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.

We need your help!!

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.

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.

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. NHPRC deserves funding, and we need your help to make sure it receives it.

WHAT YOU CAN DO
FAX letters to you members of Congress. 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: http://www.house.gov/writerep/ and http://www.senate.gov or make use of the Humanities Action Network at http://www.humanitiesadvocacy.org...

Key Points to Raise in your FAX Include:

• 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...

• 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.

• 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."

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

Thank you so much for being an active and engaged member of the AASLH family! Be sure to copy me at davis@aaslh.org on any correspondence you send.

CONTACT CAM

We welcome your comments and inquiries. Please contact the CAM office at:

Celeste DeWald, Executive Director
California Association of Museums
P.O. Box 1455
Santa Cruz, CA 95061-1455
Located at the Seymour Marine Discovery Center

Phone: (831) 471-9970
FAX: (831) 471-9381
Email: cam@calmuseums.org
http://www.calmuseums.org/