O.K. It's time for me to bring this thread to a close, a conclusion. I appreciate ALL the input this topic received. It's clear to me that it did resonate with many people. And like I expected, the comments were all over the map.

The comments I received were an education in themselves ... that's one of the values of an open discussion. Here's where I am tonight:

1. I am putting aside ALL questions/concerns regarding legal issues, copyrites, etc. My efforts will result in NO GAIN for myself. I'm not "selling" anything. I appreciated Utah Phillips comment (thanks Mark Ross ... "if you wanna' make $1,000 in folk music, start with #2,000).

2. Some one said, several folks actually, "just do it and worry about the details later."

3. A lot of folks mentioned how polite it would be to get "family permission" before I archived the material. I'm now saying that I won't bother. These are MY tapes, I made them, I have them, and I'm going to archive them and place them in the public domain for future reference. If family members, or anyone else objects ... SO SUE ME!

4. I am making myself available to other people in the Seattle area who are seriously interested in these archiving issues. At my age of 171 years, I know there are now many other song collectors out there that are dealing with the same questions.

I had a conversation with Pete Seeger probably 13 years ago and that talk led to a conversation with Mark Ross, of Sing Out magazine. We were all talking about these archive questions. Where do we leave the stuff we've garnered ... if I just leave it to my kids, it'll just end up in the dump ... what should we do with it? On and on and on.

So ... I have decided to archive it as best I see fit. I'll now put on my hard hat, steel toed boots, flak jacket, scout out the back door, and hold my breath for your comments. CHEERS, Bob(deckman)Nelson