Access to the Buechner papers are made based upon which category  the respective materials reside.

Access to published books, essays and articles; newspaper and magazine clippings; published reviews and similar documents (the “Public Materials”) are guided by the general access policies of the Wheaton College Archives & Special Collections (i.e., those policies generally used by Wheaton in similar situations, which policies govern any copying, reproduction or duplication of any Public Materials for personal use only). Any person accessing the Buechner Materials who wishes to copy, reproduce or duplicate materials for other than personal use must contact Frederick Buechner Literary Assets, LLC (hereinafter “FBLA”) at info@frederickbuechner.com for such rights.

Access to private correspondence, business correspondence, personal diaries, holographic manuscripts, audio, video or other recordings of any type, and personal memorabilia (the "Private Materials") shall not be disclosed, displayed or made available or accessible during Rev. Buechner’s lifetime without the prior written consent of FBLA. These materials will become available on the same conditions of the aforementioned "Public Materials"  forty years after Rev. Buechner’s death.  (Exception for Public or Commercial Recordings: if a public or commercial recording has been made involving Rev. Buechner or his writings (original or derivative works) (collectively, “Recordings”) and such Recordings are subject to a written release executed by Rev. Buechner or FBLA, then Wheaton shall be free to use and share such Recordings pursuant only to the requirements of  the copyright holder. If the Recordings are not subject to such a written release executed by Rev. Buechner or FBLA, then such Recordings are subject to the terms of this paragraph.)

A subset of Private Materials (the “Special Private Materials”), such as Rev. Buechner’s copy of Gone with the Wind and other papers, so designated, are unavailable until seventy-five years after the death of Rev. Buechner and that time will retain the restrictions for those items classified "private materials."

A fourth category are those materials received from Princeton University. These retain the originally agreed upon restriction (manuscripts closed during Buechner’s lifetime with access available upon written permission from Buechner. The Held correspondence is closed until 25 years after Buechner’s death).

Researchers desiring access to those portions of the collection classified as Private Materials or Special Private Materials must obtain written permission from FBLA.

Rights of publication must be secured from FBLA, which entity holds the copyright to Buechner’s unpublished archival material, or from the author or author’s agent in the case of secondary works.