The US Constitution is still an active legal document. While the Supreme 
Court, Congress and everyone else utilize reference copies, the original 
is nonetheless a vital document as it's the primary source. The same is 
true for the articles of incorporation and charters establishing schools 
like Harvard, Yale, UCLA and all the rest as well as businesses, 
regardless of how old they are, or aren't.

An attorney at work recently relayed a story to me from a few years ago: 
he had to get a copy of MetLife's title of ownership for its original 
location downtown on Broadway from 1888. He asked the city employee for a 
copy of the original record. The clerk replied that there's no such record 
from 1968. The attorney reiterated his request emphasizing the "18" at 
which the clerk seemed doubtful that such an old record would exist and be 
of value. To which the attorney replied, MetLife is over 140 years old and 
still owns the land where it was first established and without a record of 
its ownership, or for that matter ownership of any city properties, NYC 
would be in complete disarray.( I'm guessing that it was the clerk's first 
week on the job, or so I hope.)  Like the charters, these records, 
whatever their age, still possess a legal value, but may also possess an 
historical and/or artifactual value. It's not one or the other all the 
time, they can have multiple and overlapping values.

Stephen Cohen, Records Manager
MetLife \ Legal Affairs
1095 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY  10036-6796
212-578-2373
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From:
"Peter Kurilecz" <[log in to unmask]>
To:
[log in to unmask]
Date:
01/28/2010 05:28 PM
Subject:
Re: NOW Permanent 300 years/WAS: Records Management Myths? Clarification
Sent by:
"Records Management Program" <[log in to unmask]>



On Thu, Jan 28, 2010 at 5:13 PM, Walters, Caroline (cw8de) <
[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Robert,
>
> I have a question - what type of record would your business retain for 
300
> years???  I'm having a hard time seeing where a 300 year old business 
record
> would be retained for business reasons - can you help with an example?
>

what about the charter establishing a university? Harvard was founded in
1636, Yale 1701, College of William and Mary founded 1740, University of
Virginia 1825


-- 
Peter Kurilecz CRM CA
[log in to unmask]
Richmond, Va
http://twitter.com/RAINbyte
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