[Genealib] Ethics of digitizing embarrassing material

[Sandy Day]

Cynthia
I realize this is a touchy subject and you have to be careful of what you 
get digitized. However, this is part of your local history-good, bad or 
indifferent. We can't judge our past history and its mistakes by leaving it 
out of our current attempts at preserving history so I think it should be 
preserved. Whether you digitize it is another question. I would most likely 
have it done.
Sandy Day
Genealogy librarian
Schiappa Library
Steubenville, OH
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Cynthia Van Ness" <bettybarcode at yahoo.com>
To: "genealib" <genealib at lists.acomp.usf.edu>
Sent: Sunday, January 06, 2008 2:24 PM
Subject: [Genealib] Ethics of digitizing embarrassing material


> Hi, all,
>
> In my new job, I have a startling document--the membership list
> of the short-lived KKK chapter in Buffalo, ca. 1924.  How we
> booted the Klan out of town is a great story told in this book,
> which is based in part on the author's use of this list:
>
> http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.cgi?path=19515850795724
>
> As part of fighting the Klan, the membership list was stolen and
> published.  We have perhaps the sole surviving newsprint copy
> ca. 1924.  So these names were already published once, though
> not in Lay's book.
>
> Excerpts appear here:
>
> http://www.buffalonian.com/history/articles/1901-50/kkk/kkk.html
>
> What are the ethics of digitizing it in full and putting it
> online?  To compare with other privacy restrictions, it is past
> the 72-year rule of the Federal Census, which also has the
> potential to surprise or embarrass people.  (Grandpa was
> mulatto?  Or, Grandma lived in the red light district?)
>
> A 21-year old KKK member in 1924 would be 104 now.  Chances are
> good that everyone is deceased.
>
>
> *:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,.-:**:-.,_,.-*
> Cynthia Van Ness, MLS, bettybarcode AT yahoo DOT com
> http://www.BuffaloResearch.com
>
> "Everyone claims to want a city, but no one here wants city living.  City 
> living by its definition is crowded.  It is tolerant of other people.  It 
> is dependent on a sophisticated population that makes a hundred 
> compromises daily so that they can benefit from the collective energy that 
> a city generates."     --Robert N. Davis, Jr. (1955-2007)
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