National Coalition for History

Despite the departure of controversial Secretary Lawrence Small, the Smithsonian Institution continues to take a beating on Capitol Hill.

The Senate Rules Committee held an oversight hearing this week on the Smithsonian. In her opening statement Rules Committee Chairwoman Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA) sharply criticized the Smithsonian’s Board of Regents for their lack of meaningful oversight over the Institution’s operations. Feinstein stated that, “While the Board is well meaning and dedicated, I’m not convinced the current structure has the capacity to perform the fiduciary responsibility required.” Read the full article »

It was revealed this week that some 22 current Bush administration officials have separate White House and Republican National Committee (RNC) e-mail accounts that were designed to ensure that White House staff did not use government equipment for political purposes in violation of the Hatch Act. However, it is being alleged by congressional Democrats that these political e-mail accounts were improperly used to engage in official government business without leaving an electronic trail behind in an attempt to circumvent the Presidential Records Act. Of particular interest are e-mails sent through these non-governmental accounts concerning the firing of eight U.S. attorneys that is currently under scrutiny by Congress. Read the full article »

During a session at the Organization of American Historians (OAH) annual meeting last week, it was revealed that both the Chief Historian and Bureau Historian positions at the National Park Service (NPS) remain vacant, with no clear date set for when they will be filled. Read the full article »

The National Humanities Alliance’s (NHA) 2007 Conference was held March 26-27 in Washington, DC. The event began in the Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center with a policy forum and roundtable discussion featuring federal agency representatives. Topics included: capacity building and infrastructure support, fellowships and resources for scholars, public programs, collaborative research, preservation, education, international education and cultural exchange, and the humanities and technology. Read the full article »

On the morning of March 27, more than 100 humanities supporters gathered in the Rayburn House Office Building to enjoy humanities exhibits and listen to remarks from National Endowment for the Humanities Chairman Bruce Cole, and new Congressional Humanities Caucus Co-Chair Rep. Phil English (R-PA). Read the full article »

At the NHA conference, National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Chairman Bruce Cole announced the first Digital Humanities Start-Up Grants. Chairman Cole said that these new projects are designed to explore and develop innovative uses of technology in humanities education, scholarship, and public programming. Sixteen projects will receive a total of $478,565 in this program, which is one part of NEH’s Digital Humanities Initiative. View a full list of the award recipients »

The Nazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial Government Records Interagency Working Group (IWG), the group tasked with locating, declassifying, and making publicly available U.S. records of Nazi and Japanese war crimes, concluded its work on March 31, 2007. Read the full article »

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities (MITH) at the University of Maryland have announced a summit meeting to plan a national coalition of digital humanities centers. Read the full article »

The Office of History Preservation in the Office of the Clerk of U.S. House of Representatives recently published , “Women in Congress, 1917–2006.” The book is the first in an official four-part series about minorities who have served in Congress. Future volumes will profile African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Asian-Pacific Islander Americans who have served in Congress. The 229 women profiled range from Jeannette Rankin of Montana—the first woman elected to Congress—to Nancy Pelosi, the first female Speaker of the House. Written as an authoritative resource, and a teaching tool, the hard copy of the book ends just before Speaker Pelosi and the newly-elected women Members of the 110th Congress were sworn in. But an online version provides an updated live resource that takes the research project into the future.

Library of Congress Acquires Caspar Weinberger Papers: The Library of Congress recently formally accepted a donation of the papers of former Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger. Weinberger served for six years in that post under President Ronald Reagan. Weinberger also served stints as Secretary of Health Education of Welfare (1973–1975) and director of the Office of Management and Budget (1972–1973) in the Nixon and Ford Administrations. Sections of the Weinberger Papers were subpoenaed by the special prosecutor during the Iran-Contra investigation.