This week, the National Archives’ National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) announced it has opened more than 6 million individual personnel files of former federal civilian employees from the mid-1800s through 1951.
The Library of Congress and the Foundation Center have released the second edition of a web-based fundraising guide to help preservationists save millions of at-risk historical and cultural artifacts.
This week, the long-awaited report into the management of the U.S. Department of State’s Office of the Historian was released by the agency’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG). The OIG recommended that Director of the Office of the Historian, Dr. Marc Susser, be replaced. As a result, Susser has been reassigned within the State Department, and last week Ambassador John Campbell was named as Acting Director of the Office of the Historian.
On June 3, the National Archives and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services signed an agreement to designate as permanent the immigration files created on the millions of aliens residing in the United States beginning in 1944 until the present day. This represents the first step in the preservation of the 32 million records that were originally scheduled for disposal.
The National Humanities Medal honors individuals and organizations whose work has strengthened Americans’ understanding of or engagement with history, literature, philosophy, or other humanities subjects. The Medal was established in 1997 and is the successor to the Charles Frankel Prize in the Humanities, which was awarded from 1989 to 1996. NEH is currently accepting nominations for the Medal. NEH will accept nominations until Friday, June 26, 2009.
Each year the National Endowment for the Humanities recognizes an outstanding scholar to deliver the Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities. The lectureship is the highest honor the federal government bestows for achievement in the humanities. NEH is currently accepting nominations for the 2010 lectureship. Nominations must be received by Wednesday, June 24, 2009.
The U.S. Copyright Office in the Library of Congress has announced it is adjusting its fees for copyright services. The new fees are scheduled to take effect on Aug. 1, 2009.
On June 3, 2009, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate former Republican Congressman Jim Leach as Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).
