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Vol. 26:1 ISSN 0160-8460 March 1998
Surveying the American Archival Landscape
The NHPRC's long range plan adopted last June declares that the Commission "will promote broad public participation in historical documentation by collaborating with State Historical Records Advisory Boards (SHRABs) to plan and carry out jointly funded programs to strengthen the nation's archival infrastructure and expand the range of records that are protected and accessible." But how do we do this? What do we mean by the "nation's archival infrastructure," and do we really expect "broad public participation in historical documentation?"
Partial answers to all of these questions are to be found in the summary of a forthcoming report on historical records repositories in the United States to be issued by the Council of State Historical Records Coordinators. The Council is the national organization that promotes coordinated efforts of the SHRABs. The report will present the findings of a survey of over 3,500 repositories holding historical records in the 21 states that participated in the voluntary, collaborative project partially supported by the Commission. The full report is expected to be issued later this spring, but highlights of the summary are outlined below. The Commission has placed a discussion of the report and its findings on its agenda for this year's June meeting.
