Archivist Allen Weinstein Honors Reagan Library Staff
Press Release · Friday, December 2, 2005

Washington, DC…At the National Archives annual State of the Archives Address and Awards Ceremony yesterday, Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein recognized seven staff members of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, for extraordinary services to the White House, the Senate, the public, and the press in providing access to records pertaining to John Roberts. The following Ronald Reagan Presidential Library staffers received the National Archives award for outstanding customer service to external National Archives customers: Diane Barrie, Michael Duggan, Sherrie Fletcher, Shelly Jacobs, Ira Pemstein, Ben Pezzillo, and Cate Sewell.

In giving the award, the Archivist noted: "Your professionalism, your commitment to the work at hand, your response to National Archives customers and partners, your sense of mission, have all been exemplary. I thank each and every National Archives employee who has contributed to my understanding of the agency. Our customers recognize, as I do, the high quality of work performed at the National Archives."

Background: Dedicated staffs from many offices at the National Archives worked tirelessly under extraordinary time constraints to locate, review, and make available more than 75,000 pages of Presidential and Federal records related to Supreme Court nominee, now Chief Justice John Roberts. At the Reagan Library, a team mobilized under the leadership of Supervisory Archivist Mike Duggan located, arranged, reviewed, and described more than 60,000 pages of unprocessed Reagan Presidential records under severe time constraints. Reagan Library archivists also coordinated the required privilege review by the representatives of the former and incumbent Presidents, and archival staff made more than 130,000 pages of photocopies in order to allow, for the first time ever, the large-scale simultaneous release of Presidential records both at a Presidential library and in Washington, D.C.

Diane Barrie, Michael Duggan, Sherrie Fletcher, Shelly Jacobs, Ira Pemstein, Ben Pezzillo, and Cate Sewell made available the critical documentation that was needed by the Senate for its deliberations during the confirmation process for Chief Justice Roberts. As importantly, the Reagan Library staffers also made these records available to the public and the press. The honorees’ long hours and dedicated work provided innovative solutions for the highest levels of external customer support, which ultimately included all three branches of the federal government, as well as the national media.

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For press information, contact the National Archives Public Affairs staff at 202-501-5526.

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