Lesson learned for me: if I ever discover a trove of old documents, I'll contact the historical society, but I'll also contact a couple of newspapers.
Even if they don't legally stand up, the photos would cause plenty of publicity issues.
I can understand a reluctance to actually open any folded documents in dockets that have been stored in damp conditions and left for 100+ years. I've recently scanned and photographed some documents relating to my family from the 1880s, these have been stored in a tin box and were very dry and fragile. We are just keeping them in the box at present!