Rick:
"also feel that when an individual decides to collect items of historical significance, they do so not only for their personal reasons, but also as an agent of the public trust. They are agreeing to care for these artifacts as a part of the cultural trust for preserving our past"
That is well sounding like a lot of things in life. I usually hear these kinds of things from folks who have never done much or any historical research (not saying that is true about you, have no idea about you). I do not ever remember agreeing to care for anything. Where are all these folks who want access to this stuff when I am paying parking fees, copying fees, driving costs to far away locations, etc. etc. Some on this group seem to think that all this stuff is completely free of cost. In some cases, people have had to pay for these documents, photographs, etc. I have spent thousands of my own dollars doing research on the D&RGW/RGS and collecting materials. And some have the gall to try to tell me and others what to do with this. I didn't have any volunteers stepping up to help with my expenses. And I am not the only one, just using myself as an example. There are others who have done more. There are thousands of D&RGW and RGS documents, photographs, etc. sitting in personal collections today and they will probably never see the light of day because of folks like some on this group who think they have a "public" right to this material...dream on. It is because of this "it belongs to everyone" mentality that has resulted in a lot of materials being burned or otherwise destroyed.
The materials in my collecton are mine to do with as I chose. I can use them in books, share them with others, or burn them up when my time is done. You can call people names and threaten them, but I would advise you to think that your attitudes and conduct have probably contributed to the loss of a lot of historic material.
Now flame away....