[John Vasco]

kormoran,

What you say is true, but unfortunately, that is life. Sometimes, it hurts, but we have to get on with life. Let me give you a personal example. You may know, from clicking on my link in my signature, that I have been playing guitar and gigging since 1969. I had a 1970 left-handed Gibson SG Standard guitar that I traded in the mid-1970s, and in later years regretted letting it go (I also let a 1968 Les Paul Custom go - what a dickhead I was!). About 12 months ago the exact same model became available in a shop in the UK, for £3,500. I was convinced that it was my old guitar, since left-handed guitars were a total scarcity back then. But I didn't have that kind of money to splash out on a guitar, and eventually it was sold. Gutted. The point I make, as others have made, is that market forces are always at work, and we may dislike them, but we just have to live with them.

I believe that if photos go to purely private 'collectors', then the likelihood of seeing them again is almost nil. If they go to researchers, there is more chance of seeing them in future publications. If they go to a certain archive, there is every chance that a lot of them will surface in publications in the future. Not necessarily in our lifetime, but new researchers will continue work away at our chosen subject long after we are gone. That's why all my research records will not be slung in a bin when I quit research, but will go somewhere safe for others to look into and use in the future.