Family archives
Agree on how a family archive can be shared
Ask contributors about their wishes for sharing the family archive, and record the audience and item groups covered by each answer. Keep requests for family viewing separate from plans for public posting. List unanswered questions about private material or reuse before distributing copies more widely.
A text to start with
I hold a family archive with these item groups: [photos, letters, recordings, documents]. Contributors and people who appear in them include [names and relationships]. I want to share copies with [intended audience]. Draft a short message asking each person what they are comfortable with, and a table for recording their answers. Do not decide permissions for anyone.
Example request. Change the details to fit your situation.Sharing preferences table
Item group: [ ] Contributor or person consulted: [ ] Relationship to the material: [ ] Date and method of conversation: [ ] Audience discussed: [ ] Sharing preferences they stated: [ ] Items or details to withhold: [ ] Public posting discussed: [yes / no] Review date or future contact: [ ] Repeat for each person and item group. Person not reached: [ ] Any previously stated wishes and their source: [ ] Unresolved ownership or reuse question: [ ] Items held back pending an answer: [ ] Copies already sent and to whom: [ ]
Keep each person's wishes specific
Check whether each reply covers the whole group of items or only selected pieces. Do not turn silence into an affirmative answer or extend a family-viewing agreement to a public website. Private details may concern people who did not contribute the material. If someone cannot be contacted, document what is known about their wishes and leave unresolved questions visible. A preferences table does not itself settle ownership or publication rights; keep those questions separate for the person or institution handling the proposed use.
Ask another agent to check the result
Check that every sharing preference in this table is tied to an actual reply or a documented prior instruction. Flag broader audiences or uses that the reply did not cover. Identify unanswered questions and any place the table treats a person's comfort with sharing as proof of ownership or publication rights.
Ask, record, then share
Send the draft message to one contributor first and see whether the questions make sense. Record each reply in the table with the date and how it was given. Hold back any item with no answer yet. Revisit the table when you add a new audience, such as a family website or an archive, and ask again before widening access.