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Vol. 30:2 ISSN 0160-8460 June 2002
A Fond Farewell
by Ann C. Newhall
After nearly 4 years as Executive Director of the NHPRC, I have tendered my resignation to return to my home in Connecticut and to people and work that I have sorely missed. My tenure here has been, in the long view of history, a short one. But it's been an eventful and, on the whole, positive time for the Commission.
I know that I'm leaving the NHPRC in good hands. The staff is the finest I have ever administered, as those who have had any contact with the Commission can attest. The Commission itself is as excellent and strong and engaged as it has ever been. It is my opinion that selection for membership on the NHPRC is the closest thing to knighthood we have in this country. Think about it: the best of the best in the judicial and legislative branches, the best of the best that the President can appoint, and the best of the best in the historical, archival, documentary editing, state and local history, and government records administration professions come together twice each year with great seriousness to assist in the noblest enterprise - the preservation of and increased public access to this nation's history.
Not by constructing monuments or restoring historic buildings, although these are valuable endeavors as well, and carry the promise of tourism, the NHPRC's work goes to the very heart of history, particularly of American history - the documentary heart. Ours is a nation of laws, with a government whose power is ceded to it by our great Constitution, and all those laws take effect only when they are properly signed and executed. Our construction of history is based upon the examination of primary sources - the letters, photographs, audio - or videotape, e-mail, databases, electronic records, etc., created at or near the time of an event or transaction, and often constituting the action or transaction itself.
The NHPRC stands alone as the only grant-making agency in the nation - public or private - whose focus is the preservation of and increased access to non-Federal sources that document American history. And the NHPRC is doing an excellent job. The Commission's grant programs are the most vibrant, successful, and important they have ever been, daily reaping rewards for the nation that will long endure.
The Commission remains dedicated to the value and importance of supporting the publication of historical documentary editions of the papers of significant people and events in American history. Insufficient appropriations have forced the Commission to decline - with great regret - to fund some fine new documentary editing projects at the last several meetings. But the Commission's decision in 2000 to help launch a major new edition - Eleanor Roosevelt and Human Rights - is a bright beacon of hope, for two reasons. First, this decision clearly signaled the Commission's ongoing commitment both to the value and importance of making widely available to the American public the words and ideals of great American men and women, and to the fact that American history is ongoing. Second, it signaled the Commission's support for innovative and realistic ways to continue work that is, by nature, meticulous and time-consuming. The NHPRC no longer has the wherewithal to pledge support for new projects that will take multiple decades and generations of editors to complete their work. One solution for tackling important, but large, projects appears to be the approach conceived for the Eleanor Roosevelt project (which, in turn, was inspired by the solution adopted by The Papers of Thomas Jefferson): multiple sites, working concurrently on different periods in the individual's life.
The Commission's partnership with the states is as strong as ever-and never more important, as so many states struggle with budget shortfalls. The system of State Historical Records Advisory Boards, citizen boards appointed by the Governors, form the framework for a national archival infrastructure. The SHRABs, as they are known, review all NHPRC grant proposals originating within their states and are a conduit for the NHPRC to provide Federal funds to match state money in order to preserve and make available materials documenting state and local history. The Commission was the first to take steps to address the archival implications of the revolution in information technology. It continues to lead the way in funding basic research, program development, the establishment of international standards, and a special initiative to broaden the base of archival expertise in the area of electronic records. If the non-Federal records and documents being created today by individuals and state and local governments survive for scrutiny by the historians of future generations, it will be due in great part to the efforts of and the funding provided by the NHPRC.
The Commission recognizes that the day-to-day problems of those who are responsible for protecting and making available the nation's non-Federal records have not gone away. Indeed, they have increased dramatically. Processing and cataloging backlogs, the number of documents and photographs needing active steps to halt their deterioration, the instances of repositories lacking realistic, up-to-date plans for responding to threats of fire, flood, the elements - and now terrorism - are reaching critical proportions. The Commission is one of the few funding institutions to which archives and historical societies can turn for grants in these areas. In recent years, the Commission also has worked to draw attention to the urgent need to identify, preserve, and make accessible the records of underdocumented groups in our society (i.e., those that, because of race, ethnic background, gender, or other factors have been largely ignored by the historical establishment).
Appropriations shortfalls have taken a great toll on the Commission's ability to adequately fund all these programs. Still, many of the history textbooks and the biographies written in recent years (including several that made the bestseller lists!) would have been much more difficult-if not impossible-for the writers to produce had it not been for the efforts of our valiant and dedicated grantees, and the funding that they could rely upon the NHPRC to provide. The events on and since September 11, 2001, the resulting surge in patriotic fervor, and the renewed reverence for this nation's history have further underscored the importance of the work performed so well by the NHPRC.
It has been an honor to serve as its Executive Director.
