David:
I know I'm not authorized to speak for Merion and I never said I was; you're the only one who has said that I claim I am or act like I am. But I certainly do know their process for their archives and other aspects of that club and have for many, many years. And, as you obviously know, I do know the one who does speak for Merion about the things you're interested in. He's been a very good friend for some decades now and we speak all the time about all kinds of things to do with the history and archives of Merion and access to them by anyone and everyone if it comes up. Actually he said to me the other day, in a tone of some irony and mirth, that on this issue he and I are probably no different than Wilson and Macdonald or Lloyd and Macdonald once were. Macdonald was never a member of Merion either but he was a good friend to them or at least they felt he was and said he was and that he was not a member does not appear to have limited them all in any way in speaking with one another as freely as they saw fit about anything involving the club.
You seem to think that those at Merion including the ones who may speak to you about it are under some kind of moral imperative that contains some kind of ethical restriction to not mention to others the things they think and do and say to others. I can assure you that is not the case and never has been, despite what you think or what you think you know.
It's definitely not rocket science here or something akin to corporate or government classification procedures either. Some of us are just good and long time friends really and we do not feel there is any particular reason not to talk about anything and everything we feel and have some common interest in.
Perhaps you don't like it that way and disagree with it but that is not your decision to make; however, for some odd reason you've acted on here like it is.
Actually, the same is true for me at MCC, a club that has not been involved with Merion GC for sixty eight years. Obviously they still have many common members and I know hundreds of them too and have for years including some who run that club. If they feel like speaking with me about any of this they do. Perhaps you disagree with that too but again these are not decisions you get to make.