Popping my head above the parapet on this one.

I've followed the thread; vituperative posts included and refrained from comment, as I had minimal knowledge of Kennedy or his "dubious practices". An earlier post taking someone to task ( a bit harshly, I thought)for talking about something they had no knowledge of ensured I stayed quiet till now.

Given the current uncertainty over the future of this collection, surely establishing copyright and ownership is important in order that it is dealt with (sold/retained/properly archived) in a manner acceptable to the legal owner(s).

If the archive becomes a de facto "Kennedy collection" then control over it's destiny will rest with the family and not the BBC/EFDSS: therefore its status must be established prior to permission for a sale/bequest being given by the Kennedy estate.

Furthermore, if the archive was acquired dubiously (in terms of copyright and practices- as has been debated ad infinitum) by Kennedy; then at the same time as re-establishing ownership reparation must be made to the people who were recorded.

It should be a matter of principle, not of the amount concerned.

Oh and I take issue with the comments from oggie in that the collection is "too English" to attract funding. It's anything but...

Whilst it had been mostly commissioned by the EFDSS (and the British Broadcasting Corporation) it is a British and Irish archive and I would have thought that, as I suggested in the other current "Kennedy/EFDSS" thread, members of the relevant bodies of other constituent parts of the UK and Eire, should be lobbying for retention in these isles and for access to it, regardless of the cost.

andymac