The AP reports this morning that a long legal tussle over a collection of Margaret Mitchell papers has been settled, but that neither side will say where the documents are. The collection was found in a filing cabinet purchased by Philip Battles' father in the 1970s; "[a]fter his parents died, Battles inherited the cabinet and in 2005 sold the documents for an undisclosed price to John Reznikoff, a collector in Wilton, Connecticut, and Glenn Horowitz, a New York rare book dealer. The men offered to sell the trove to the Atlanta Historical Society in 2006. But the deal was scuttled when the estate of Stephens Mitchell, the brother of Margaret, stepped in."
Executors of Stephens Mitchell's estate asked a judge to determine ownership of the collection (most other Mitchell materials were donated to the University of Georgia's rare books library). On 22 January, the factions apparently came to an agreement, "but court papers don't reveal the whereabouts of the documents, and neither will the lawyers involved."
Sort of bizarre, actually. Presumably we'll find out sooner or later where they've ended up, but it is strange (and not particularly helpful for research purposes) that the sides are being so secretive about it.
