OAH COMMITTEE ON RESEARCH AND ACCESS TO HISTORICAL DOCUMENTATION

The annual meeting of the committee was called to order in the La Brea Room of the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles on April 27, 2001, at 1:00 P.M.  Committee members Peter J. Wosh (chair), Loren Schweninger and Julie Saville attended; regrets were received from Mary Giunta and David Hamilton.  Bruce Craig (NCC), Lori Lisowski (NARA), Amy Kinsel (National Coalition of Independent Scholars), Roark Atkinson (OAH), Lee Formwalt (OAH), and Stanley Katz were also in attendance.

A.  National Historical Publications and Records Commission

The first item of business concerned the proposed Congressional cuts to the NHPRC budget.  The committee initiated a conference call with NHPRC staff (Roger Bruns and Mary Giunta).  The Bush administration has proposed a two million dollar (roughly 30% cut) in the NHPRC budget, which would restore the agency to its 1980 level of funding at slightly over four million dollars.  Serious consequences would result for both editing and archival projects, as well as for popular state and regional programs.  After considerable discussion, the committee voted to urge the OAH Executive Committee to draft a resolution calling for Congress to restore the agency to a funding level of ten million dollars (its currently authorized level).  Since a pending May 1 deadline is looming for Congressional members to request examination of budget items, this seemed particularly time-sensitive.

Some discussion ensued concerning the use of the OAH e-mail list as a vehicle for alerting individual members to important deadlines in the federal budget process.  Roark Atkinson will investigate the possibility of sending out important alerts to membership via the OAH list when significant moments arise in the lobbying process.

Roger Bruns also noted that the NHPRC plans to convene (funding permitting) a Panel on Documentary Editions next year in order to assess the current trends in editing projects and to chart possible future directions.  The Commission hopes to especially encourage projects that focus on underdocumented groups.  OAH will be contacted to participate formally in the process.

B.  MLA Resolutions on Access to Research Materials

Amy Kinsel presented a report, as well as a series of resolutions that the Modern Language Association approved at its Delegate Assembly meeting on December 29, concerning the problems of independent and unaffiliated scholars.  Part-time faculty, independent scholars, and public historians operating outside of academia often have considerable difficulty obtaining access to research materials, given the restrictive interlibrary loan and use policies of many research libraries.  Current technological trends have exacerbated the issue.  A “digital divide” exists for independent scholars who often find it impossible to access proprietary electronic databases that increasingly are replacing print sources.  The Committee voted to bring this issue before the Executive Committee.  We recommend that the Executive Committee endorse the MLA resolutions, work with such appropriate partners as the AHA and ACLS to consider solutions for the problem, and determine whether OAH might be able to somehow assist its members who are also unaffiliated scholars.

C.  Federal Legislative Issues

Bruce Craig reported on several pending issues of interest to the profession.  Senator Richard Shelby's "Leak Statute," which would punish federal employees who leak information to media sources, has not been discussed in Congress lately.  Former Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan's Declassification Board has not yet established operating procedures, and there is a general feeling that it would not be wise for historical profession to take any positions or make any statements concerning declassification at this point in time. 

Bruce also noted that the AAUP will be issuing a report concerning Human Subjects Research and Institutional Review Boards, a topic of increasing concern to historians generally and oral historians in particular.  Humanities scholars are concerned that inappropriate standards, developed for experimental research in the natural sciences, are being applied to oral history interviews.  Further, humanities scholars have not always been represented adequately on academic institutional review boards within individual colleges and universities.  The Committee on Research and Access reviewed an earlier draft of this document, and the final report should be out shortly.

Lee Formwalt reported on his experiences during “Jefferson Day,” as he lobbied among Congressional representatives from Indiana.  Clearly, the profession needs to do a better job of communicating its needs and concerns on Capitol Hill, of developing a more focused and coherent message concerning its priorities, and of learning how to articulate its issues in a constructive manner to Congress.  Jefferson Day constitutes an excellent opportunity for the historical community to influence legislative decisionmakers and OAH hopes to take even greater advantage of this in the future.

D.  Federal Records Issues

Lori Lisowski reported that NARA’s budget is slated for a 17% increase under the Bush administration, with the bulk of the money (approximately twenty million dollars) earmarked for electronic records issues.  Work continues on developing standards for capturing and preserving electronic records as NARA gears up to accession electronic records from the Clinton administration.  By 2003 all agencies will need to accept electronic forms, thus creating new challenges for the Archives.  Clearly, electronic records and technology issues are at the forefront of NARA's strategic plan and current concerns.

In other NARA news, the Nazi War Criminal Records Interagency Working Group is continuing its work, and war records relating to several extremely prominent Nazis have been released in recent days. 

Owing to pressure from the genealogical community, NARA reversed an appraisal decision concerning the 2000 Census Records, and will be preserving the original forms (some of which contain handwriting) on Comfiche.  Historians, archivists, and the OAH Committee on Research and Access generally opposed this policy reversal.

NARA has reached a new agreement with the Nixon estate that will allow copying of the Nixon tapes.  This fundamentally changes the original agreement to the benefit of scholarship. 

NARA also released a new update of its Strategic Plan, which is available.

E.  Rethinking the Humanities Endowment

Stanley Katz, who authored a very insightful and thought-provoking piece in the Chronicle of Higher Education in January concerning the humanities endowment, joined the committee and presented a stimulating summary of his views.  He called for organizations to begin collecting and analyzing data concerning humanities research and the use of the humanities endowment money, and to begin articulating a focused and coherent policy concerning the NEH.  Historians and other scholars have been too reactive and passive in their lobbying and legislative activities, and have not engaged in the kind of systematic planning necessary to advance their agendas.  Katz called for a national dialogue on the humanities endowments, and would like to see more OAH sessions that bring in agencies from Capitol Hill, thereby encouraging some systematic discourse on critical humanities issues.  This suggestion should be passed along to future OAH program committees.

F.  Committee Business

In response to an e-mail from OAH staff, the Committee wishes to go on record as endorsing the concept of open meetings, and to make our deliberations open to anyone who wishes to attend.  This has been our practice for the past several years.

The meeting adjourned at approximately 3:15.