Should have saved this for Friday, but it is a topic worthy of being
laid bare, so to speak.  

So I'm going through this collection of slides from the 1970s, all of
these outdoorsy shots where the folks are hiking in southern Utah, and
there are quite a few shots of them au naturel; the guy playing a violin
on some sandstone slope, wearing nothing but a look of concentration; a
woman swimming in a plunge pool, or laying out on a sandstone bench, not
even wearing that.  I know the guy is long dead, which is why we got his
photos; but I don't know about the woman.  We've run across naked folks
before--the snowboarders are notorious for this--but it made me wonder,
in these post-wardrobe-malfunction days, how does this impact archives?
Should I put a note on the folder and in the finding aid, saying
"nudity," or would that bring only the prurient?  Then again, aren't the
prurient our patrons too?

Thoughts?

Roy Webb, C.A.
Multimedia Archivist
Special Collections
J. Willard Marriott Library
295 South 1500 East
University of Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah  84112
office: (801) 585-3073
FAX: (801) 585-3976
[log in to unmask]
http://www.lib.utah.edu/spc/photo 

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