This new effort will prepare verified and XML-encoded versions of unpublished documents and develop a workflow that can help the Founders editorial projects in their publishing process. The pilot project is the result of the Report to Congress by the Archivist of the United States on how to provide online access to the papers of the Founding Era. The state of the Founding Fathers projects had been the subject of a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing earlier this year.

When the meeting convened, Chairman, Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein, expressed optimism that the NHPRC would receive strong support from the new administration and Congress and that the annual efforts to eliminate the NHPRC will cease.

The National Archives and Records Administration’s Director of Congressional Affairs John Hamilton stated that he is hopeful the NHPRC would receive adequate funding during the unfinished fiscal year 2009 budget process. The NHPRC would receive $10 million under the House proposal or $8.5 million from the Senate. These numbers will have to be reconciled in conference. Hamilton stated a high priority in the coming year for NARA is funding reauthorization for the NHPRC by Congress.

The NHPRC recommended $2.15 million for 23 projects in 13 states and the District of Columbia for preserving and publishing historical records.

Grant recommendations include $1.266 million to the projects annotating and publishing the papers of Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and documentary histories of the First Federal Congress and the Ratification of the U.S. Constitution.

Five subventions were awarded to university presses to defray the cost of publishing new volumes of the papers of Washington, Madison, John Jay, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. The University of Wisconsin will receive funding to continue its work at the Institute for Editing Historical Documents, and the Papers of Andrew Jackson project at the University of Tennessee will be able to hire a new Editing Fellow.

Strategies and Tools grants went to the Massachusetts Historical Society to enable the Adams papers project to digitize its paper-based control files and to the University of Michigan to develop standardized survey tools for government archives in collaboration with the University of North Carolina and the University of Toronto.

Six projects were recommended for Digitization grants. The University of Florida will digitize material from six collections relating to the exploration, development and conservation of the Everglades from1878-1929. The Railroad Commission of Texas is digitizing about 120,000 pages, including oversized maps and plans, of documents dealing with the Texas Oil Boom of the 1930s. A microfilm collection of the papers of Henry A. Wallace, FDR’s vice president and the Progressive Party candidate for President in 1948, will be digitized at the University of Iowa. A digital collection of the records of the American Social Health Association, held by the University of Minnesota, will give researchers access to documents from World I and World War II when the Association was active in advising and treating military personnel on health issues. The American Institute of Physics will digitize the papers of Samuel A.Goudsmit (1921-1979), the renowned physicist who headed the team investigating Germany’s progress in developing the atomic bomb during World War II. Duke University is digitizing 24,000 photographs and slides that portray outdoor advertising and linking these images to an existing online database.

The Commission also welcomed Dr. Lucy Barber as the new Deputy Executive Director. Dr. Barber was formerly the Director of Technology Initiatives at the NHPRC.

The next meeting at which the Commission will consider grant
applications is scheduled for May 2009.

A complete list of all grants is below.

Grants-November 2008

• Pilot Project-Founding Era ($250,000)
  Virginia Foundation for the Humanities
  Charlottesville, VA

Publishing Historical Records (Founding Era)
These long-term projects document major historical figures or groups from the Founding Era of the nation.

• The Documentary History of the First Federal Congress ($210,508)
  George Washington University
• The Adams Papers ($162,550)
  Massachusetts Historical Society
• The Papers of James Madison ($146,154)
  University of Virginia
• The Papers of Thomas Jefferson ($166,987)
  Princeton University
• The Papers of Benjamin Franklin ($198,900)
  Yale University
• The Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution ($208,000)
  University of Wisconsin
• The Papers of George Washington ($173,090)
  University of Virginia

Publication Subventions
Grants to publishers to help defray the printing costs of individual volumes of documentary editions.

• University of Virginia Press ($10,000)
  Charlottesville, VA
  The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, Vol. 19
• University of Virginia Press ($10,000)
  Charlottesville, VA
  The Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, Vol. 15
• University of Virginia Press ($10,000)
  Charlottesville, VA
  The Papers of James Madison, Retirement Series, Vol. 1
• University of Virginia Press ($10,000)
  Charlottesville, VA
  Selected Papers of John Jay, Vol. 1
• Rutgers, State University of New Jersey ($10,000)
  Rutgers, NJ
  The Papers of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, Vol. 5

Editing Fellowships
Grants to support a fellowship at a historical documentary editing
project.

• Papers of Andrew Jackson ($55,000)
  University of Tennessee

Professional Development
Grants to support projects for the professional development of archivists and/or documentary editors.

• Institute for the Editing of Historical Documents ($41,791)
  University of Wisconsin
  Madison, WI

Strategies and Tools
Grants to for new strategies or tools for archives and historical publishing.

• Massachusetts Historical Society ($150,000)
  Boston, MA
  The Adams Papers Control File Digitization Project
• Regents of the University of Michigan ($149,96)
  Ann Arbor, MI
  Archival Metrics and User Evaluation for Government Archives.

Digitizing Historical Records
Grants to organizations digitizing entire collections of historical importance.

• Duke University ($60,000)
  Durham, NC
  ROAD 2.0: Digitizing Outdoor Advertising
• University of Florida ($72,650)
  Gainesville, FL
  America’s Swam: The Historical Everglades Project
• Railroad Commission of Texas ($146,861)
  Austin, TX
  Digitizing Historical Oil & Gas Hearing Files
• University of Iowa ($32,700)
  Iowa City, IA
  Henry A. Wallace Digital Collection Project
• University of Minnesota ($66,605)
  Minneapolis, MN
  Digitizing the Historical Records of the American Social Health Association
• American Institute of Physics ($39,063)
  College Park, MD
  Digitizing the Samuel A. Goudsmit Papers

A diverse coalition of groups over 60 organizations, convened by the National Security Archive, developed the three proposals. If adopted, the recommendations would establish a framework for accountability, integrity, and greater effectiveness in the federal government. The proposals call on the president-elect to take the following actions during his first days in office:

• Revoke President Bush’s executive order on the Presidential Records Act, which undermined the PRA by purporting to create new constitutional privileges for the family members and descendents of former presidents and for former vice presidents; commit to working with NARA and Congress to ensure necessary oversight for the transfer and processing of the Bush presidential records; and establish a policy for the new administration to preserve all presidential records of administrative, historical, informational, or evidentiary value.
• Issue a memorandum on the Freedom of Information Act that establishes a policy of maximum possible public disclosure of government records and directing an attorney general memo that reinstitutes the presumption of openness under FOIA, calls on agencies to use technology to engage with and inform the public, and commits to creating a more collaborative and less adversarial relationship with the public on issues involving access to information.
• Issue a presidential directive rejecting prior abuses of the classification system and tasking the relevant executive branch agencies to develop a new executive order on classification that will reduce overclassification, add internal mechanisms to prevent classification abuses, ensure consideration of the public interest throughout the lifecycle of classified information, and improve the declassification process and information sharing.

Chairman Waxman was perhaps the most vocal advocate of openness and transparency in the House and his leadership will be missed. Representative Waxman introduced the bill (H.R. 1255) to revoke President Bush’s Executive Order 13233, which has made it more difficult to gain access to presidential records. Chairman Waxman then shepherded the bill through the House with a veto-proof margin. Waxman also took the lead on investigating millions of e-mails missing from the White House computer system and pushed legislation through the House to strengthen the preservation of federal and presidential records. Waxman was also a leader in efforts to prevent the overclassification, and to speed declassification, of federal and presidential records.

No clear successor has emerged to Waxman especially since seniority is no longer the guarantee that it once was that the member next in line will ascend to the chair. Representative Edolphus Towns (D-NY) is next in seniority. However, it is not yet clear whether Representative Elijah Cummings (D-MD) will challenge Towns.

Although he was re-elected as an independent in 2006, Senator Lieberman has caucused with the Democrats and gave the party the razor thin 51-49 majority it needed to control the Senate in this Congress. However, his well-publicized support of Senator McCain and his criticism of president-elect Obama during the campaign caused a great deal of consternation among many Democrats. Once it became clear that the Democrats had enough new seats to ensure their majority, there was a great hue and cry for him to be stripped of his committee chair and banished from the Democratic Caucus.

In the end, a request from President-elect Obama that Lieberman be spared made the difference. By a vote of 42-13, the Democratic Caucus voted not to strip Lieberman of his chair.

During this Congress, Senator Lieberman was a stalwart supporter of legislation (H.R. 1255, S. 886) to revoke the Bush executive order on presidential records. Senator Lieberman pushed the bill through his committee and worked tirelessly behind the scenes negotiating with the Republicans to lift their hold and to allow the legislation to come to the floor for a vote. Lieberman will play a key role in the future of the National Historical Publications and Records Commission whose programs need to be reauthorized in 2009.

President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush dedicated the Star-Spangled Banner Gallery during a ceremony on November 19. A special enclosure, fronted by a 35-foot floor-to-ceiling glass wall, protects the fragile wool and cotton Star-Spangled Banner while providing maximum visibility to visitors. The new viewing gallery cost $19 million and restoration of the flag cost $8.5 million. The 30-foot by 34-foot banner is displayed at a horizontal orientation and, in order to reduce stress to the textile, at a 10-degree angle of elevation. The room has low light levels to protect the flag and a separate environmental system that keeps the temperature and humidity in the chamber constant.

This past Monday, the Smithsonian Regents also had an opening of sorts. For the first time, the Regents opened part of their meeting to the public in what turned into a town hall forum.

The memo states “Classified information is not personal property and may not be removed from the Government’s control by any departing official or employee. This includes “extra” copies.

The memo also restates the requirement that employees or officials who had security clearance be given a termination briefing to remind them that the responsibility to protect classified information, “including information stored in one’s memory” does not end when they leave the government.

To see a copy of the full ISOO memorandum, click here.

Gabor S. Boritt, scholar and Civil War historian, was recognized “for a distinguished career of scholarship on Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War era. His life’s work and his life’s story stand as testaments to our Nation’s precious legacy of liberty.”

Richard Brookhiser, biographer and historian, was recognized “for helping reintroduce Americans to the personalities, eccentricities, and noble ideals of our Founding Fathers. His works of biography and history have rendered vivid and accessible portraits of the early days of the Republic.”

Harold Holzer, scholar and Civil War historian, was recognized “for engaging scholarship on that crucible of our history, the American Civil War. His work has brought new understanding of the many facets of Abraham Lincoln and his era through the study of image, word, and deed.”

A detailed profile of all of the 2008 medalists is available by clicking here.

The National Humanities Medal, first awarded in 1989 as the Charles Frankel Prize, honors individuals or groups whose work has deepened the nation’s understanding of the humanities, broadened our citizens’ engagement with the humanities, or helped preserve and expand Americans’ access to important resources in the humanities.

The Humanities Medal is the most prestigious award in the humanities. Over the last decade, including this year’s recipients, the National Humanities Medal has been awarded to only 107 individuals and 9 organizations. Medal recipients do not compete for this award but are specially selected by the President for their life-long achievements in their areas of expertise.

National Archives and Records Administration Review Team Leads

Bruce McConnell is an independent consultant on cybersecurity, privacy, and Web 2.0. From 2000 to 2008, he grew two consulting firms, McConnell International and Government Futures, which work to promote cost-effective use of the private sector by government. Prior to this, he led the International Y2K Cooperation Center under the auspices of the United Nations and World Bank and he served in and led the information policy and technology branch at the Office of Management and Budget.

Gloria Parker is the Director of Business Solutions and Innovation for Civilian Government Business at Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC). Under the Clinton Administration, Ms. Parker became the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s first Chief Information Officer (CIO). Before that, Ms. Parker was Deputy Chief Information Officer at the Department of Education. She previously worked as Senior Vice President of Business Development and Strategy for Apptis, Inc. and at IBM Corporation. Parker has received many prestigious awards including the 2000 Presidential Rank Award given for exemplary Government leadership.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has also launched a transition website detailing what it sees as the major issues facing each federal agency. For a look at the National Archives and Records Administration’s page click here.

NEA/NEH Review Team Leads

Bill Ivey is the Director of the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise, and Public Policy at Vanderbilt University – a cultural policy center with offices in Nashville and Washington. He is also a trustee of the Center for American Progress. During the Clinton Administration, Ivey served as Chairman of the NEA.

Anne Luzzatto served in the Clinton Administration as a Special Assistant to the President, Deputy White House Press Secretary for the National Security Council, and as Assistant US Trade Representative for Public Affairs. Following her White House service, Luzzato spent eight years as the Vice President for Meetings and Outreach at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Clement Price is Board of Governors Distinguished Service Professor of History and Director of the Institute on Ethnicity, Culture, and the Modern Experience, Rutgers University, Newark. Price is an authority on the black New Jersey past by virtue of his Freedom Not Far Distant: A Documentary History of Afro-Americans in New Jersey (1980) and other scholarly works. His awards for academic and civic service include the New Jersey Professor of the Year by The Council for Advance and Support of Education in 1999. Dr. Price is a member of the Scholarly Advisory Committee to the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution. He is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Newark Public Library, a member of The New Jersey State Advisory Committee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights, and a trustee of the National Council for History Education.

Landmarks of American History and Culture Workshops for Community College Faculty
Workshops provide the opportunity for community college educators to engage in intensive study and discussion of important topics in American history at sites of historical or cultural significance.

Landmarks of American History and Culture Workshops for School Teachers
Workshops provide the opportunity for K-12 teachers to engage in intensive study and discussion of important topics in American history at sites of historical or cultural significance.

Summer Seminars and Institutes for School Teachers
Summer Seminars and Institutes for School Teachers provide K-12 educators with a means to deepen their understanding of important subjects in the humanities.

Summer Seminars and Institutes for College and University Teachers
Summer Seminars and Institutes for College and University Teachers allow college and university faculty to gain a deeper knowledge of current scholarship in key fields of the humanities and advance their own teaching and research.

As result of the reorganization, a book acquired as a copyright deposit, purchase, gift or an exchange will go to one division instead of several for centralized processing—the ordering, cataloging, shelf listing, bar-coding and other activities that enable users to find one particular book among more than 23.3 million unique titles in printed formats (plus another 8.9 million that are duplicate copies) held at the Library.

The merger of acquisitions and cataloging functions ends an older industrial model of work, in which an incoming book moved slowly along an assembly line of stand-alone acquisitions and processing units. Twenty years ago, staff in Order, Exchange and Gift or Cataloging in Publication divisions acquired a title and then handed it off to highly specialized librarians in separate Descriptive Cataloging and Subject Cataloging divisions for description, subject analysis, classification and assignment to a particular place on a shelf. Whole-book cataloging, which merged descriptive- and subject-cataloging functions in the early 1990s, began the trend toward centralized processing to eliminate duplicative efforts and speed up “throughput”–the time it takes to make a new book findable by catalog users and to get it on the shelf to be served to readers.

The reorganization, which has been in planning for the past several years, will allow the Library to better handle both traditional and non-traditional deposits (such as digital). It also positions the organization to respond to the recommendations of the Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control, convened by the Library to address how the popularity of the Internet, advances in search-engine technology, and the influx of electronic information resources have greatly changed the way libraries do their work. The Working Group’s final report and recommendations, published in January 2008, are available by clicking here.

As part of the reorganization at the Library of Congress, three new chiefs have been named in newly created divisions within the Acquisitions and Bibliographic Access (ABA) directorate.

Karl Debus-López is the new chief of the ABA’s U.S. General Division. He has worked in a broad range of management positions in technical services with a focus on acquisitions and collection development for his nineteen-year career. Most recently, he was head of the Acquisitions and Collection Development Branch and chief collection development officer at the National Agricultural Library.

Philip Melzer is the new chief of the Asian and Middle Eastern Division in the ABA. He has served as acting chief of the Library’s Regional and Cooperative Cataloging Division (RCCD) since January 2006. He was team leader of the Korean/Chinese Cataloging Team in RCCD beginning in June 1996 and for a year was acting assistant chief of the Asian Division. He served as president of AFSCME Local 2910 and is president of the Council on East Asian Libraries for 2006 through 2008.

Linda Stubbs is the new chief of the ABA’s Germanic and Slavic Division. For a decade, she served as assistant chief of the Special Materials Cataloging Division. In 2006, she assumed two acting managerial positions—first as interim director of the Library’s Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Overseas Office and then as acting chief of the European and Latin American Acquisitions Division, since the end of 2007.

To view these documents, go to the Federal Register’s website and click on “View Documents on Public Inspection” on the left hand side. This new desk grants the public access to documents that will be published in the next day’s Federal Register as early at 8:45 a.m. EST.

The Office of the Federal Register has always provided for public inspection of documents before publication in the daily Federal Register. Once a document goes on file at the Office of the Federal Register, the public at large is deemed to have legal notice of its contents. But as a practical matter, only a relative handful of people had the means to go to the physical location of the Office of the Federal Register in Washington, DC to monitor daily filings.