L. ERICSON, former Director of Archival Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS V I I

INTRODUCTION 1

LEGAL PERSPECTIVES 9
1. The Right to Privacy
Samuel D. Warren and Louis D. Brandeis 15
2. Privacy
William L. Prosser 31
3. The Tort Right of Privacy: What It Means
for Archivists . . . and for Third Parties
Menzi L. Behrnd-Klodt 53

ETHICAL PERSPECTIVES 61
4. Information Privacy, Liberty, and Democracy
Heather MacNeil 67
5. The Archivist’s Balancing Act: Helping Researchers
While Protecting Individual Privacy
Judith Schwarz 82
6. Privacy Rights and the Rights of Political Victims:
Implications of the German Experience
Elena S. Danielson 93
7. Ethical Issues in Constructing a Eugenics Web Site
Martin L. Levitt 112

ADMINISTRATIVE PERSPECTIVES 127
8. In Secret Kept, In Silence Sealed: Privacy in
the Papers of Authors and Celebrities
Sara S. Hodson 131
9. Southern Family Honor Tarnished? Issues of Privacy
in the Walker Percy and Shelby Foote Papers
Timothy D. Pyatt 149
10. Balancing Privacy and Access: Opening the Mississippi
State Sovereignty Commission Records
Sarah Rowe-Sims, Sandra Boyd, and H. T. Holmes 159
11. Archival Access to Lawyers’ Papers: The Effect
of Legal Privileges
Menzi L. Behrnd-Klodt 175
12. The Buckley Stops Where? The Ambiguity and Archival
Implications of the Family Educational Rights
and Privacy Act
Mark A. Greene and Christine Weideman 181

INSTITUTIONAL PERSPECTIVES 199
13. Trust and Professional Agency in the Archives
of Religious Organizations: An Archival Perspective
on Confidence Keeping
Mark J. Duffy and Christine M. Taylor 205
14. Delta Blues: Changing Conceptions of Privacy and
Property, and Their Implications for Corporate Archives
Paul C. Lasewicz 226
15. Confidences in Medical and Health Care Records
from an Archive Perspective
Barbara L. Craig 246
16. The United Methodists and Their Open Records Policy
L. Dale Patterson

APPENDICES 269
1: Selected U.S. Constitutional Amendments 269
2: Selected U.S. Federal Statutes Concerning Privacy 271
3: The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act: Legislative
Amendments and Judicial Interpretations
Menzi L. Behrnd-Klodt 280
4: The Brave New World of 21st-Century Medical Records
Privacy in the U.S. and Canada, Contrasted with the
European Data Privacy Model
Menzi L. Behrnd-Klodt 285

NOTES 295

EDITORS AND CONTRIBUTORS 371

INDEX 377