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(FWD) NCC WASHINGTON UPDATE Vol. 7, #47, November 16, 2001



> NCC WASHINGTON UPDATE, Vol. 7, #47, November 16, 2001
> by Bruce Craig <rbcraig@nccph.org
> National Coordinating Committee for the Promotion of History (NCCPH)
> *****************
>
> 1.  FY 2002 Budget for NARA Signed by President
> 2.  UPDATE: Strategy Meeting on Presidential Records Act Executive Order
> 3.  REPORT: Meeting of the NHPRC
> 4.  News Bits and Bytes: Jefferson Day Event Scheduled; New Book on Student
> History Exam Foibles; Web Sites of Interest to the Historical Community
>
>
> 1.    FY 2002 BUDGET FOR NARA SIGNED BY PRESIDENT
> President Bush has signed the Treasury/Postal appropriations legislation
> (P.L. 107-67) which provides funding for the National Archives and Records
> Administration (NARA). The legislation provides the agency with a total
> budget of $289,826,000 which includes $244,247,000 for 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). According to Archivist of the United States John
> Carlin, "this budget...will allow us to continue the momentum we now have
> on key initiatives."
>
> The budget includes $19 million for the Electronic Records Archives (ERA)
> and $28.5 million to build a new Southeast Regional Archives facility in
> Morrow, Georgia just outside Atlanta.  The appropriation also includes
> $5,693,000 for renovation and improved accessibility to the Eisenhower
> Presidential Library and Ford Library and Museum. Some $450,000 is
> allocated for microfilming the records of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedman,
> and Abandoned Lands.  Funding provides for 7 full-time employees to
> complete the staffing of the Clinton Library as well as $1,135,000 to build
> an interim repository to preserve and make available the Clinton White
> House electronic records, and sufficient money to fund an automatic system
> to redact privacy information from Clinton Presidential records. NARA also
> will receive $3,970,000 for the development of an enhanced NARA web site.
>
> 2.    UPDATE: STRATEGY MEETING ON PRESIDENTIAL RECORDS ACT EXECUTIVE ORDER
> On November 9, 2001 representatives from the historical, archival, and
> openness in government communities met to discuss President Bush's recent
> Executive Order #13233,  "Further Implementation of the Presidential
> Records Act" and its impact on the Presidential Records Act (PRA).  It
> appears that a law suit will be filed in the near future on behalf of
> interested organizations and individuals.
>
> Discussion also focused on the need to generate letters to Congress from
> individuals and organizations to raise concerns about specific provisions
> of the new Executive Order.  Background information on objectionable
> provisions in the new Executive Order are found in the last NCC WASHINGTON
> UPDATE (Vol. 7, #46, November 9, 2001); those interested in writing letters
> should also e-mail the editor at rbcraig@nccph.org and request additional
> information.  To be included in the official record of the recent hearing
> by the Committee on Government Reform (see NCC WASHINGTON UPDATE referenced
> above), letters must be received in Rep. Stephen Horn's (R-Calif.) office
> by Tuesday, November 20.  The address for posting letters is: The Honorable
> Stephen Horn, Committee on Government Reform, 2157 Rayburn House Office
> Building, Washington D.C. 20003.
>
> During the meeting, discussion also focused on a possible legislative
> strategy to undo the damage done to the PRA by the President's order.
>
> 3.    REPORT: MEETING OF THE NHPRC
> On November 13-14, the National Historical Publications and Records
> Commission (NHPRC) met at the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington
> D.C.  On the first day, in the absence of the Archivist of the United
> States John W. Carlin, Alfred Goldberg, historian with the Department of
> Defense, chaired the meeting.
>
> The Chair announced that the new U.S. Senate appointee to the Commission
> was U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT); the Commission was also informed
> that Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO) was reappointed by the U.S. House of
> Representatives. The Commission also welcomed Barbara J. Fields, Professor
> of History at Columbia University, who represents the Organization of
> American Historians.
>
> After approval of the minutes of the last Commission meeting, NHPRC
> Executive Director Ann C. Newhall presented her report that chronicled the
> extensive battle over the NHPRC budget this year.  She reported that while
> staff was initially hopeful that the Senate figure of $7.3 million for the
> NHPRC would be approved, in the end, owing to other governmental priorities
> in the Treasury/Postal bill (for example, the Office of Homeland Security
> is a new line item in the appropriation bill) the NHPRC was only allotted
> $6.436 million for grants.  Newhall mentioned that next year's budget will
> be especially tough. (In this regard, the NCC has learned that federal
> agencies are being asked by the Administration to assemble their FY 2003
> budget requests; they are being directed to use the President's FY 2001
> budget request figures as the base and make necessary cuts from that
> number. For the NHPRC, this means a budget request for the Commission will
> in all likelihood be less than the $4.2 million proposed in the President's
> budget in FY 2002.) Newhall also reported on a new grants management system
> that should be in place by FY 2003 that will enable the Commission to
> accept grant applications electronically.
>
> The Commission then turned to several motions recommended by the Executive
> Committee. During the May 2001 meeting of the Commission, staff was
> directed to work with a committee of the Commission to develop a set of
> criteria to be used for the evaluation of second-tier documentary editions.
> After discussion, the Commission approved a motion setting forth "Criteria
> for Evaluating Second-Tier Documentary Editing Projects."
>
> The resulting statement adopted by the Commission is basically a
> codification of the criteria already employed by staff when evaluating new
> and ongoing projects.  These criteria are outlined within the NHPRC
> publication, "Grant Guidelines: How to Apply for NHPRC Grants" and "How to
> Administer NHPRC Grants" which are available online at the NHPRC website:
> http://wwww.nara.gov/nhprc
>
> General Criteria for evaluating new second-tier documentary editing
> projects includes: "National significance of the subject material to the
> research public and potential range of audiences and uses of the planned
> projects; the project proposes to make accessible in published form
> documents never before available, or available in one place, to the
> research public; the project demonstrates a solid financial foundation from
> its sponsoring institution and others, a base of support that promises to
> complement NHPRC funding over the life of the project; the project promises
> a reliable return on the investment of NHPRC funds."
>
> General Criteria for evaluating ongoing documentary editing projects
> includes: "Positive results in return for the investment of NHPRC funds;
> demonstration of effective project management, i.e. the project meets all
> or most of the goals of previous grants, makes steady and measurable
> progress, is adhering to its work plan, demonstrates dedication and
> ingenuity in overcoming problems, and in recent years has indicated little
> slippage in its projected completion date; demonstration of a solid
> financial foundation from the sponsoring institution and other funders; a
> base of support that complements NHPRC funding; projects within two years
> of completion or projects threatened with extinction absent Commission
> funding may be given special consideration."
>
> A new provision was adopted entitled, "Special Considerations in Times of
> Budgetary Shortfall." The verbatim statement of the Commission is as
> follows: "It has long been the practice of the Commission to maintain
> steady support of documentary editing projects. The Commission has
> responded to appropriations increases or decreases with across-the-board
> actions for ongoing editing projects.  However, in times of budgetary
> shortfall, which the Commission defines as 'times when appropriations are
> insufficient to allow the NHPRC to fund all projects judged to be worthy of
> funding' the Commission may implement the following in order to make the
> best and most productive use of scarce resources: Staff recommendations for
> funding ongoing editions are to be presented to the Commission in two or,
> if conditions warrant, three tiers:
>         1) Projects recommended to receive flat funding
>         2) Projects recommended for some reduction in funding
>         3) Projects for whom it is difficult to justify continued funding
> These recommendations are to be arrived at by: careful oversight of the
> projects, review of reports from previous grants, and review of the level
> of achievement of agreed-upon performance measures from previous grants."
>
> The Commission also adopted a second resolution relating to a funding
> strategy for this year's appropriation. The general strategy provides for a
> greater proportion of NHPRC funding to be allocated during the May meeting
> of the Commission. After discussion, the following funding strategy was
> adopted; collectively, the figures represent 51.6% of the total NHPRC
> budget of $6.436 million: Founding Father projects $1,295,636; Subventions
> $7,169; State Board Administrative Support Projects $129,111; State Board
> Planning, Implementation, and Re-grant Projects $325,639; Electronic
> Records/Technologies Projects $1.4 million; Education Projects $148,000.
>
> During the second day of the meeting the Commission considered pending
> NHPRC grant proposals (A list of grants awarded will be announced in the
> near future).
>
> 4.  NEWS BITS AND BYTES
> Item #1 - Jefferson Day Event Scheduled: Jefferson Day, an annual advocacy
> event organized by the National Humanities Alliance and co-sponsored by
> more than twenty organizations to promote support for the National
> Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) will take place March 25-26, 2002 in
> Washington D.C.  The event provides an opportunity for scholars and others
> working in the humanities to communicate the importance of federal support
> for the humanities to congressional leaders in Washington.  This next year,
> grassroots advocacy will be especially critical because of the increased
> pressure on state and federal budgets.  Hotel rooms have been reserved at
> the George Washington University Inn located near the George Washington
> University campus and just a short walk from the Kennedy Center for the
> Performing Arts where the Jefferson Lecture will be delivered on the
> evening of the 25th.  There is no registration fee.  Registration
> information may be obtained by tapping into: http://www.nhalliance.org/jd/
>
> Item #2 - New Book on Student History Exam Foibles: Virtually every history
> teacher has horror stories to tell about what students write on
> exams.  Anders Henriksson, a history professor at Shepherd College in
> Shepherdstown, West Virginia, has collected into a nifty little book
> hundreds of student exam flubs, goofs, and gaffes. Examples in "Non Campus
> Mentis: World History According to College Students" (Workman Publishing,
> Sept. 2001) are drawn not just from Shepherd College but from clueless
> students from all over the United States and Canada. A couple of examples:
> "Spartacus led a slave revolt and later was in a movie about it" and "The
> Civil War began in 1830. Many soldiers repeatedly gave their lives for
> their country."
>
> Item #3 - Websites of Interest to the Historical Community:  The following
> websites have recently come to our attention and may be of interest to
> readers of this publication:
>
> "Lessons of Liberty" encourages schools to invite veterans into classrooms
> to share their experiences.  The website for this initiative was announced
> by President Bush in October: Tap into: http://www.va.gov/Veteranedu/
>
> "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, Exploring the French Revolution" is an
> introduction to the French Revolution and an archive of important
> documentary evidence from the Revolution, including more than 300 texts,
> nearly 250 images, & a number of maps & songs. Tap
> into:  http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/
>
> "The Time of the Lincolns," is the companion website to the film "Abraham &
> Mary Lincoln: A House Divided."  It examines the context and conflicts
> surrounding the Civil War.  Topics include the partisan politics of the
> time, the battle for abolition, the Underground Railroad, African American
> troops, & women's rights.  The site offers soldiers' letters, newspaper
> articles, & other primary sources, along with a teacher's guide. Tap
> into:  http://pbs.org/amex/lincolns/
>
> "Updating the Lewis & Clark Journals" represents an effort to document
> today's views of selected Lewis & Clark journal entries using the methods &
> standards of 21st century scientists and scholars. Tap into:
> http://www.nwrel.org/teachlewisandclark/home.html
>
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