Unpublished Manuscripts and the Right of Fair Use: Copyright Law and the Strategic Management of Information Resources

Abstract

Two recent decisions from the United States Court of Appeals sharply restrict the “fair use” of unpublished manuscripts and threaten the traditional activities of historians and biographers.1 The rulings have curtailed broad public access to archival materials as publishers revise and cancel projects drawing upon unpublished resources.2 These copyright developments raise questions about the utility of manuscript collections, and thus have the unintended—but perhaps paramount—effect of heightening the responsibilities of archivists to collection donors and to the researchers they serve.3 Archivists inadvertently have joined researchers and publishers as the newest “gatekeepers” of legal rights and privileges. This article . . .