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History Coalition Warns of Critical Needs at National Archives

History Coalition Warns of Critical Needs at National Archives

With 12-Year Backlogs, Declassification at NARA Reaching Crisis Point

National Archives’ Budget Inadequate to the Task

Washington, D.C., July 23, 2024 - A major report on the current state of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) recently released by the National Coalition for History (NCH) includes a critical assessment of the state of declassification: “For the sake of accountability and a fuller historical record, NARA needs more funding so it can make steady progress in reviewing and declassifying classified historical records and fulfilling Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Mandatory Declassification Review (MDR) requests.”

Prepared by a working group whose members included representatives from the National Security Archive, the History Coalition report sets an agenda for supporting and strengthening the National Archives. It identifies acute institutional needs and proposes steps that Congress, the White House, federal agencies, and NARA’s leadership can take to ensure the agency is properly funded and supported so that it can fulfill its critical mission for the American people.

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AASLH- Contact Congress to Oppose Drastic IMLS Funding Cuts

 
 

The House Appropriations Committee last week approved a bill that if enacted would make drastic funding cuts to the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and its Office of Museum Services (OMS), for fiscal year 2025, which begins October 1, 2024. 

If enacted, the bill would cut the OMS by $9.3 million by eliminating National Leadership Grants for Museums, leaving an OMS total of $46.1 million -- down from an historic high of $55.5 million. 

National Leadership Grants are vital as they fund cutting edge programs that are models for the museum field at large. Recently, Made By Us, of which AASLH and many of its members are a coalition partner, received this grant to build the Youth250 program. This program will supply hundreds of history organizations with access to Gen Z input and guidance on their U.S. 250th programming. 

The bill also would entirely eliminate funding for overall IMLS Research, Analysis and Data Collection ($5.6 million), which would include ending the agency's ability to conduct the first ever National Museum Survey, which it has already developed and field-tested. All of this preparatory work would be for naught, and all monies spent, wasted. In addition, overall IMLS Program Administration would be cut by $5 million (22%). Libraries were not spared: library discretionary grants were slashed by $25.2 million to $5 million in a bill that would cut education programs by 14% and would eliminate 57 programs. While these proposed cuts are unlikely to make it past the Senate and White House, it's critical for you to voice your opposition to your Representative now! 

Please use the link below to fill out a contact form provided by our colleagues at the American Alliance of Museums. 


The FY 2025 Appropriations process has a long way to go. Senate action has lagged behind the House. In the meantime, it's critical to oppose these drastic proposed cuts. 

Thank you for your advocacy in support of IMLS! This agency provides vital support to AASLH members and your colleagues in the national history community. 
 
 

American Association for State and Local History












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NARA Working Group Report May 2024

NCH NARA Working Group Report May 2024

SHAFR 2024 Proposed By-Laws Amendments

SHAFR 2024 Proposed By-Law Amendments for review by the membership.

NCH testimony to the Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) on the FY 2025 NARA and NHPRC budgets

Dear NCH Member,
On July 1, the National Coalition for History (NCH) submitted testimony to the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) on the Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 budgets for the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC).

Summary:
  • NCH supports the Biden administration’s recommended funding level of $456.3 million for the National Archives and Records Administration’s Operating Expenses (OE) budget in fiscal year (FY) 2025, which is an increase of $29.1 million from the FY 24 level of $ 427.2 million.
  • NCH opposes the Administration’s proposed base funding level of $5 million in FY 25 for the National Historical Publications and Records Commission grants program. This would cut the NHPRC’s budget in half, a reduction of $5 million from the FY 24 base level of $10 million. We urge the subcommittee, at a minimum, to return the NHPRC to its FY 2023 funding level of $12 million.
The House Appropriations Committee recently marked up its FY 25 FSGG appropriations bill. It provides level funding for NARA’s FY 25 OE budget at $427.2 million. That would represent the third consecutive fiscal year at that level of appropriations. Given inflation, that reflects a cut in NARA's OE budget over that time. The bill includes the fifty percent ($5 million) cut from the NHPRC budget in FY 24, for a total of $5 million in FY 25.

The testimony is attached as both a Word and .pdf document. You can also link to it by clicking here. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments. 

All the best,
Lee
--
Lee White
Executive Director
National Coalition for History

CFA- “Writing the History of U.S. Foreign Relations in an Age of Crisis”

Call for Applications:
“Writing the History of U.S. Foreign Relations in an Age of Crisis”

2025 SHAFR Summer Institute, June 21-25, 2025, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut

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SHAFR Recognizes Outstanding Scholarship and Service at the 2024 Annual Meeting

Congratulations to the SHAFR 2024 Prize and Award winners!

Call for SHAFR Nominations from the Nominating Committee

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS

SHAFR's Nominating Committee is soliciting nominations for elected positions. The 2024 elections will fill the following positions:

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The Committee for Women in SHAFR - Second Book Workshop

The Committee for Women in SHAFR welcomes applications for an online Second Book Workshop to be held on Friday 17 January 2025, 9:00 am-12:00 pm and 3:00-5:00 pm EST). This initiative is aimed at scholars who are researching/writing their second book and who would like to have a productive environment in which to receive feedback on their work. Twelve participants will be part of a group of peers; they will give comments to others and receive feedback themselves from experienced editors and scholars.  They would be asked to attend both sessions. Past participants gave enthusiastic feedback (“a masterclass in intellectual camaraderie,” one called it). You can read about in a piece by Nicole Anslover on the January 2023 issue of Passport (pp. 38–39).

Participants are asked to submit a curriculum vitae, a one-page project summary, and a one-page explanation of why this experience would be helpful/what they expect to achieve through it by 2 September 2024 to [email protected]. Acceptance notifications will go out on 2 October 2024. Full drafts of a polished chapter or book proposal will be due by 15 December 2024.

SHAFR-Gale Digital Fellowship information session

SHAFR-Gale Digital Fellowship information session

Zoom information session with Gale about the SHAFR-Gale Digital Scholar Fellowships
Wednesday, May 15th at 10AM (US Eastern)

For an invitation to the Zoom session--or to get the recording after Wednesday--simply email James Stocker at [email protected]

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International Conference on the New World Information and Communication Order: Histories and Legacies

International Conference on the New World Information and Communication Order: Histories and Legacies
June 11-12, 2024 | University of Toronto | www.nanrep.org

Position Announcement: Passport Editor

Position Announcement: Passport Editor

The Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (SHAFR) seeks to appoint a new editor for Passport: The Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations Review. This position will officially begin on September 1, 2024, with a 4-month transition period to follow, during which time the person appointed will work alongside the current editor until January 1, 2025. The term of appointment is five years with the possibility of renewal, and a stipend is provided as compensation. Additional information about Passport, including copies of previous issues, can be found at: https://www.shafr.org/passport.

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National Archives Unveils New Mass Digitization Center in College Park

WASHINGTON, April 12, 2024 —  A new state-of-the-art digitization center at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in College Park, Maryland, is allowing the agency to provide greater public access to the country’s most important historical federal government records faster than ever before. Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen, Representative Steny Hoyer, and Representative Glenn Ivey joined Archivist of the United States Dr. Colleen Shogan today for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to formally celebrate the center’s launch.

PIDB Submits 2023 Annual Report to Congress

PIDB Submits 2023 Annual Report to Congress

By karas, Friday, March 8, 2024 2:58 PM

On March 8, 2024, PIDB Chair Mary DeRosa submitted to Congress the PIDB’s Annual Report for 2023. The report reviews the appointments of members; public events including the public meeting held on January 26 in Austin, Texas; briefings from federal agency representatives on their initiatives in developing artificial intelligence and machine learning tools for declassification; … Continue reading PIDB Submits 2023 Annual Report to Congress

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CFP- Dreams of Peace and Realities of War: The Friend-Enemy Polarization

Dreams of Peace and Realities of War: The Friend-Enemy Polarization
Seminars – 27-29 May 2024 // Conference – 30 May-1 June 2024
(Dublin, Ireland)

For Kant, "perpetual peace" was a satirical inscription on a tavern sign accompanied by a drawing of a cemetery. Yet the theme of the desire for peace permeates all human traditions since the Axial Age. The event will explore the possibilities of building it by analyzing the roots of violence and for conflict resolution through reason and institutional structures, such as the Franco-German and U.S.-Japanese reconciliations after the wars, along with the development of supranational institutions such as the United Nations and the European Union. We will also focus on polarization at the level of national politics and possible democratic risks, as in the case of the United States. Finally, we will focus on the pursuit of peace in different traditions, including Chinese, Islamic, Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, and Christian views.

We are looking for academics, students and researchers to be involved in the event: the first part (May 27-29) is planned in the form of seminars, with lectures and workshops also held by the Fondation Maison des sciences de l'homme in Paris, and the second part as a conference (May 30-June 1).

Participation is entirely free and there is an opportunity to apply for a grant.

For further information, please see the attached flyer and https://www.resetdoc.org/event/dublin-2024-dreams-peace-realities-war-friend-enemy-polarization/

Alternatively, you may email [email protected] or [email protected].

Organizing Partners
Reset Dialogues on Civilizations, the Clough Center for Constitutional Democracy at Boston College and Boston College – Ireland  

ISOO Issues Notice on Agencies Eligible to Received Referrals from Automatic Declassification at 25, 50, and 75 Years

ISOO Issues Notice on Agencies Eligible to Received Referrals from Automatic Declassification at 25, 50, and 75 Years

By karas, Monday, February 26, 2024 1:24 PM

ISOO Notice 2024-02 provides guidance on which agencies are eligible to receive referrals from automatic declassification of 25, 50, and 75 years. ISOO is issuing this notice to designate which agencies have received new exemptions since 2019 and the dates of approved declassification guides. When reviewing records containing information created by another agency, the reviewing … Continue reading ISOO Issues Notice on Agencies Eligible to Received Referrals from Automatic Declassification at 25, 50, and 75 Years

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[NCHMembership] Updated advocacy tool for government archives

Hello NCH colleagues,

I wanted to share with all of you a recent update to CoSA's popular "Importance of State Archives" advocacy booklet. Our advocacy committee condensed this tool into a tri-fold brochure to encourage greater use and distribution for advocacy efforts:

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Botstiber News | February 2024

 

 

 

News

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Smith Richardson Foundation Strategy and Policy Fellows grant competition

- Please post & circulate - 

The Smith Richardson Foundation is pleased to announce its annual Strategy and Policy Fellows grant competition to support young scholars and policy thinkers on American foreign policy, international relations, international security, military policy, and diplomatic and military history.  Applicants must have a Ph.D to apply. 

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[Job Posting] Digital Inventory Specialist 1

https://epej.fa.us2.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/CandidateExperience/en/sites/CX_1001/job/360880/?utm_medium=jobshare#msdynttrid=uoQlqpDWKt5rx-9ad9STiFQ1gYbjsm-flQm1XFhFzcg

Digital Inventory Specialist 1

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