Hi Stephen,
Enjoying this thread immensely! Thanks for your contributions.
I agree that these charters, etc have a legal value and a business value, but they also have historic value. From Robert's initial post - answer to his response coming soon - I just could not think a record that an organization would retain for 300 years then destroy because it was no longer useful/needed - I just could not think of anything that we would keep this long and it not have any historic value that would not merit it's continued retention as an "artifact" or historic record - even though the business or legal need had ended.
Caroline J. Walters, MA, MLS
University Records Officer/Records Management
Information Security, Policy, and Records Office (ISPRO)
Office of the Vice President/CIO
University of Virginia, 2400 Old Ivy Rd.
Box 400898, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4898
Phone: (434) 243-9162
Fax: (434) 243-9197
Email: [log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
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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