MLA statement on significance of original materials

I strongly urge that anyone involved in the preservation--especially
reformatting--of textual material, read the draft "Statement on
Significance of Original Materials" produced by the Modern Language
Association's Ad Hoc Committee on the Future of the Print Record
(chaired by G. Thomas Tanselle). This document lays out in brief the
case for the preservation of original materials in the context of
reformatting and electronic text projects.

   "... the future of humanistic study depends on the preservation
    of original materials, even after the texts in them have been
    made available in other forms."

The full text is available in Conservation OnLine both in the Gopher
(Gopher to palimpsest.stanford.edu and select Browse by
subject/Miscellaneous) and Web facets (it is available on the welcome
page at http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/ [the trailing slash is
necessary])

                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 8:31
                 Distributed: Monday, October 31, 1994
                        Message Id: cdl-8-31-001
                                  ***