The Cuban Missile Crisis is the subject of a new exhibition, “To the Brink: JFK and the Cuban Missile Crisis,” opening in October at the National Archives Building in Washington D.C. Read the full article »
On September 13, Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp announced that due to budget cuts the Georgia State Archives would be closing on November 1. After that date, the public will only be allowed to access the building by appointment; however, the number of appointments could be limited based on the schedule of the remaining employees. Georgia will become the only state without a fully accessible state archives. Read the full article »
As the nation observes the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, the National Park Service (NPS) is asking for public feedback about the future of the war’s touchstone battlefields. The NPS’s American Battlefield Protection Program (ABPP) has released a draft report about the conditions of the nation’s Civil War battlefields. Read the full article »
On August 30, the National Archives Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO) released the first Executive branch-wide Fundamental Classification Guidance Review covering 25 Federal agencies with significant classification programs. Agency summaries are available online [www.archives.gov/isoo/fcgr]. Read the full article »
The National Coalition for History (NCH) has joined twelve other history and archival organizations, in requesting a Federal appeals court to review a lower court ruling that would prohibit the release of CIA records pertaining to the Bay of Pigs invasion that occurred over fifty years ago. If upheld, the decision could have a potentially chilling effect on historians, political scientists, academics and researchers gaining access to CIA files. Read the full article »
With the end of the current fiscal year (FY) approaching on September 30, Congress is expected to vote when it returns in two weeks on a Continuing Resolution (CR) that would fund the government at current FY ’12 levels for six months. Read the full article »
U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake has sentenced Barry H. Landau to seven years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for conspiracy and theft of historical documents from cultural institutions in four states, including the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library in Hyde Park, New York. Read the full article »
Stephen Kidd has been named Executive Director of the National Humanities Alliance (NHA), a coalition of more than 100 humanities organizations and institutions from around the country committed to advocacy for the humanities. Kidd comes to the Alliance most recently from the Smithsonian Institution, where he served as Director of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and Associate Director of the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. Read the full article »
The National Archives National Declassification Center (NDC) has issued its fifth biannual Report on Operations of the National Declassification Center, covering the period of January 1 through June 30, 2012. The report is available is online at www.archives.gov/declassification. Read the full article »
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) recently announced $39 million in grants for 244 humanities projects. Read the full article »
More than $1.3 million in National Park Service grants have recently been awarded to help preserve, protect, document, and interpret America’s significant battlefield lands. The funding from the National Park Service’s American Battlefield Protection Program (ABPP) will support 27 projects at more than 75 battlefields nationwide. Read the full article »
Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero has appointed Charley Barth as Director of the Office of the Federal Register. Read the full article »
The Department of State’s Office of the Historian recently released its latest volume of the Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS), “Foundations of Foreign Policy, 1973-1976.” Read the full article »
Librarian of Congress James H. Billington recently appointed John Witte Jr., a professor at Emory University, to the Maguire Chair in Ethics and American History at the Library’s John W. Kluge Center. Read the full article »
In recognition of the historic and architectural/engineering significance of Boston’s Fenway Park, the National Park Service has listed the venerable, beloved ballpark in its National Register of Historic Places. 2012 marks the 100th anniversary of the Boston Red Sox initial season at Fenway Park. Read the full article »
The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) recently announced 152 awards totaling $18,113,376 matched with $34,666,759 of non-federal funds for Museums for America Program Grants. The IMLS also announced 14 awards totaling $1,442,312, matched with $1,903,034 of non-federal funds for Museum Grants for African American History and Culture. Read the full article »
Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero recently announced the selection of Pascal Massinon as the 2012 National Archives Legislative Archives Fellow. Read the full article »
The National Archives’ George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum has launched its newly designed website: www.georgewbushlibrary.smu.edu. The website is hosted by Southern Methodist University (SMU), the site of the Library’s future facility. Read the full article »
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) recently announced a $1 million award to support the incorporation and launch of the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA), a groundbreaking project that seeks to digitize and bring together the contents of our nation’s libraries and archives, and make them freely available to all online. Read the full article »
As Congress heads toward its 4th of July recess, action on fiscal year (FY) 2013 budget bills has quickened. A number of bills of interest to the historical and archival communities have been passed by the House and Senate Appropriations Committees in the past two weeks. Read the full article »
