An update from our colleagues in Georgia:
The fight continues to keep the Georgia Archives available to the people of the state. While the Governor made a statement about keeping the Archives open when he was visited by members of the Society of Georgia Archivists last week (over 100 showed for the declaration of Archives Month: http://georgiaarchivists.blogspot.com/2012/09/gam-2012.html), he has backpedaled and restated that the decision falls to the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State, meanwhile, distributed this Op-Ed piece to numerous Georgia newspapers, saying that the Archives doesn't generate revenue and hence has to bear the full burden of the mandated cuts: http://www.peachpundit.com/2012/09/21/secretary-of-state-kemp-on-closing-the-state-archives/.
Staffing at the Archives has gone from 54 in 2002 to the 3 who will remain after the end of October (the top two administrators and the facilities manager). The Society of Georgia Archivist has planned a Save the Archives rally at the State Capitol on October 3rd, and they are leading a number of efforts to lobby individual congressmen. Yesterday, the New York Times picked up the story, and published this article: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/27/us/budget-cuts-to-limit-public-access-to-georgia-archives.html
Meanwhile, to keep up with the goings-on in Georgia and read more about their advocacy efforts, you can check the Friends oft he Georgia Archives and History website: http://www.fogah.org/
-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Craig Kilby
Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2012 10:45 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] Georgia state archives closing its doors to researchers
Steve,
Apparently the NYT is behind the news curve. This was reported about two weeks ago. Since then--due to public outrage--the Governor the Peach State has at least claimed he will not let this happen. Just how--or even if--he does this is not yet clear.
Craig Kilby
Lancaster, Virginia
On Sep 27, 2012, at 4:25 AM, Steve Corneliussen wrote:
> On Sep 14, 2012, Henry Wiencek wrote:
>> Some of you may already have heard that, because of budget cuts,
>> Georgia is closing its state archives to the public as of November 1.
>> From what I've read there may be some limited access by appointment.
>> I've seen the news on a couple of blogs.
>
> The news is now in the New York Times, on page A20 of the September 27 edition under the headline "Budget Cuts to Archives Put History Out of Reach." (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/27/us/budget-cuts-to-limit-public-access-to-georgia-archives.html) The article uses the Georgia situation as context for reporting on archiving concerns generally, including electronic media issues. Here's how it starts:
> QUOTE
> MORROW, Ga. - The Georgia Archives, which holds both historical curiosities and virtually every important state government document ever created, is about to become nearly impossible to visit.
>
> In November, a round of government budget cuts will reduce the staff to three, one of them the maintenance man. Thousands of documents that pour in every month are likely to languish because no one will be available to sort through them, archives officials said. People who view accurate and open government records as the bedrock of democracy are outraged.
>
> The move will make Georgia the only state without an archives open to the public on a regular basis. But this closing is simply the most severe symptom of a greater crisis facing permanent government collections in nearly every state, professional archivists say.
> UNQUOTE
>
> Steve Corneliussen
> Poquoson, Virginia
>
> ______________________________________
> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at
> http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
______________________________________
To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at
http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
______________________________________
To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at
http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
|
