privacy of school records in museum archive?

[Katie Bradshaw]

We have in our museum archive record books from defunct rural schools, ranging from the 19-teens to 1940s. There is some personal information about students in those books, including birthdate, health checks, and grades, that I believe should not be available to the general public, but I need references to back up my access policy recommendation to the museum collections committee. Can anyone point me in the direction of some guidance on restricting access to personal information such as this in a museum archive? I have been unable to turn up anything via web search. Thanks!

[Janice Klein]

You are correct that there are legal restrictions on access to some personal information.  I would suggest checking with your State Librarian.   They would be able to tell you both state and federal restrictions.

[Michael Nagy]

I suggest this article from the American Archivist:  http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/40294277?uid=3739616&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21101838262483

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