Introduces basic access and privacy laws, concepts, definitions, and professional ethical standards affecting manuscript materials and private and family papers.

Attorney and archivist Menzi Behrnd-Klodt details a number of legal issues in this excellent resource. The book is divided into 4 major sections corresponding to functional areas of archival and public history work: legal framework (especially useful for its orientation to the structure of laws and litigation, how to work with lawyers, and how to be a good client): acquiring and securing ownership to collections; access (e.g., privacy, student, health, presidential, and public records); and copyright and intellectual property. In addition, the book includes many sample legal documents, forms, policies, and guidelines (e.g., mission statement, collections policy, subpoena examples, deeds of gift, restrictions, copyright expiration table, deaccession and loan forms, and releases for users requesting copies from a repository). An explanation of the legal issues in each is provided along with the curatorial and cultural objectives at stake.