Why was access to many Dead Sea Scroll fragments restricted for decades?

The assertion that access to the Dead Sea Scrolls was restricted for decades is accurate. Following their discovery, the manuscripts were placed under the control of a small committee of scholars appointed by the Jordanian Department of Antiquities—a responsibility later assumed by the Israel Antiquities Authority.1

This editorial committee maintained a monopoly on the documents, limiting access to unpublished fragments to only its own members. While the more complete scrolls were published shortly after their discovery, the majority of the collection consisted of thousands of tiny, brittle fragments that were published at a pace many researchers considered excessively slow.1

This restricted access remained in place until 1991, when researchers at Hebrew Union College used a computer program to reconstruct an unpublished text, and the Huntington Library announced it would provide unrestricted access to its collection of scroll photographs. Following the collapse of this monopoly, the Israel Antiquities Authority lifted its long-standing restrictions, eventually leading to broader public and scholarly access, including the online publication of major scrolls.1