Scholars scour eBay

Five years ago, a letter from Thomas Jefferson, for example, would have been sold by antique dealers directly to a large institution or a wealthy Jefferson enthusiast. Even items of lesser value, such as the papers of a Virginia family during the Civil War, would be known about by only a select few.

On eBay, anyone can find out about such items. "Collecting was a gentlemanly hobby," Mr. Fowler says. "Now an oilman in Texas and a mailman in Portsmouth, N.H., have access to the same information."

The upshot for large institutions: "You have to have a war chest," Fowler says. "I have to raise money in advance because I don't have time to call six friends and see if I can raise the money."

One beneficiary of the leveled playing field is the small-town historical society, where the budget is rarely bigger than what can be raised at a bingo match.

The Clarksville (Ind.) Historical Society now considers eBay its most important source for historical objects - after Clarksville residents themselves.

Three members of the society now check eBay about once a week. During the past year they have bought a handful of items, including the entire run of a newspaper published by prisoners during the 1890s in one of Indiana's first state prisons.

"We were a little bit amazed there was something from Clarksville [on eBay]," says society president Jane Sarles. "There's been so little preserved of this town's history, that we take it where we can find it."

But if the Web auction site has made it easier for scholars to find items of historical significance, eBay has also added a new hurdle. Increasingly, those wanting to research material culture must be willing to pay top dollar; eBay offers ownership, not momentary access.

And the costs of academic acquisitions are rising, some suggest, as more scholars with similar interests bid for the same items.

Michael Amundson paid $124 for the 1950s electronic board game "Uranium Rush" after losing two previous auctions to other scholars or collectors of "atomic pop culture." The history professor at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff says he ultimately paid twice what he thought the game was worth.

Sometimes, knowing that a specific scholar is interested in the same item can be a signal to drop out of the auction. "There can be a few scholars who have deep pockets," says Pannapacker. "If they start bidding, I say 'Forget it, I can't outbid them.' "

Many academics have worked out compromises among themselves. Rather than raise the price through competing bids, some people opt to form bidding rings. One scholar agrees not to bid on an item, with the understanding that if something comes up in the future that most closely matches his or her interests, others will drop out.

Concern among scholars over the influence of eBay has primarily been stoked by the threat of important objects being won by people with large fortunes but no intention to study the material.

"It's one thing to know that something exists ... in a university library," says Pannapacker. "It's another to actually see a picture of it and worry that it will soon fall into private hands."

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