September 11 attacks: 9/11 museum to retool its research rules after criticism

Archives, museums and their donors vary in what they ask of researchers, but experts say the 9/11 museum's rules seemed unusually onerous.

New York: The 9/11 museum in New York City is backing off uncommon restrictions on researchers after complaints that the institution was stifling scholarship. Until at least August 21, the National September 11 Memorial & Museum's website detailed “scholarly research rules and regulations” for access to its collection. They required researchers to let museum staffers review their work before publication and to adopt “any text changes" the museum proposed as a condition of getting the institution's “consent” to publish. The rules said the institution was entitled to pursue “legal remedies” if a researcher didn't comply, though the museum says it never did so and is now scrapping the review requirements and legal threat.