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Vol. 25:2 ISSN 0160-8460 Summer 1997
Compromise Plan Resolves NHPRC Debate Over Priorities
With unanimity the members of the National Historical Publications and Records Commission have resolved a year-long debate over NHPRC's priorities by adopting a compromise strategic plan that sets the following three, equal strategic goals:
- The NHPRC will provide the American public with widespread access to the papers of the founders of our democratic republic and its institutions by ensuring the timely completion of eight projects now in progress to publish the papers of George Washington, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and papers that document the ratification of the Constitution, the First Federal Congress, and the early Supreme Court.
- The NHPRC will promote broad public participation in historical documentation by collaborating with State Historical Records Advisory Boards to plan and carry out jointly funded programs to strengthen the nation's archival infrastructure and expand the range of records that are protected and accessible.
- The NHPRC will enable the nation's archivists, records managers, and documentary editors to overcome the obstacles and take advantage of the opportunities posed by electronic technologies by continuing to provide leadership in funding research-and-development on appraising, preserving, disseminating, and providing access to important documentary sources in electronic form.
The Commission will commit up to 60 percent of its appropriated funds each year to grants for soundly conceived projects of value in reaching these goals. The Commission will reserve at least 40 percent of its appropriated funds each year for grants for other projects eligible for support within the Commission's statutory mission, including documentary editions other than the eight founding-era projects.
If approval can be obtained from the White House Office of Management and Budget, and new guidelines for applicants can be published in time, the Commission will implement the new plan in fiscal year 1999. That means that the first grant proposals to be considered under the plan would be due at a date to be specified in the summer of 1998 for consideration at the Commission's meeting in November 1998, which will be the first meeting of the 1999 fiscal year.
In announcing the new plan, Archivist of the United States John Carlin, who chairs the Commission, declared that "through these priorities we can get states' assistance to help protect a wide range of records, we can help save the history in electronic records that we are now in danger of losing, and we can help provide the public with access to those particular records that best help us understand the creation of our country and its democratic institutions.
For anybody who cares about our nation's history, this is good news," Mr. Carlin continued. "These priorities meet needs of all our constituents, assure Americans that records covering many parts of our history will be saved, enable us to deal with new kinds of records as we enter the 21st century, and make the words and thoughts of the founding fathers available to everyone on library bookshelves."
The compromise plan was unanimously proposed by the Commission's Executive Committee. Dr. William Slany of the U.S. Department of State chairs the committee, whose other members are Presidential appointees Nicholas Burckel and Marvin Moss, William Chafe representing the Organization of American Historians, and Anne Kenney representing the Society of American Archivists. The Commission modified the compromise plan slightly and then approved it by voice vote without abstention or dissent.
For the full text of the NHPRC plan, see pages 10 and 11.
