I’ve already blogged on how Boston College library demand that I get permission from a religious order before they will supply me with a copy for research purposes of a 1937 thesis written by a nun.
The nun belonged to the Sisters of Mercy, and the library have sent me a link to their website. So I duly wrote and asked permission. I got back an email saying that they had no record of any such nun. The library have sent me a PDF of the first couple of pages of the thesis, which says that she was a member of that order. So I have forwarded it to the order.
What a pathetic paper-chase! All over the supposed copyright status of a long forgotten thesis. It highlights that our copyright laws are now actively working against the interests of scholarship.