National Coalition for History

This week, the Smithsonian Institution and conservative commentator and Fox News personality Oliver North were once again at odds over his use of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center to film a documentary.

North hosts the series “War Stories” on the Fox News Channel and is filming a documentary on the history of nuclear weapons. The show’s producers had requested the opportunity to film North speaking in front of the Enola Gay, the B-29 bomber which dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima in August 1945. The Enola Gay is housed at the Udvar-Hazy Center. Read the full article »

National Park Service Personnel Appointments: The National Park Service (NPS) recently announced the appointment of Daniel N. Wenk as Deputy Director and Dr. Richard J. O’Connor as Chief of the Heritage Documentation Programs Division.

Two Washington Post editorials on March 12, 2007, endorsing H.R. 1255, the “Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2007,” and H.R. 1254, the “Presidential Donation Reform Act of 2007.”

• Editorial endorsing H.R. 1255, the “Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2007.”
• Editorial endorsing H.R. 1254, the “Presidential Donation Reform Act of 2007.”

On March 8, 2007, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee unanimously approved H.R. 1255, the “Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2007.” The bill is expected to go to the House floor the week of March 12.

The National Coalition for History is asking everyone in the historical and archival community to contact their House member as soon as possible and ask that they support H.R.1255. Read the full article »

On March 8, 2007, the House Oversight and Government Relations Committee unanimously approved H.R. 1309, the “Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Amendments of 2007.” This legislation contains numerous provisions that will increase public access to government information by strengthening the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). We expect the bill will be considered on the House floor next week in tandem with the Presidential Records Act Reform bill (H.R. 1255). Read the full article »

On March 8, 2007, the House Oversight and Government Relations Committee unanimously approved H.R. 1254, the “Presidential Donation Reform Act of 2007.” The bill will likely be considered on the House floor along with the two bills noted above.

Presidential libraries are built using private funds raised by an organization or foundation working on behalf of the president. Under current law, donations for the presidential library can be unlimited in size and are not required to be disclosed. The bill would require that all organizations established for the purpose of raising funds for presidential libraries or their related facilities report on a quarterly basis all contributions of $200 or more. Read the full article »

The National Humanities Alliance (NHA) will hold its 2007 conference March 26-27 in Washington DC. The two-day event is a unique meeting ground for members of the Alliance and others interested in humanities policy and advocacy, including higher education leaders, college and university faculty, teachers, museum professionals, librarians, archivists, curators, and independent scholars. Read the full article »

The National Archives will host a two-day preservation conference entitled “Managing the Intangible: Creating, Storing and Retrieving Digital Surrogates of Historical Materials,” on Monday, April 30, and Tuesday, May 1, 2007. Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein will provide opening remarks for the event, which will be held at The Inn and Conference Center by Marriott at the University of Maryland’s University College in Adelphi, Maryland. Read the full article »

“Historians Fight Bush on Access to Papers,” ‘New York Times’, March 8, 2007, A timely discussion of the attempts by historians to fight the Bush Executive Order limiting access to presidential records that was the subject of the legislation passed this week and discussed above.

On March 8, 2007, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee unanimously approved H.R. 1255, the “Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2007.” The bill is expected to go to the House floor the week of March 12.

The National Coalition for History is asking everyone in the historical and archival community to contact their House member as soon as possible and ask that they support H.R. 1255. A summary of the bill is available below. Read the full article »