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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Orielensis, post: 6421402, member: 96898&quot;]+1</p><p><br /></p><p>Over the past decade, I have conducted academic research in various institutional archives in the US, the UK, Germany, Switzerland, and France, and I have subsequently published the results of these endeavors in different peer-reviewed journals and other formats. Furthermore, I have, among many other classes, taught introductions to manuscript studies to undergraduates, and I have on occasion written catalogue descriptions of medieval manuscripts for three well-known university libraries. In addition, I have been part of an effort to catalogue and digitize a major numismatic collection owned by an American university comparable to Yale in size and reputation.</p><p><br /></p><p>In all this time, I haven&#039;t met a single special collections librarian, curator, archivist, or scholar actually working in the archives who wasn&#039;t aware of the positive role that private collecting has played and is playing for the study and preservation of cultural heritage. Certainly, many academics, and I include myself here, are concerned with questions on how to best protect, for example, archeological sites from looting, how to prevent the destruction of historically significant objects, and how to ensure that scholars and the public have access to as many historical artworks and sources as possible. I would assume that these are interests and concerns shared by the great majority of private collectors, once more including myself. Though I admittedly have been vexed by the behavior of a small number of individual collectors and dealers in my academic work, this is far outweighed by the amount of fruitful cooperation between private collectors and academic researchers that I have experienced, including but not limited to generously granting access to privately owned material, insightful research published by collectors, donations and bequests to public institutions, and sharing specialized expertise.</p><p><br /></p><p>Especially in English-speaking academia, there is a loud minority that is generally opposed to private individuals owning and collecting historical objects, including ancient coins. Often, such opinions appear to stem not from specific scholarly concerns but from rather startling political positions on private property and the role of the state as well as academic institutions vis-à-vis the general public. Secondly, these colleagues in my experience tend to take a prominent activist stance yet in many cases don&#039;t do much archival or object-oriented work themselves, meaning that they are not very familiar with the conditions and problems of research &quot;on the ground.&quot;[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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