Urban Explorers: The Enemy of Archives?

Photo Courtesy of {http://fargofilmmaking.wikia.com/wiki/Urban_Explorers:_Into_the_Darkness}

Urban Exploration is a hobby which rose in popularity in the early 2000s. It typically involves visiting abandoned urban/man-made structures and taking photos or just generally exploring. Though typically an underground hobby, recently urban exploration has been brought into the public eye through popular tv shows like: ABANDONED (2016) on Viceland, Off-Limits (2011) on Travel Channel, on episodes of Travel Channel’s Ghost Adventures, and Urban Explorers (2005) on Discovery Channel. True urban explorers typically follow the rule “take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but footprints”, however, many people take “souvenirs” from abandoned sites and leave much more than footprints behind. For example, I am writing my master's thesis about Pennhurst State School and Hospital, and during the 10 years that it sat abandoned it was the host of many urban exploration meetups and parties. Many important historic documents and artifacts were taken and much of the campus was vandalized; including some priceless murals which are thought to have been WPA works. Flash-forward to 2016 and a former Pennhurst employee found many of his documents from his time at Pennhurst posted on the internet. After contacting the website administrator, the person in possession of the documents claimed to have never been on the grounds of Pennhurst (illegally trespassing), but rather found a box filled with Pennhurst documents on the side of the road not far from the campus. This was said in spite of the multiple photos of Pennhurst’s campus on the website taken by the administrator. Many Pennhurst found-documents are listed HERE.

So here’s my question: are urban explorers the enemy of the archives, or are they the unsung heroes? Although the documents in my example are now in a stranger’s possession and located who-knows-where, at least they were saved? If not for this urban explorer, those documents may now be literal dust in the wind. There is a possibility that urban explorers have saved tons of priceless artifacts, and are just waiting for the opportunity to donate them back to an institution. This may be wishful thinking and I may be ignoring all issues of provenance and legality, but it’s better than the thought of objects from abandoned places just being gone forever, right? I’m in no way condoning trespassing or stealing from abandoned sites, (let’s be real, urban exploration can be extremely dangerous for both the building and the explorer!) but maybe one day an archive might just thank a previous urban explorer for their donation. Who knows, the next great artifact recovery story might begin in someone's garage..