I forward the following message regarding
proposed budget cuts for the National Historical
Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC),
which supports many worthwhile documentary
editions, and urge friends and supporters of the
scholarly editing community to act by the 1 May
deadline.  Thanks.
Sincerely,
Frank Grizzard
Papers of George Washington

--- Begin Forwarded Message ---
Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2001 12:22:13 -0400
From: Bruce Craig <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: [NCCmailings] NCC WASHINGTON UPDATE,
Vol. 7, #17, April 25, 2001
Sender: Scholarly Editing Forum
<[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask]

Reply-To: [log in to unmask]
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<[log in to unmask]>


NCC WASHINGTON UPDATE, Vol. 7, #17, April 25,
2001 by Bruce Craig <[log in to unmask]> of  the
National Coordinating Committee for the Promotion
of History *****************

1.   NHPRC Budget - Special Action Request
2.   News Bits and Bytes: NCC Activities at OAH
Convention

1.   SPECIAL ACTION REQUEST: YOUR IMMEDIATE HELP
IS NEEDED TO RAISE FUNDING LEVELS FOR THE
NATIONAL HISTORICAL PUBLICATIONS AND RECORDS
COMMISSION The NCC has just learned that there is
a MAY 1, 2001, deadline for House of
Representatives "Members Requests" for funding
various aspects of the federal budget.  As has
been previously brought to your attention (see
NCC WASHINGTON UPDATE (Vol. 7, #15 April 11,
2001), a deep funding cut is proposed in the
President's budget proposal for the National
Historical Publications and Records Commission
(NHPRC).  The President's proposal is for a
funding level of $4.436 million - dramatically
down (31%) from the $6.436 million funding level
in the current FY 2001 budget.

We urge you to contact your Congressional
representatives IMMEDIATELY and have them forward
a "Members Request" to the Chairman of the House
Subcommittee on Treasury, Postal Service and
General Government urging Chairman Istook and
members of that Committee to fund the grants
program of the National Historical Publications
and Records Commission at the $10 million level.

ACTION NEEDED:
*INDIVIDUALS:  Letters, phone calls, faxes, and
E-mails (least effective) to your own
Representatives and Senators asking them to
support the $10 million figure and to let the
chair and ranking member of the subcommittee
listed below know of this support.  The
appropriation is due to be considered early in
May in the House so you need to act
immediately! *ORGANIZATIONS:  Communicate with
the committee listed below stating
your organization's total membership and purpose
and supporting the $10 million figure.  It's
particularly important to focus on the myriad
uses of NHPRC-funded products.

BACKGROUND:  The National Historical Publications
Commission was created with the National Archives
in 1934, given its own staff in 1951, authorized
to make grants in 1964, and reorganized in 1975
as the National Historical Publications and
Records Commission.  Its mandate is to assist
efforts to preserve and make the documentary
heritage of the United States widely accessible
by using modest federal grants to stimulate
state, local, institutional and private
contributions.  The federal funding leverages
contributions to historical documentary editing
projects (i.e. The Papers of founders Benjamin
Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington,
John Adams, and James Madison, the correspondence
of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony,
the Papers of Eleanor Roosevelt, the Frederick
Douglass Papers, the Papers of Gen. George C.
Marshall, to name a few), to projects designed to
preserve historical records of enduring value and
to cooperative projects to address common
archival issues, such as the complex problem of
electronic historical records.  The Commission
has an excellent record of accomplishment and is
seen as a model federal grants program.

NHPRC has an FY'01 appropriation of $6.436
million, however, the Administration has
recommended only $4.436 million for FY'02, which
represents a 31% cut. The NHPRC's grants program
is authorized at a $10 million ceiling for FY'02.
The Administration's request would cut the
NHPRC's grants funding almost back to its FY1980
level of $4 million!! This cut would be
particularly damaging given the fact that the
NHPRC's grants are addressing ever bigger and
more expensive records issues, particularly in
the electronic records research area.

The proposed cut also threatens the NHPRC's well
recognized ability to leverage monies and to act
as the "venture capitalist" for the
nation's documentary heritage.  Documentary
publications projects, which are
already universally understaffed and underfunded,
will suffer further cutbacks and their progress
will be slowed, or halted altogether.  State and
regional activities in planning implementing
archival programs will be seriously hampered and
research on the pressing problem of electronic
records will be curtailed, jeopardizing the
preservation of important historical
documentation.

KEY POINTS TO RAISE IN RELATION TO THE NHPRC:
*  The National Historical Publications and
Records Commission makes grants each year to
institutions across the country to preserve
historical records, publish historical papers,
and make historical materials more
accessible. NHPRC 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 who preserve
and make available non-Federal records of
exceptional historical significance.

*   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, the founder of the National Archives and
the NHPRC when he wrote 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 history editions are used not only
by scholars but by students and teachers at every
educational level, as well as 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.

*  NHPRC grants are a good investment for the
country.  They result in major matching funds
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.

NHPRC supporters are urged to contact their
Congressional representatives (the Capitol
switchboard telephone number is 202. 224-3121)
immediately, and urge them to send a "members
request" to the Committee on Appropriations
to support full-funding ($10 million) for the
NHPRC. Furthermore, request that these funds not
be taken out of the existing NARA program
base. Communication with  House members Ernest J.
Istook, Frank Wolf, Anne Meagher Northup, John E.
Sununu, John Peterson, Todd Tiahrt, John Sweeney,
Don Sherwood, Steny H. Hoyer, Carrie Meek, David
E. Price, Steven R. Rothman, and Peter J.
Visclosky (all of whom sit on the House
appropriation subcommittee of jurisdiction) would
be particularly useful.

Letters from historical and archival
organizations are especially important right now
and should be sent to the Appropriation
subcommittee of jurisdiction:

The Honorable Ernest J. Istook
Chairman, Subcommittee on Treasury, Postal
Service and General Government Committee on
Appropriations U.S. House of Representatives
B-307 Rayburn House Office Building Washington
D.C. 20515-6028

2.  NEWS BITS AND BYTES:
Item #1- The National Coordination Committee for
the Promotion of History will hold its breakfast
briefing during the meeting of the Organization
of American Historians (OAH) in Los Angeles,
California, on April 27 from 7:30 to 9:00 am. The
NCC Board meeting will follow. Readers with an
interest in the work of the NCC are invited to
attend the breakfast portion. In addition, the
NCC will host one of the OAH's experimental
"chat-rooms" on Sunday April 29 from 9 to 11 am.
The chat room will provide attendees with an
opportunity to learn about the political process,
ask questions about pending legislation,
appropriations, and the work of the NCC. Consult
the OAH program for additional details.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * * *  * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * NCC
invites you to redistribute the NCC Washington
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* * * * * * * * * --- End Forwarded Message ---


--
Frank E. Grizzard, Jr.
Associate Editor
Papers of George Washington
University of Virginia

[log in to unmask]
http://www.virginia.edu/~feg3e
http://www.virginia.edu/gwpapers

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