The American Jewish Archives Journal, Volume LXI 2009, Number 1

commented, “could be happy with keeping this hidden away.… The first rule
for librarians is that books are for use.” 571 Gilner’s response was consistent with
the comments of Patricia Glass Schuman, president of the American Library
Association, and John A. Fleckner, chief archivist at the Smithsonian Institution’s
National Museum of American History. In response to the Huntington Library’s
offer to release its diapositives, Glass noted, “As librarians we strongly believe
that all information should be affordable, available, and accessible.” Fleckner
concurred: “We have a commitment to the notion of equal access, the philosophical
idea that the more eyes you get looking at a document, the more likely
you are to come to truth.” Regarding the meeting of the philosophical ideal and
the actuality of contracts and restrictions, Fleckner commented, “It can often
be a difficult balancing act.” 572
In November 1991, Gilner asked the IAA how he was to proceed with
handling requests for access to the negatives. The IAA had announced the
release of the material two weeks previous, in the press release of 27 October
1991. The first request, by Martin Abegg, had been honored, but HUC-JIR was
seeking a clear explanation of the procedure. 573 The HUC-JIR form Abegg used
was quite specific that the user requested access and that the negatives “would
not be used for the production of a text edition,” thus protecting the rights of
the editorial team to produce the editio princeps. 574 The only response Gilner
received was that the photographic images were to be stamped “Copyright of
the Israel Antiquities Authority” to prevent unlawful publishing. 575
The Final Chapter
Although HUC-JIR’s negatives were released, the story was not quite over.
On 19 November 1991 Shanks announced the publication of the two-volume
facsimile edition that had previously been contracted with Brill. 576 The volumes
were coming at a good time. HUC-JIR’s material remained in negatives, which
made it difficult to access. The Huntington Library announced that it would
be at least another month before it could share its photographs with other
libraries. 577 The source of the pictures Shanks used remained anonymous. This
led to the suggestion that HUC-JIR and the other institutions had leaked their
negatives, but they were ultimately cleared. 578 The facsimile edition proved to
be the final straw, and on 26 November Emanuel Tov finally announced that
all restrictions were removed from use of the scrolls, including production of
text editions. 579
Unfortunately, Shanks’s facsimile edition led to the first legal action involving
HUC-JIR. Included in the editors’ preface to the volume was a reproduction
of a transcription of 120 lines of the unpublished text 4QMMT. Elisha Qimron
of the Hebrew University, who, along with John Strugnell, had produced
the transcription, sued Shanks for copyright infringement. 580 On 30 March
1993 the Jerusalem District Court ruled in Qimron’s favor and awarded him
Optimistic, Even with the Negatives: HUC-JIR and the Dead Sea Scrolls, 1948–1993 • 79