Press Release
Press Release · Tuesday, November 13, 2001

College Park, MD. . .The Congress has approved and the President has signed appropriations legislation for FY 2002 which provides significant funding increases that will enable the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to continue to make progress toward the goals in its Strategic Plan. The legislation funds NARA at a total of $289,826,000, including $244,247,000 in operating expenses, $39,143,000 for repairs and restorations, and $6,436,000 for competitive grants administered by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC).

"During these difficult times of constrained resources, this budget clearly illustrates that both the President and the Congress recognize the importance of the work we do and the challenges we face," said Archivist of the United States John W. Carlin. "Even more importantly, this budget, along with the favorable funding we have received the last several years, will allow us to continue the momentum we now have on key initiatives."

"I am especially pleased that the Congress and the Administration have provided $19 million for our Electronic Records Archives (ERA), the program that will enable us to build the archives of the future by developing solutions for the long term preservation of and access to the digital records of our Government. This tells me that our Government leaders have recognized the critical importance of dealing with our electronic records challenges. These resources will allow us, with help from our partners, to define a research agenda of archival and technical questions for ERA development, collaborate in sponsoring research to answer these questions, and begin translating the research into engineering solutions that work. Also included in these funds is money to do the initial development of targeted pilots to apply research results to high priority needs such as the preservation of electronic personnel files of veterans at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis."

Additionally, NARA's new budget includes $1,135,000 to build an interim repository to preserve and make accessible the Clinton White House electronic records.

To meet storage and preservation needs, the FY 2002 budget provides $28.5 million to build a new Southeast Regional Archives facility in Morrow, Georgia, just outside Atlanta. This new facility will replace the current one, a World War II depot, which does not meet building code standards, and puts the long-term preservation of the records housed there at risk. The new Southeast Regional Archives facility will be located on property immediately adjacent to the Clayton College and State University campus, and represents the first partnership of a State and Federal archives. Sharing the site with NARA will be the new Georgia Department of Archives and History building. When the new Southeast Regional Archives is complete, NARA will be better able to serve its customers and care for the records entrusted to it in this region of the country.

The budget also includes $5,693,000 for renovation and improved accessibility for visitors to the Eisenhower Presidential Library ($1,288,000) and the Ford Library and Museum ($4,405,000).

To expand opportunities for access, the budget provides:

• $450,000 for microfilming of the records of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedman and Abandoned Lands;

• $1,503,000 and 7 full-time employees to complete staffing of the Clinton Library and to fund an automatic system to redact privacy information from Clinton Presidential records;

• $3,970,000 for development of the NARA web site to better meet customer's needs, to expand opportunities for citizens and Federal agencies to use more NARA services electronically, and to meet the requirements of the Government Paperwork Elimination Act;

• $1,442,000 for the implementation of an Electronic Editing and Publishing System by the Federal Register and further development of its electronic Code of Federal Regulations.

• $237,000 to complete testing and begin piloting of a Records Management application that may potentially be used NARA-wide.

For additional PRESS information, please contact the National Archives Public Affairs staff at (301) 837-1700 or by e-mail.

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