The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is now accepting applications for its 2009 Summer Programs in the Humanities for Teachers. Two American History programs are specifically designed for community college faculty and K-12 educators. Links to the programs, which includes application details, are listed below. Application deadlines for all of the programs are in March 2009. Read the full article »
The Library of Congress recently announced a major reorganization to merge its acquisition and cataloging functions. The Library has redesigned the ways it receives and catalogs incoming materials in order to improve processing time dramatically and enhance the physical security of the collections. Read the full article »
The Office of the Federal Register recently unveiled an Electronic Public Inspection Desk to provide free worldwide electronic access to public documents. Previously, such documents could only be seen by viewing the documents physically located at the Office of the Federal Register in Washington, D.C. Now the documents are available for viewing as soon as they are placed on file. Read the full article »
The recent article published here about the outlook for historical programs as a result of the election of Barack Obama incorrectly stated that the Archivist of the United States serves a ten-year term. Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein’s term neither expires nor is subject to resignation upon the end of a President’s term of office. The Archivist may be removed from office by the President. However, the President is required to communicate the reasons for any such removal to each House of the Congress. I apologize for the error and hope that Professor Weinstein continues to admirably serve our country for many years to come! Read the full article »
On November 12, 2008, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) announced that Chairman Bruce Cole will leave the Endowment to join the American Revolution Center as its President and CEO, effective in January 2009. Cole’s current term was not set to expire until December 2009. Read the full article »
The election of Barack Obama is undoubtedly one of the most historical moments of our time. Vitally important to the historical community is the president-elect’s commitment to nullify President Bush’s Executive Order 13233, which made it more difficult to gain access to records after a president leaves office. President-elect Obama was a co-sponsor of the bill in the Senate to overturn the executive order. Senator Obama’s campaign website cites the revocation of the executive order as a priority for his new administration’s government transparency agenda. Read the full article »
On November 10, 2008, a federal court ruled that the National Security Archive and Citizens For Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) may proceed with their effort to force the White House to recover millions of Bush Administration Executive Office of the President (EOP) e-mail records before the presidential transition. Read the full article »
Almost a year ago, Public Interest Declassification Board (PIDB) released its first report, Improving Declassification, to the President providing recommendations for improving the Federal government’s declassification system. Among the recommendations was one urging development of a system for prioritizing the government’s declassification efforts to ensure a greater focus on “historically significant” records, especially presidential records, with greater involvement of historians and historical advisory panels in setting these priorities. Read the full article »
The U.S. Department of Education recently announced proposed revisions the selection criteria governing the Teaching American History Grant Program (TAH). The agency is requesting public comments on the proposed revisions by November 28, 2008. Read the full article »
Dr. Lucy Barber has been named as Deputy Executive Director of the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC). Dr. Barber is an archivist specializing in electronic records and digital technology and a noted historian of the history of protest marches on Washington. She will oversee the Commission’s grantmaking programs and general operations and serve as deputy to Executive Director Kathleen Williams. Read the full article »
