NARA Will Not Preserve “Snapshots” of Federal Websites When Bush Administration Ends

It was revealed this week that the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) does not plan a “harvest” of federal agency websites as they exist at the end of President Bush’s term. Citing cost concerns, NARA will not archive these federal agency website “snapshots” as it did prior the end of presidential terms in 2001 and 2005. NARA also preserved Congressional websites at the end of 2006. The NARA memo noted that there are non-governmental websites that perform the same function.

The internal NARA memo was posted on a website .govwatch. However, other sources have confirmed that NARA does not plan to harvest the websites at the end of this year.

The National Coalition for History and other stakeholder groups are preparing a letter to the National Archives requesting clarification and protesting the decision not to preserve these historical “snapshots” of end of the Bush administration.