Georgia Governor Pledges to Keep State Archives Open

Update: November 1, 2012.Through the hard work and focused energies of Georgia archivists and historians, local genealogists, as well as concerned OAH members and scholars nationwide, Georgia governor Nathan Deal has backed off plans to severely restrict operations at the Georgia State Archives (GSA). In the November 2012 issue of OAH Outlook, being mailed this week, Jamil S. Zainaldin, president of the Georgia Humanities Council, takes us behind the scenes at the GSA and describes the backlash experienced by local politicians when people's access to the records of their government was nearly eliminated. Read more >

Update: September 21, 2012. On the afternoon of September 19, 2012, Governor Nathan Deal pledged to keep the Georgia State Archives open [1]. The Organization of American Historians, a founding member of the National Coalition for History, joins the American Association for State and Local History, the American Historical Association, the Association for Documentary Editing, the Association of Centers for the Study of Congress, Council of State Archivists, History Associates, Inc., the National Council on Public History, the Southern Historical Association, the Society for Military History, and the Society of American Archivists, as a signatory to a letter to Governor Nathan Deal [2] stressing further the need to provide adequate funding to the Georgia State Archives, by allowing public access hours five days a week and restore previous staffing levels.

September 19, 2012. On September 13, 2012, the Georgia secretary of state Brian Kemp announced that due to budget cuts, his office will soon reduce staff at the Georgia State Archives and will close the archives entirely on November 1, 2012. For more information, we encourage you to visit the Society of American Archivists online, and follow this link to read and sign the petition. The OAH sent the following letter to Georgia Governor Nathan Deal concerning the announcement.

Notes

1. "Deal pledges to keep Georgia Archives open," September 19, 2012, Atlanta Journal–Constitution.
2. Letter to the Honorable Nathan Deal, September 21, 2012 [pdf].

Further Reading

•  History Coalition Action Alert: Help Save the Georgia State Archives, September 17, 2012.
•  Friends of Georgia Archives and History
•  "Is Georgia Padlocking its Past by Closing its Archives?" September 17, 2012, Atlanta Journal–Constitution Online

September 18, 2012

Governor Nathan Deal
206 Washington Street
Suite 203, State Capitol
Atlanta, GA 30334

Dear Governor Deal:

On behalf of the Organization of American Historians, the largest professional organization devoted to the study, teaching, and interpretation of American history, we are writing to ask that you reverse the Secretary of State’s decision to close public access to the Georgia State Archives. We realize that in this economic environment, states are required to make a number of difficult budget cuts. However, this decision to effectively end all public access to the archives weakens not only a citizen’s rights to inspect vital public records, but decreases government transparency, and severely limits important research functions.

Open access to government records are vital to the work of historians. Most of American history is understood at the state and local level and open access to state records is crucial. Moreover, during the sesquicentennial commemoration of the Civil War (2011–2015), many important documents relating to that conflict are housed in the archives. In more recent history, the vital role of Georgia in the struggle for civil rights in the South is documented in the collection of the Georgia State Archives. Only by studying these key records housed in the archives will an accurate interpretation of this important time in American history be fairly and accurately understood.

Therefore, we are writing to have you:

•  restore a minimum of $1 million to the Georgia Archives budget to return its operations to 5 days a week of public access hours and eliminate projected staff reductions; and

•  reverse the Secretary of State’s proposed budget cuts to the Georgia State Archives by November 1 to ensure uninterrupted service to the public.

The George State Archives was the first state archives established in 1918. It has won many awards for its programs and state-of-the-art archival facility, and has been a respected leader in archives, government records programs, and research use.

On behalf of the Organization of American Historians and its more than 8,000 members, we request that you reverse this funding decision so the public and historians can have free and open access to these most vital records for understanding Georgia and the nation’s past.

Sincerely,

Albert M. Camarillo, OAH President
Stanford University

Katherine M. Finley, PhD
OAH Executive Director