True, denied access to some files at the Freud Archives at the Library of
Congress is a serious obstacle for researchers.  But to assess Masson s
claims (and similar ones raised by Alice Miller) they are not really needed.
To quote a few of the available materials: Masson s main sources were the
then still unpublished complete letters to Fliess, to which he had access as
their editor.  They have been available since 1985.  Of the Freud/Ferenczi
correspondence to which he refers, two volumes have already been published,
the third and final one will follow in about a year.  Hirschmueller and
Borch-Jacobsen have solved many of the mysteries around the
Freud/Breuer/Anna O. triangle (though from very different points of view).
Moreover, Freud gave a very clear and concise account of his views on sexual
misuse, many years after his abandonment of the seduction theory, in his
first dozen or so letters to Karl Abraham (reprinted complete in the
otherwise censored 1965 edition of their correspondence; I am preparing a
complete edition in English for publication, with Karnac, London);
interestingly, they are hardly ever cited.
 
As to archival restrictions and censorship, there was an interesting (and
amusing) article by Yerushalmi on the infamous "Series Z" in a recent issue
of the German journal PSYCHE.  Please let me also mention my "Whose Freud is
it? Some reflections on editing Freud s correspondence," dealing with the
rationale of censorship in the abbreviated editions, with archival
restrictions, and with questions of confidentiality and medical discretion
(Intern. Forum of PsA, 1996, 5:77-86).
 
Kind regards,
Ernst Falzeder.