Lee Friedlander/model release

Friedlander's street photos bring large sums of money and are in major museum and private collections. The photos are not necessarily news photos but could be cultural essay/documentary, but are not purchased for that purpose etc. I wonder how the museums purchasing and often selling reprints file all those model releases?

I would guess there are no model releases...

The general rule in the US is that you don't need permission to photograph what you can see on a public street so long as the photograph is not used for advertising. Editorial use includes galleries. The individual galleries, magazines, newspapers, etc. may have different rules. I'd suspect no model release.
juan