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Exon Papers (was RAIN 12/1: 50K)



Hi colleagues,

A footnote to the story of J.J. Exon's papers, from one of the repositories
that houses his "legacy."  You'll see that the "disservice" to the archives
profession goes well beyond the unfortunate phraseology of the newspaper
article.

When Senator Exon announced his retirement some years back, the Nebraska
State Historical Society began negotiations with his staff to receive his
papers.  Exon had money left in his campaign "war chest," and his Chief of
Staff told us that some was to be used to process the collection on their
end and to commit it to digital form.  We were to get the originals, and a
copy of the collection on CD-ROMs.  My first thought was that the digitizing
part was a little excessive, but hey, if that's what they wanted to do,
fine.  I offered my services as an advisor to the project, but he assured me
that was not necessary: They were working with a local consulting archivist
who had experience (and the SAA training) on congressional papers.  OK,
we'll wait.  Call us when you're ready to ship.

Finally, about the time of Exon's actual retirement, I got the call: We're
finished, said the Chief of Staff, and ready to ship the boxes to you.  How
many, I asked.  Eleven, he said.  Eleven HUNDRED? I asked (this would be a
lot, but as many of you know congressional collections can be voluminous).
No, ELEVEN, he said.  Just the public stuff, he said, texts of speeches,
voting records, highlight correspondence, press releases, and the like.  It
finally clicked in my feeble mind:  They had no intention of saving Exon's
historical legacy, but rather to create a metaphorically abbreviated homage
to the man.  Gone were the subject files, the constituent correspondence,
the committee work -- in short, the HEART of Exon's career.  Eighteen years
reduced to the stuff you could pretty much find elsewhere if you looked.  In
my mind I heard the shredders working overtime all the way from DC.  I
gulped, and just continued on with logistical pleasantries to the Chief of
Staff.

Within a week we had our eleven boxes and a stack of CD-ROMs.  Another set
of CD-ROMs went to the Exon Library, a newly-created entity festooned with
plaques and other awards, with a lone computer available to provide access
to the digital files.  The room was set up in the new headquarters of the
Nebraska Democratic Party, and actually was the loophole through which
Exon's campaign funds were funneled to partly finance those headquarters.

Now, the "collection" is going to Doane College in Crete, Nebraska --
actually a better place for it than the Demo HQ.  We (the Nebraska State
Historical Society) still have the originals (all 5.5 cu. ft. of it!).  For
myself, I still have nightmares about those shredders, and I have learned my
lesson about political functionaries.  In his defense, I believe Senator
Exon would be appalled at the results of all this, had he been properly
briefed about the options at the beginning.

Now you know the REST of the story!

Paul J. Eisloeffel
Curator of Manuscripts and Audio-Visual Collections
Nebraska State Historical Society
P.O. Box 82554
Lincoln, NE 68501
(402) 471-4750
Fax: (402) 471-8922
E-mail: pje@inebraska.com
           pje@nebraskahistory.org
www.nebraskahistory.org

----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter Kurilecz" <PAKURILECZ@AOL.COM>
To: <ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, December 14, 2000 8:28 PM
Subject: Re: RAIN 12/1: 50K


> Julie Kerssner wrote:
> <<Perhaps I'm being nitpicky, but this rubbed me the wrong way:
>
> >Omaha World-Herald 12/13/00
> >Exon's papers move online starting today
> >http://new.omaha.com/index.atp?u_div=3&u_hdg=0&u_sid=46525
> >by C. David Kotok
> >Lincoln - J.J. Exon, who built his formidable political reputation with a
> >firm handshake, a hearty laugh and impeccable street smarts, is not
hiding
> >his U.S. Senate papers in some musty library vault.>>
>
> Oh I don't think you are being nitpicky. In fact you hit it right on the
> head. This type of article does a big disservice. If this list wishes to
> complain may I suggest the following:
>
> At the bottom of the story readers are able to offer their comments about
> this story. so I suggest that people visit the story site and after
reading
> it they post their comments.  You don't even have to scroll to the bottom
of
> the article as there is a button at the top of the page for comments.
>
> If you comment be objective not subjective. Point out the disadvantages of
an
> online archive. Explain why archives are not musty. Don't sound whiney or
as
> our friends from down under would say "whinging". Explain that you are an
> archivist and that this type of article is a disservice. etc. etc.
>
> Look forward to some interesting comments
>
>
>
>
> Peter A. Kurilecz CRM, CA
> Richmond, Va
> pakurilecz@aol.com
>
> A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!
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> Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>
>

A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!

To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to listserv@listserv.muohio.edu
      In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
                    *or*:  UNSUB ARCHIVES
To post a message, send e-mail to archives@listserv.muohio.edu

Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html

Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>