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Thought this might be relevant - or, at least, of interest - to several British map collections, that have large amounts of US AMS cartographic material. Does this mean American researchers will have unrestricted access to these maps only through British map collections? (Discuss...) Francis Herbert (Curator of Maps, RGS-IBG) [log in to unmask] http://www.rgs.org [see 'Collections'/'Unlocking the Archives'] > -----Original Message----- > From: Johnnie Sutherland [SMTP:[log in to unmask]] > Sent: 08 April 2002 21:23 > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: ACCESS TO HISTORICAL MAPS DENIED AT ARCHIVES > > Forwarded From: > Larry Cruse <[log in to unmask]> > xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > > Subject: Secrecy News -- 04/05/02 (fwd) > Date: Sat, 6 Apr 2002 07:25:11 -0800 (PST) > SECRECY NEWS > from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy > Volume 2002, Issue No. 28 > April 5, 2002 > > ... > > ACCESS TO HISTORICAL MAPS DENIED AT ARCHIVES > > A researcher working on a mine-clearing project in Africa recently went > to the National Archives to review an old map of the region where he is > working. He was told that the map, produced by the now-defunct Army Map > Service in the 1960s, could no longer be made publicly available, upon > the instructions of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA). > > The researcher, who preferred not to be named, told Secrecy News that he > was distressed by the new barriers to access and said they will set back > the progress of his demining project. > > Until recently, he said, there had been no difficulty in obtaining the > maps he needed. "Before, it was just a question of asking for them, and > it was easy, and it was great," he said. > > One can still ask, but it is no longer easy or great. > > Strictly speaking, said Paul Polk of NIMA public affairs, there has been > "no change in policy" regarding access to the historical maps, only more > careful implementation of the existing guidelines by both the National > Archives and the Library of Congress. > > It has long been government policy, Mr. Polk explained, that small scale > maps (1:500,000 or smaller) are generally made available to the public, > medium scale maps (around 1:250,000) sometimes are made available, and > large scale maps (defined as greater than 1:250,000) generally are not > made available to the public. > > "Large scale maps are usually restricted from public use because they > give the U.S. military an operational advantage if they are not made > widely available," Mr. Polk said. > > In the past, NIMA recently discovered, the National Archives was > improperly granting public access to such unreleased maps, he said. > That is no longer the case. > > "You can always request access to particular maps, and we'll consider > such requests," he said, noting that a number of large-scale maps are in > fact available at the Archives. > > However, the Africa researcher observed that the Defense Mapping Agency > map index that ws formerly available in the Archives Reading Room is no > longer there, making it harder to formulate specific requests. > > The new access limitations on historical maps only coincidentally > followed September 11, Mr. Polk said, and are not a consequence of > heightened security. The only ongoing change in NIMA access policy that > is attributable to September 11 is the withholding of Military > Installation Maps that portray the restricted areas at certain U.S. > military facilities. > > ... > > > ****************************** > Secrecy News is written by Steven Aftergood and published by the > Federation of American Scientists. > > To SUBSCRIBE to Secrecy News, send email to [log in to unmask] with > this command in the body of the message: > subscribe secrecy_news > To UNSUBSCRIBE, send email to [log in to unmask] with this command > in the body of the message: > unsubscribe secrecy_news > OR email your request to [log in to unmask] > > Secrecy News is archived at: > http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/secrecy/index.html > > _______________________ > Steven Aftergood > Project on Government Secrecy > Federation of American Scientists > web: www.fas.org/sgp/index.html > email: [log in to unmask] > voice: (202) 454-4691