Dear NCH Member,

The Smithsonian Board of Regents announced today that the search for sites for two new museums—the National Museum of the American Latino and the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum—will primarily focus on four locations. Each will be further evaluated by the Smithsonian and the engineering/architecture firm Ayers Saint Gross of Baltimore between now and the end of the year. The museums were authorized by Congress in December 2020. Since the passage of the legislation, the Smithsonian has undertaken an extensive site-selection analysis and thorough review of more than 25 sites. The legislation requires that the Smithsonian identify the two final locations by the end of 2022. The final decision on locations will be made by the Board of Regents.

SHAFR’s June 2022 Prize Winners

Oxford University Press USA Dissertation Prize

Dear NCH member, 

In the coming weeks, the House Appropriations Committee will consider fiscal year (FY) 2023 appropriations bills for federal agencies and programs. It is critical for you to contact your Members of Congress now to urge them to support increased funding for the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC).

In collaboration with the National Humanities Alliance (NHA), we have created a legislative alert that makes it simple for you to make your voice heard. Please follow this link to send an electronic email. The system uses your zip code to identify your Member of Congress.

NCH recently submitted testimony to the House Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government which has jurisdiction over the budgets for NARA and NHPRC.

NCH supports the Biden administration’s recommended funding level of $426.5 million for NARA’s Operating Expenses (OE) budget in FY 23, which is an increase of $38.2 million (approximately10 percent) from the FY 22 level of $388.3 million. Over the past three years NCH, in conjunction with our colleagues at the NHA, have been aggressively advocating for increased funding for NARA. This is the first time we have seen a significant increase in appropriations proposed for NARA in over a decade.

NCH also supports the Administration’s proposed base funding level of $9.5 million in FY 23 for the NHPRC grants program. That represents an increase of $2.5 million over the FY 22 base level of $7 million. The NHPRC received a total of $12.3 million in funding in FY 22. However, $5.3 million of that was the result of congressionally directed funding which we expect will fluctuate from year to year.

It is vital that Members of Congress understand the importance of NARA and the NHPRC to your members and that of your colleagues in the many constituencies represented by NCH. Please share this with your members and urge them to act today!

I’m happy to answer any questions you may have. 

The National Coalition for History (NCH) recently submitted testimony to the House Appropriations Committee’s Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee on the proposed fiscal year (FY) 2023 budget for the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC).

NCH supports the Biden administration’s recommended funding level of $426.5 million for NARA’s Operating Expenses (OE) budget in FY 23, which is an increase of $38.2 million (10 percent) from the FY 22 level of $388.3 million. Over the past three years NCH, in conjunction with our colleagues at the National Humanities Alliance, have been aggressively advocating for increased funding for NARA. This is the first time we have seen a significant increase in appropriations proposed for NARA in over a decade.

NCH also supports the Administration’s proposed base funding level of $9.5 million in FY 23 for the NHPRC grants program. That represents an increase of $2.5 million over the FY 22 base level of $7 million. The NHPRC received a total of $12.3 million in funding in FY 22. However, $5.3 million of that was the result of congressionally directed funding which we expect will fluctuate from year to year.

The testimony states, “NARA’s operating expenses (OE) budget has remained stagnant for more than a decade at a time when the transition to use of electronic records by federal agencies is well underway. Investment in human capital, including professional archivists, is vital for providing an elevated level of service to the public.”

Among other topics addressed were the importance of returning NARA research rooms to pre-pandemic operations as soon as practicable, the growing backlogs in the declassification and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, and the need for Congress to provide additional funding to expedite digitization of existing paper records.

In 2019, NARA and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) announced that the agency will no longer accept paper records from federal agencies as of December 31, 2022. We expressed our concern, “that with diminished resources and the impact the pandemic had on its ability to perform even its most basic functions, NARA will not be prepared to continue this transition without serious disruptions.”

Please join us for a special Washington History Seminar Panel with Shawn McHale, Christopher Goscha, and George Veith on The Vietnam War.

Dear NCH Member,

The National Coalition for History (NCH) has endorsed a statement, An Opportunity to Reform and Improve the Practices of the Archives of the United States. It was authored by three former presidents of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (SHAFR), Dr. Richard Immerman, Dr. Warren Kimball and Dr. Lloyd Gardner, and Dr. William Burr, a senior researcher at the National Security Archive. Dr. Immerman and Dr. Kimball are former chairs of the Advisory Committee on Historical Documentation for the U.S. Department of State. SHAFR has also endorsed the statement, which is attached to this email.

Please join us for a Washington History Seminar Panel with Kelly Lytle Hernández on Bad Mexicans: Race, Empire, and Revolution in the Borderlands.

Please join us for a Washington History Seminar Panel with Patrick Ossian Cohrs on The New Atlantic Order.

SHAFR welcomes applications for participants in a one-day second book workshop scheduled to take place on June 15, 2022—right before the SHAFR Annual Meeting in New Orleans. This initiative is aimed at mid-career 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.

Participants will be part of a group of four peers; they will give comments to others and receive feedback themselves. They will also have the opportunity to speak to a mentor about their project and how to progress towards publication and to share their ongoing work with editors from major presses.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 18, 2022
CONTACT: Jordan Libowitz | [email protected]
 

Call for Nominations

SHAFR’s Nominating Committee is soliciting nominations for elected positions.

Call for Participants and Mentors for the SHAFR 2022 Job Workshop

SHAFR is seeking participants and mentors for our 2022 Job Workshop held on Saturday, June 18 from 8:00-9:30 a.m. during the SHAFR 2022 Annual Meeting at Tulane University! Breakfast will be provided. Candidates will be selected on a first-come, first-served basis with preference to first-time participants. Please send a CV, sample cover letter and teaching statement by Friday, May 27, 2022. We are also seeking mentors for the workshop. If interested, email us: [email protected] 

The Chastain-Johnston Middle Eastern Studies Lecture Series, the Department of History, and PJHR present

"Oil-Gotten Gains: Petrodollars, Abscam, and Arab American Activism, 1973–1981"

Please join us for a Washington History Seminar Panel with Mary Barton on Counterterrorism Between the Wars: An International History,1919-1937.

Call for Participants and Mentors for the SHAFR 2022 Job Workshop

SHAFR is seeking participants and mentors for our 2022 Job Workshop held on Saturday, June 18 at 8:00 a.m. during the SHAFR 2022 Annual Meeting at Tulane University! Breakfast will be provided. Candidates will be selected on a first-come, first-served basis with preference to first-time participants. Please send a CV, sample cover letter and teaching statement by Friday, May 27, 2022. We are also seeking mentors for the workshop. If interested, email us: [email protected] 

Dear colleagues:

Today, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) submitted to Congress its 2022–2026 Strategic Plan, FY 2023 budget request, and Annual Performance Plan and Report. All three are available online (https://www.archives.gov/about/plans-reports) and reflect feedback from staff, public and government customers, stakeholders, and colleagues in the archival, historical, and records management communities, in addition to the recommendations of the Archivist’s Task Force on Racism. The plan updates the agency’s strategic objectives to focus agency resources on improving equity, providing a world-class customer experience for all customers, and using our experiences during the pandemic to accelerate agency modernization.

Please join us for a Washington History Seminar Panel with Scott Reynolds Nelson on Oceans of Grain: How American Wheat Remade the World.

Dear NCH member,

On March 15, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee convened a hearing to consider reforms to the Presidential Records Act (PRA), especially in light of recent revelations about the mishandling of records at the end of former President Trump's term. The National Coalition for History (NCH) submitted testimony for the record, urging the Committee to pass legislation to strengthen compliance requirements with the PRA.

Please join us for a Washington History Seminar Panel with Elizabeth Samet on Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness.