On September 15, the White House released an Open Government Status Report detailing a series of changes they have made to make the Executive branch more open since the beginning of the Obama Administration in January 2009. Read the full article »
The National Archives and Records Administration is completing a multi-year nationwide reappraisal of the historical significance of our nation’s court records. Recent articles and postings have led to some confusion on what is occurring. In reality, the National Archives has developed objective criteria by which District Court case files are identified for permanent retention. Read the full article »
On September 8, the National Coalition for History joined OpenTheGovernment.org, the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) and other groups in sending a letter urging the Administration to create a Presidential Advisory Committee on Open Government under the Federal Advisory Committee Act of 1972 (FACA). Read the full article »
On August 18, 2011, the National Archives released the statement below, addressing an allegation that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had been destroying documents it wasn’t authorized to destroy. Read the full article »
OpenTheGovernment.org recently released the 2011 Secrecy Report, a quantitative report on indicators of government secrecy. This year’s report chronicles positive changes in some indicators of secrecy as a result of the Obama Administration’s openness directives. Read the full article »
The National Archives is now available on iTunes U®, a dedicated area within the iTunes Store giving users public access to thousands of free lectures, videos, books and podcasts from learning institutions all over the world. Visit the National Archives on iTunes U at: http://ow.ly/6F13r. Read the full article »
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is now providing access to court records exclusively by online ordering or by mail/fax/e-mail. NARA will no longer provide on-site court case review services to the public at its Federal Records Centers. Read the full article »
The Library of Congress on Oct. 20 will present “Preservation Roadmaps for the 21st Century: Transitioning to a Digital Future,” a symposium to address the challenges facing cultural heritage institutions as they balance the preservation needs of legacy collections with the growing and complex demands presented by the collection of converted and born-digital assets. Read the full article »
A federal judge has ordered the release of nearly 300 hundred pages of President Richard M. Nixon’s 1975 testimony before a Watergate grand jury. Judge, Royce C. Lamberth III of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia, wrote, “ The special circumstances presented here—namely, undisputed historical interest in the requested records—far outweigh the need to maintain the secrecy of the records.” Read the full article »
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently announced that the federal government is contemplating changes to the regulations overseeing research on human subjects. Of particular interest to the historical community is the impact the proposed rules might have on the operations of institutional review boards. Read the full article »
