On 28 January 2015 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Workshop on the topic of:
From Storage to Archiving?
Unresolved Legal Questions regarding the Use and Processing of Personal Papers
A cooperation between the Archives of the Max Planck Society and the State Archives of Hamburg
The following speakers have been invited:
Prof . Dr. Christian Baldus (Faculty of Law at the University of Heidelberg)
Andreas Nestl (Bavarian State Archives, Munich)
Place: Max Planck Institute for the History of Science,
Boltzmannstraße 22, 14195 Berlin
In many archives, personal papers constitute an important addition to the documents of the archives body. Sometimes, they are even a fundamental element of the archival tradition. Although personal papers are nowadays predominantly integrated on the basis of detailed contractual regulations, comparable formal agreements often did not exist in the past.
Moreover, in many cases not all legal questions have been clarified, and sometimes the contact between the archives and the depositor was lost in the course of the years.
This results in various questions relating to the everyday handling of personal papers, particularly with respect to their usability:
May the personal papers be presented?
Who is authorized to give approval?
May archives subject such documents to an archival appraisal?
Are there any “orphaned personal papers”? If so, how should they be handled?
These questions are to be elucidated and discussed in a workshop. First, experts will provide a description of the underlying legal situation. Problems will then be outlined, questions discussed and solutions demonstrated on the basis of exemplary cases. The publication of a handout is being considered.
Owing to the limited number of places available, please do not forget to signal your wish to participate to:
Secretariat: Simone Pelzer
mpg-archiv[at]archiv-berlin.mpg.de
Tel.: (030) 8413-3701