King Family at Odds with Auctioneer Over Sale of MLK Papers
Friday, April 06, 2007
"You can't auction off what's not yours," family says of cache not yet authenticated
Just who has the rightful ownership of a cache of documents believed to have been written by Martin Luther King Jr. is the bone of contention between an Atlanta auctioneer and the King family, who wants the planned sale of the collection stopped.
Writing for The New York Times in a story that was picked up widely, Brenda Goodman wrote this week that this story centers around Paul Brown, the owner of auction house Gallery 63, who says he was given the papers by an elderly Maryland woman who asked to remain anonymous.
"Brown said the woman told him she accepted a large file folder of King's letters, speeches and other writings to settle a debt she was owed by a radio station in Atlanta,where she once lived," Goodman reported.
"Contained in the find are first typed drafts of important speeches; letters to and from Dr. King; ephemera from the era; and other papers and documents, all having to do with a man who became synonymous with the Civil Rights Movement in America and who is arguably the most important and recognizable man of the 20th century. All the documents are from the early-to-mid 1960s," the auctioneer states on its site.
Brown estimates the value of the collection, which has not been authenticated or appraised, at $300,000. But King's heirs say the papers belong to his estate, and they want the auction, slated for April 15th, stopped.
"You can't auction off what's not yours," Isaac Newton Farris, King's nephew and the chief executive of the King Center in Atlanta, told Goodman on Tuesday. "There could potentially be something improper or illegal about to happen."
Farris told The Associated Press said he only became aware Monday of the new documents, contained in a faded green folder containing letters, notes and speeches that were likely written by Dr. King.
"Unless the woman has documentation that the papers were given to her, they are owned by the King estate," Farris said told the AP Tuesday. "We're moving forward to get as much information as we can about that."
Experts familiar with intellectual property law told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that depending on how the woman got the papers, she might have the right to sell them, although the Kings could still control how the content may be used.
Goodman notes that this controversy comes "less than a year after a dramatic 11th-hour deal by a coalition of civic leaders saved a large trove of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s papers and personal items from the auction block."
Adding a bittersweet underscore to all of this is that it comes on the 39th anniversary of King's assassination. He was killed on April 4, 1968 at the age of 39 by a sniper, James Earl Ray, as he stood on a balcony at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn.
Just who has the rightful ownership of a cache of documents believed to have been written by Martin Luther King Jr. is the bone of contention between an Atlanta auctioneer and the King family, who wants the planned sale of the collection stopped.
Writing for The New York Times in a story that was picked up widely, Brenda Goodman wrote this week that this story centers around Paul Brown, the owner of auction house Gallery 63, who says he was given the papers by an elderly Maryland woman who asked to remain anonymous.
"Brown said the woman told him she accepted a large file folder of King's letters, speeches and other writings to settle a debt she was owed by a radio station in Atlanta,where she once lived," Goodman reported.
"Contained in the find are first typed drafts of important speeches; letters to and from Dr. King; ephemera from the era; and other papers and documents, all having to do with a man who became synonymous with the Civil Rights Movement in America and who is arguably the most important and recognizable man of the 20th century. All the documents are from the early-to-mid 1960s," the auctioneer states on its site.
Brown estimates the value of the collection, which has not been authenticated or appraised, at $300,000. But King's heirs say the papers belong to his estate, and they want the auction, slated for April 15th, stopped.
"You can't auction off what's not yours," Isaac Newton Farris, King's nephew and the chief executive of the King Center in Atlanta, told Goodman on Tuesday. "There could potentially be something improper or illegal about to happen."
Farris told The Associated Press said he only became aware Monday of the new documents, contained in a faded green folder containing letters, notes and speeches that were likely written by Dr. King.
"Unless the woman has documentation that the papers were given to her, they are owned by the King estate," Farris said told the AP Tuesday. "We're moving forward to get as much information as we can about that."
Experts familiar with intellectual property law told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that depending on how the woman got the papers, she might have the right to sell them, although the Kings could still control how the content may be used.
Goodman notes that this controversy comes "less than a year after a dramatic 11th-hour deal by a coalition of civic leaders saved a large trove of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s papers and personal items from the auction block."
Adding a bittersweet underscore to all of this is that it comes on the 39th anniversary of King's assassination. He was killed on April 4, 1968 at the age of 39 by a sniper, James Earl Ray, as he stood on a balcony at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn.
posted by Chris and Frank at 5:00 AM
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