(erielack) Re: ELHS Archives

["Donald Barnickel" <JDBAR_@_worldnet.att.net>]

Dear List Members,

I'd like to offer one additional observation on the ELHS Archives issue. As
has already been stated in this thread, the Tri-State Chapter of the NRHS
donated their significant collection of EL material (from the Hoboken
offices) to Steamtown sometime last year.  For those who don't know,
Tri-State meets monthly in Morris County, N.J., where many of their members
either reside or work.   As such, their Board of Directors must have
wrestled with issues similar to (though not necessarily identical to) those
that currently face the ELHS Board of Directors, including loss of ownership
of their material.  The Tri-State Board also had to consider the
disadvantage of moving their collection further away from (not closer to)
the geographic center of their membership.  They must have weighed the same
pluses and minuses of Steamtown and NPS ownership that have been discussed
here as well as within the ELHS Board.  I'm sure their directors performed
due diligence in obtaining the answers they needed to determine what was in
the best interests of both their membership and their archives.

Personally, I think the Tri-State Board chose wisely.  Their decision should
assuage at least some of the concerns now facing the ELHS Board members who
are considering Steamtown as a possibility for the ELHS Archives.  Indeed,
the precedent has been set and it seems to have been successful so far.
Equipped with this knowledge, perhaps the ELHS Board should be given the
benefit of the doubt that they, too, will make a decision that is in the
overall best interests of their members as well as the ELHS Archives.

Don Barnickel


	The Erie Lackawanna Mailing List
	Sponsored by the ELH&TS
	http://www.elhts.org
	To Unsubscribe: http://lists.elhts.org/erielackunsub.html

------------------------------