Some Pros and Cons of the Access Problem
| Author | C. P. Stacey |
| Published date | 01 March 1965 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070206502000104 |
| Date | 01 March 1965 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Some
Pros
and
Cons
of
the
Access
Problem
C.
P.
Stacey*
If
anyone is
in
doubt
as
to
what
the
"access
problem"
is,
I
can
define
it
fairly
succinctly
by
describing
the
recent
experiences
of
a
historian
of
my
acquaintance. This
unfortunate
individual
(who
must
be
nameless-I
am
going
to
mention
no
names
at
all)
has
been
unwise
enough
to
attempt
to
produce
a
scholarly
study
of
certain
aspects
of
the
European
events
of
the
Second
World
War.
In
this
connection
he
went
the
rounds
of
a
number
of
foreign
offices;
and
what
happened
to him
is
instructive.
He
knew
that
the
United
States
had
been
in
close
contact
with
the
events
in
which
he
was
interested,
and
he knew
also
that
the
United
States
was
reputed
to
have
a
liberal
public
records
policy.
At
an
early
stage
in his
work,
therefore,
he
presented
his
case
to
the
Department
of
State.
His application
was
received
with
much
politeness,
but
the
Department
saw
many
difficulties
in
the
way
of
giving
him
what
he
wanted.
To
make
a
very
long
correspondence
short,
in
the
end
they
gave him,
not quite
nothing,
but
the
next
thing
to
it.
It
was
apparent
that
the
obstacles
my
friend
had
encountered
in
Washington were
the
result,
in
part,
of
the
fact
that
he
had
the
misfortune
to
be,
not
a
citizen
of
the
United
States,
but
a
Canadian.
Accordingly,
he
did
the
obvious
thing:
he
went
to
Ottawa.
Canada
played
a
smaller
part
than
the
United
States
in
the
European happenings
of
his
period;
but
her
representatives
abroad
watched
them
closely,
and
undoubtedly
there
are
records
of
some
value
in
the
Canadian
Department
of
External
Affairs.
My
friend,
this time
relying
proudly
on
his Canadian citizenship,
asked
to
see
them.
The
External
Affairs
people
didn't
keep him
*Department
of
History,
University
of
Toronto.
This
article
is
a
slightly
altered
version
of
an
address
delivered
to
the
Society
of
American
Archivists
in
Washington,
D.C.,
December
29,
1964.
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