I HAD expected an indignant response from the University of York about my letter suggesting they are attempting to "steal" our city archives and historical documents and have them transferred to Heslington campus (January 3). I used the word "steal" after some thought when I found it impossible to find anyone who favoured the idea.

Now, at last, "leisure chief" Charlie Croft comes forward to recommend the idea (February 1), clearly against the wishes of those who use the archives and the staff working there.

Whenever I have had the pleasure of being in the archives I have seen a steady stream of York citizens calling in to refer to the extremely wide and varied information on the city's history.

Are we all expected to go to Heslington when our archive is closed, where the university intends to charge us £15 an hour for access when now it is free for all?

Until recently city councillors were proud to support these facilities which are the envy of many other cities.

Charlie Croft suggests separating this resource, which is part of Library Services and therefore maintained by council tax payers, and transferring it to the university which would operate it as a business by offering restricted access and charging.

York people would wish our councillors to leave our history exactly where it is, looked after by Rita Freedman, and friends of the City Archives.

Jonathan Charles Bonner,

Huntington Road,

York.

...READERS should be aware of the implications of the council's decision to give control of the City Archives to the university.

The present budget of £133,000 will be paid annually by the council to the university. Conservation projects, now paid for within the archives budget, will cost the council extra.

Detailed research for councillors and council departments will be charged at £15 an hour.

Right now there is no charge so this could cost the council more than £10,000 a year.

No staff will be employed specifically to service the city. Management of the city's 800-year-old archive will be in the sole hands of the university.

The council will transfer ownership of the copyright of the entire collection to the university, including thousands of photographs of York being digitised and put on to the Internet, York's medieval charters and royal correspondence, and massive family history resources - ownership of which could prove extremely lucrative in coming years.

The council will have to establish a modern records office at a further estimated cost of £80,000 a year.

If the city's archives were kept together as a council department the potential revenue from the old collection would have offset the costs of maintaining the new.

No formal consultation with local groups, including the Friends of the Archives, has occurred, contrary to the stated procedure of the council.

The benefits of the move could have been provided by the council for the City Archives at a fraction of the cost of the proposed contract with the university.

Will those people entrusted with its protection allow this disgraceful plundering of the city's heritage?

E J Freedman,

Alma Terrace,

York.

...IT is good news that a decision has been taken to move the city archives to the purpose-built premises in the new Burton Library at the university.

For far too long they have been stored in unsatisfactory, overcrowded conditions in the City Art Gallery.

It is the dream of Friends of York Art Gallery that the space the city archives currently occupies at the gallery be returned to its original use so paintings that have been in storage for many years can be displayed. It will also provide exhibition space on the ground floor, making the art gallery much more enjoyable and accessible to all.

Oliver Worsley,

Ex-President of Friends of York Art Gallery, Heslington,

York.

Updated: 10:41 Thursday, February 07, 2002