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). Read the full article »
In March, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) sought public comment on cost effective ways of modifying the present system for archiving and providing public access to Presidential records. On April 29, the National Coalition for History submitted its comments to NARA. To see a copy of NCH’s letter to NARA, click here. The deadline for submitting comments to NARA has been extended until May 22. Read the full article »
On April 13, 245,763 pages of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush Presidential records were opened for research at their respective libraries. These records were still pending at the end of the George W. Bush administration on January 20, 2009. They were released in accordance with the Presidential Records Act and the new Executive Order 13489, addressing presidential records, which was signed by President Obama on January 21, 2009. Read the full article »
The Co-Chairs of the Congressional Humanities Caucus, Rep. David Price (D-NC) and Rep. Thomas Petri (R-WI), have prepared a Dear Colleague letter in support of $230 million for the National Endowment for the Humanities in fiscal year 2010. Please call your member of Congress and ask him/her to show their support for the humanities by signing the letter before it is submitted on April 1, 2009, to Chairman Norm Dicks (D-WA) and Ranking Member Michael Simpson (R-ID) of the Interior, Environment, & Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee. Read the full article »
On March 11, 2009, President Obama signed into law the omnibus fiscal year (FY) 2009 budget legislation (H.R. 1105) which provides funding for federal agencies covered under the nine appropriations bills left unfinished by the last Congress. The omnibus package finalizes spending levels for the current fiscal year that began on October 1, 2008. (see related stories on budgets for individual agencies and programs of interest to the historical and archival communities). Read the full article »
On January 21, in one of his first official acts, President Barack Obama revoked the Bush administration’s Executive Order 13233 that severely limited access by the public to presidential records. Click here to see a copy of President Obama’s new Executive Order 13489. Read the full article »
On January 15, 2009, Federal Magistrate Judge John Facciola formally ordered the White House to search the entire Executive Office of the President (EOP) and the Office of Administration (OA) to collect and preserve all emails sent or received between March 2003 and October 2005. This includes all Executive Office of the President components’ workstations and portable media. Read the full article »
During this holiday giving season, the NCH Board of Directors urge you to make an end-of-the-year fully TAX DEDUCTIBLE contribution to the NATIONAL COALITION FOR HISTORY (federal tax ID #01-0688590 for federal income tax purposes). Your contribution will help ensure the continuation of our important education and advocacy activities that advance the interests of the historical and archival communities here in Washington. Read the full article »
On December 11, in a letter to Walmart President and CEO Lee Scott, 253 historians from throughout the country urged the retail giant to reconsider plans to build a 138,000 square-foot supercenter immediately adjacent to the Wilderness Battlefield in Orange County, VA. A formal application for the project was filed on December 5, 2008. 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 »
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