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read the e-mail I received from the president of American Historical Association so that you can understand the issue and what is at stake. Then contact your senator and/or house representative to tell them why the archives need greater funding . . .
that is, if you give a rat's ass.
Dear Colleagues,
On rare occasions we make use of e-mail to inform our members of some pressing matter that affects us all. Now is such a time. I write to ask for your help in urging the National Archives to rescind drastic cuts in operating hours for research rooms in the Washington D.C. area, and also for your energy in urging members of Congress to revisit the low level of funding that they have authorized for the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). As I write, the
recommended level of funding for fiscal year 2007 is far below the needs. In the coming weeks, a conference committee comprised of House and Senate Bill Managers will meet to attempt to resolve the differences.
The budget pressures, coupled with new pressures on NARA, in the form of the flooding of the Washington D.C. (Archives I) basement in early summer and the discovery last winter of the need to reclassify inappropriately classified documents, have created devastating reductions
in public access to government records; a crisis that historians and our students stand to feel most severely and very quickly. The impact is not limited to historians of the U.S. alone; the National Archives include records of diplomatic relations and other aspects of U.S. international engagement.
At a rare public meeting held earlier this month conducted by Archivist of the United States Allan Weinstein, many scholars and researchers spoke with great passion about the meaning of open archives to their scholarship and to the public at large. The Archivist and senior staff emphasized that these choices were not put forward arbitrarily, and expressed their genuine desire to consider ideas for other ways that reductions in expenses might be managed: e.g. instead of the
projected elimination of Saturday and evening hours, and limiting research rooms to 9-5, close the rooms during one workday in favor of maintaining evening and Saturday hours. (Out-of-town researchers rely on these extended hours to minimize the time they must spend in a very expensive
city.) I have been hearing from historians -- ranging in status from graduate students to chaired professors and a dean at a major university -- who deeply fear the havoc that these curtailments will wreak on their own research agendas.
The Archivist of the United States welcomes comments on the proposal to reduce NARA's operating hours. It is very important that historians send our comments this week -- the deadline is September 8 -- and that we spread this message to others who may not understand how dependent a full range of scholarly work is on access to NARA. Those of us
who have not used the Archives ourselves have been edified by books that draw on its resources. Specifics on the proposal for cutting hours and a form for comment can be found at (type in "NARA-06-0007-0001" without the quotation marks, into the "Keyword or ID" field.)
*****
But even if the current proposal to limit hours to M-F 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. should be revised, there remains a significant projected shortfall (estimated to be between $8-$12 million) in the FY 2007 budget proposal. Without a larger appropriation, the Archivist of the United States will soon be making decisions about even more cuts in Archives' services: cutting hours and staff at presidential libraries and regional archives, zeroing out overtime, cutting employee travel and training, and
actually furloughing staff. SOME OF THESE CUTS COULD COME TO PASS AS SOON AS OCTOBER 1. The Archives' ability to process new records and make them accessible, to reopen inappropriately classified documents, and to serve
the public (not only historians) who seek government records, is central to the openness on which democratic government depends.
In the next few weeks, contact your own congressional
representatives and senators (telephone, e-mail and FAX communications are best). Tell them how you make use of the archives and of your concern for sufficient funding for all of NARA's critical activities. Even a modest $5 million increase to the President's proposal of $289.6 million would make a
significant difference. Whether or not your member of Congress is on the actual conference committee doesn't really matter; all members of Congress can convey their concern to the conferees.
If you practice history in a large institution -- a college or
university, a community college, a museum -- that has a lobbyist or government relations member of its staff, you can urge them to convey to members of Congress the concern for adequate funding of NARA's activities. If you practice history at the K-12 level, the principal of your school can convey a concern about the impact of reduced hours and longer lines for viewing the Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights
and Constitution that are on display at the Main Archives rotunda.
Decisions will be made soon. I know this is a busy time as a new school year begins, but it is also a good time to be addressing the context in which history is practiced.
Sincerely,
Linda K. Kerber,
President, American Historical Association
DEADLINE FOR VOICING YOUR CONCERN IS SEPTEMBER 8.
that is, if you give a rat's ass.
Dear Colleagues,
On rare occasions we make use of e-mail to inform our members of some pressing matter that affects us all. Now is such a time. I write to ask for your help in urging the National Archives to rescind drastic cuts in operating hours for research rooms in the Washington D.C. area, and also for your energy in urging members of Congress to revisit the low level of funding that they have authorized for the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). As I write, the
recommended level of funding for fiscal year 2007 is far below the needs. In the coming weeks, a conference committee comprised of House and Senate Bill Managers will meet to attempt to resolve the differences.
The budget pressures, coupled with new pressures on NARA, in the form of the flooding of the Washington D.C. (Archives I) basement in early summer and the discovery last winter of the need to reclassify inappropriately classified documents, have created devastating reductions
in public access to government records; a crisis that historians and our students stand to feel most severely and very quickly. The impact is not limited to historians of the U.S. alone; the National Archives include records of diplomatic relations and other aspects of U.S. international engagement.
At a rare public meeting held earlier this month conducted by Archivist of the United States Allan Weinstein, many scholars and researchers spoke with great passion about the meaning of open archives to their scholarship and to the public at large. The Archivist and senior staff emphasized that these choices were not put forward arbitrarily, and expressed their genuine desire to consider ideas for other ways that reductions in expenses might be managed: e.g. instead of the
projected elimination of Saturday and evening hours, and limiting research rooms to 9-5, close the rooms during one workday in favor of maintaining evening and Saturday hours. (Out-of-town researchers rely on these extended hours to minimize the time they must spend in a very expensive
city.) I have been hearing from historians -- ranging in status from graduate students to chaired professors and a dean at a major university -- who deeply fear the havoc that these curtailments will wreak on their own research agendas.
The Archivist of the United States welcomes comments on the proposal to reduce NARA's operating hours. It is very important that historians send our comments this week -- the deadline is September 8 -- and that we spread this message to others who may not understand how dependent a full range of scholarly work is on access to NARA. Those of us
who have not used the Archives ourselves have been edified by books that draw on its resources. Specifics on the proposal for cutting hours and a form for comment can be found at (type in "NARA-06-0007-0001" without the quotation marks, into the "Keyword or ID" field.)
*****
But even if the current proposal to limit hours to M-F 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. should be revised, there remains a significant projected shortfall (estimated to be between $8-$12 million) in the FY 2007 budget proposal. Without a larger appropriation, the Archivist of the United States will soon be making decisions about even more cuts in Archives' services: cutting hours and staff at presidential libraries and regional archives, zeroing out overtime, cutting employee travel and training, and
actually furloughing staff. SOME OF THESE CUTS COULD COME TO PASS AS SOON AS OCTOBER 1. The Archives' ability to process new records and make them accessible, to reopen inappropriately classified documents, and to serve
the public (not only historians) who seek government records, is central to the openness on which democratic government depends.
In the next few weeks, contact your own congressional
representatives and senators (telephone, e-mail and FAX communications are best). Tell them how you make use of the archives and of your concern for sufficient funding for all of NARA's critical activities. Even a modest $5 million increase to the President's proposal of $289.6 million would make a
significant difference. Whether or not your member of Congress is on the actual conference committee doesn't really matter; all members of Congress can convey their concern to the conferees.
If you practice history in a large institution -- a college or
university, a community college, a museum -- that has a lobbyist or government relations member of its staff, you can urge them to convey to members of Congress the concern for adequate funding of NARA's activities. If you practice history at the K-12 level, the principal of your school can convey a concern about the impact of reduced hours and longer lines for viewing the Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights
and Constitution that are on display at the Main Archives rotunda.
Decisions will be made soon. I know this is a busy time as a new school year begins, but it is also a good time to be addressing the context in which history is practiced.
Sincerely,
Linda K. Kerber,
President, American Historical Association
DEADLINE FOR VOICING YOUR CONCERN IS SEPTEMBER 8.
@ Sloww
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