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Subject: AASLH NEEDS YOUR HELP TO SAVE NHPRC
Date: Sat, 19 Mar 2005 05:13:10 UT
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style='font-size:9.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:AGaramond'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
Dear Colleague:<br>
The National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) -- the
grant-making arm of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
-- has been targeted for zero funding in the President's FY 2006
proposed budget. A minimum funding level of $8 million is needed for
grants and an additional $2 million for staffing and other program
administration related costs in FY 2006 if this small but critically
important program is to continue to provide access to key documents of our
democracy, history, and culture.<br>
<br>
<B>We need your help!!</B><br>
<br>
Over the past 40 years, the Commission has awarded a total of $153 million
to over 4,000 state and local government archives, colleges and
universities, and other institutions to preserve and publish important
historical records that document American history. Through the work of the
documentary editions, more and more of the documentary record has been made
readily available in books and electronic formats, enabling the research on
a wealth of award winning new books by noted historians such as Joseph
Ellis, David McCullough, Michael Beschloss, Jack Rakove, James McPherson,
and others. Accessible documents and documentary editions provide the
essential evidence that enables historians to tell the story of our nation's
history. Editions and archival collections have also provided the resources
for the creation of a vast number of authentic tools for educators at all
levels.<br>
<br>
In FY 2004 the NHPRC received its full authorized level of $10 million, but
FY 2005 Congress appropriated only $5 million--after the Administration
proposed cutting the program to $2 million.  In spite of the cuts, last year
the president signed legislation (P.L. 108-383) reauthorizing the
Commission's grants program for another four years at the $10 million
level. The White House should stand by its commitment and provide funding
for the NHPRC.<br>
<br>
As Americans take stock of who we are and decide what parts of our culture,
history, and values we will bring with us into the future, we must preserve
the historical evidence. The NHPRC is playing a vital role in preserving,
protecting, and making accessible the nation’s documentary heritage. <B><I>NHPRC
deserves funding, and we need your help to make sure it receives it.</B></I><br>
<br>
<B><I><U>WHAT YOU CAN DO</B></I></U><br>
<br>
<B><I>FAX letters to you members of Congress.</B></I> E-mail is not often given the consideration
deserved because of the volume coming in. Hard copy letters are a problem too because
they have to be irradiated prior to being delivered to a member's office and arrive
weeks if not months late. Ask your congressmen and senators to support $8 million
for the grant-making arm of the NHPRC and an additional $2 million for staffing.
Well-reasoned arguments with examples to support them work best. Also, please pass
this information on to your colleagues and others, urging them to act. For a list of 
Congressional addresses via zip code, tap into: <a href="http://www.house.gov/writerep/">http://www.house.gov/writerep/</a> 
and <a href="http:www.senate.gov/">www.senate.gov</a> or make use of the Humanities Action Network at <a href=http://www.humanitiesadvocacy.org>www.humanitiesadvocacy.org</a>.<br>
<br>
In the House, the subcommittee of jurisdiction is the Subcommittee on
Transportation, Treasury, Housing and Urban Development, District of
Columbia, 2358 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515-6028;
Phone (202) 225-2141; Fax (202) 225-0900. Members include: Chair -- Joe
Knollenberg (R-MI); Frank Wolf (R-VA), Harold Rogers (R-KY), Todd Tiahrt
(R-KS), Anne Northup (R-KY), Robert Aderholt (R-AL), John Sweeney (R-NY),
John Culberson (R-TX), and Ralph Regula (R-OH); Ranking Minority Member --
John Olver (D-MA), Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Ed Pastor (D-AZ), Carolyn Kilpatrick
(D-MI), James Clyburn (D-SC), Steve Rothman (D-NJ).<br>
<br>
In the Senate, the subcommittee with appropriations jurisdictional
responsibility for the NHPRC is: Transportation, Treasury, and General
Government, Senate Dirksen Office Building, Room 133, Washington D.C.
20510; Phone (202) 224-5310; Fax (202) 224-4401. Eventually, the
subcommittee will have nineteen members; thus far the following have been
appointed: Chair, Christopher Bond (R-MO), Arlen Specter (R-PA), Robert
Bennett (R-UT), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), Mike DeWine (R-OH), Sam
Brownback (R-KS); Ranking Minority Member - Patty Murray (D-WA), Robert
Byrd (D-WV), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Harry Reid (D-NV), Herb Kohl (D-WI),
Richard Durbin (D-IL), Byron Dorgan (D-ND).<br>
<br>
If you are a constituent of any of the above listed members of Congress,
your voice especially counts. If you are from a state not listed, write your
members of Congress and ask for their support.<br>
<br>
<B><I>Key Points to Raise in your FAX Include:</B></I><br>
<br>
*The longest surviving democracy on earth has a duty to document and
preserve its history. The NHPRC makes grants each year to institutions
across the country to preserve historical records, publish historical
papers, and to make historical materials more accessible (for a listing of
past NHPRC grants by states, <ahref=http://www.archives.gov/grants/funded_endorsed_projects/states_and_territorie s/nc.html>.click here</a><br>
<br>
*The Commission has an outstanding record of making grants to edit and
publish historical documents, to develop archival programs, to promote the
preservation and use of historical records, to promote regional and
national coordination in addressing major archival issues, and to support a
wide range of other activities relating to America's documentary heritage.
While the National Archives concentrates on federal records, the NHPRC
helps archivists, documentary editors, and historians by making available
non-Federal records of exceptional historical significance. Books by
scholarly and popular authors like David McCullough's John Adams, would not
have been possible without the type of documentary editions that emerge
from the NHPRC's work.<br>
<br>
*The public benefits that come from the preservation and dissemination of
documents significant to an understanding of the United States were most
eloquently stated by J. Franklin Jameson, founder of the National Archives
and the NHPRC in a November 30, 1927 memorandum: "The publication of
documentary historical materials is a regular function of all civilized
governments, and it is not likely to be omitted by any government in which
there is any appreciation of how much historical study does and can do for
the promotion of national patriotism."<br>
<br>
*Documentary editions and historical records are used not only by scholars,
students, and teachers at every educational level, but also by documentary
film-makers and museum curators. The Internet has literally opened up a new
world for the dissemination of the products of NHPRC funded projects but
that dissemination and truly democratic access to reliable historical
sources will come at a substantial cost.<br>
<br>
*NHPRC grants are a good investment for the country. They result in major
matching investment from private sources, which would not have been
available otherwise. Federal funds ensure potential backers that the
projects are of genuine significance and capably staffed and organized.
Through this model cost-sharing program, in which the average non-Federal
contribution is almost 50%, NHPRC has efficiently used federal leverage to
preserve our documentary heritage.<br>
<br>
*Loss of the NHPRC's funding to projects will have a domino effect causing
funding from other sources to be withdrawn or reduced. The NHPRC's grants
are the linchpins for the funding structure of most projects--without them
the structure will collapse.<br>
<br>
Thank you so much for being an active and engaged member of the AASLH family!
Be sure to copy me at <a href="mailto:[log in to unmask]">[log in to unmask]</a> on any correspondence you send.


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