St. Louis man says WWI museum using recordings without permission

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Visitors to the National World War I Museum can sit in an alcove and listen to a recording of Gen. John J. Pershing talk about the Great War.

Edward Golterman isn't very happy about that.

Golterman, of St. Louis, claims his family owns the rights to the recording, as well as three other recordings at the museum. He said his grandfather, Guy Golterman, produced them decades ago as part of a project called The Nation's Forum but his family had received no compensation.

"The museum in Kansas City, which charges admission, has made an end run around our family, which we consider rather dishonorable," Golterman said in a letter to The Kansas City Star. "Just because technology has made it easy to lift recordings and use them for profit does not give one the right."

Donna Lawrence Productions, which was hired by the museum to produce the audio and video content for the museum, obtained Pershing's "From the Battlefields of France" speech, as well as other recordings in The Nation's Forum series from the Marr Sound Archives at the Miller Nichols Library at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Sharon Bostick, dean of libraries, wrote a letter to Golterman saying the university mistakenly thought the recordings were in the public domain.

Golterman said he didn't have a problem with the university providing the recordings to the public because it doesn't make money off of them. The recordings are also available for free at the Library of Congress and on its Web Site.

But the World War I museum is making money, he said.

Louisville, Ky.-based Donna Lawrence Productions, which has also done work for the Clinton Presidential Center and the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center, told Golterman's attorney is wanted to "reach a successful solution." But it also pointed out that the museum is a not-for-profit educational and research center.

Golterman is undeterred, saying that as long as the museum charges admission it is involved in commerce. He said he doesn't have the money to sue the museum but wants museum officials to negotiate with him directly for a fee to use the recordings.

Rolf Snyder, an attorney for the Liberty Memorial Association, said that it would be improper for the memorial, which operates the museum, to deal with Golterman instead of his attorney. He said he is waiting for Golterman's attorney to respond to the Donna Lawrence Productions letter.

"We said, 'Make us an offer, what do you want?' and we never heard back," Snyder said. "The ball is in his court."

In the meantime, museum visitors will continue to hear the Pershing and other disputed recordings, said Mark Cox, interim director of the Liberty Memorial Association.

"Donna Lawrence has made a good-faith effort of working with them," Cox said. "I don't think that anyone intentionally did an end run around these people."