re: " I observed some concern amongst senior
> members of too easy access to materials in the York archives, which they
> had on microfilm and made available to members and to the public, but
> mostly seemed to approach it with a don't ask-don't tell policy--ie. if no
> one told you that certain materials referenced an initiated degree, no one
> could be held culpable for "divulging" that secret.
not true re ease of open public access- the Yorke collection in the Warburg
Institute is *very* hard to get into.... you must be either a journalist
prepared to pay hefty dues, or be a (minimum) PhD student froma UK
university who has arranged a visit in advance, with relevant university ID,
and letters of introduction from a senior academic, explaining why you need
to get at the stuff; that will get you in the door to the library reading
room itself, then it is up to the discretion of the staff what you are
shown; there is *nothing* of the Yorke on shelves that you can browse, it is
a matter of having a list of desired items, and the librarians then brining
it to you at a reading desk. The Microfilm is jealously guarded, and (last
time i went here anyhow) the reading room only had two microfilm machines
for the use of all scholars for the entire library (the Warburg library is
multi-floored), so it is likely you will spend a morning waiting for machine
time
and even then you don't always get let in, a colleague of mine jumped
through all those necessary hoops, had all the requisite letters, travelled
for 5 hours to get there and was turned away, on a whim
dave e
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