Sir, – The most interesting aspect to Michael Parsons’s article (Home News, March 26th) regarding a Sun Life Assurance letter about Padraic Pearse’s life assurance policy, is that it is expected to go under the hammer at Whyte’s auctioneers “for at least £2,000”.
It is ironic that one of the most significant aspects of the coming series of centenaries from 2012 to 2023 will be the commercialisation of historic documents. Every scrap of paper that might have some significance for reassessing the past is now at risk of being withdrawn from public archives by owners, or withheld in the first place because of its potential financial value.
Is it possible that the Government might consider legislation to freeze the sale of documents, or at least ensure copies are deposited with designated public archives before they disappear into private collections or the taxpayers’ money is shelled out in auction bids? Despite the hard-bought experience of the past few years we, as a society, persist in knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing. – Yours, etc,