The NHPRC: Small Investments
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Although the National Archives and Records Administration's mission is that of the nation's record keeper--the steward of the Federal records created since the beginning of the republic that tell the story of our democracy--its holdings do not tell the full story of the American experience. Records in state and local archives, colleges and universities, nonprofit organizations, and private collections add, in incalculable ways, to the account told by the records in the National Archives. NARA also offers help in preserving and making accessible these important historical documents that are not part of our holdings. This work is done through the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC). The Commission, NARA's grant-making affiliate, promotes the full preservation and use of the nation's documentary heritage and holdings whether housed at NARA or elsewhere. Unfortunately, the FY 2007 budget sent to Congress by the White House in February proposed no funding for NHPRC grants or administration. Since it began making grants in 1964, the Commission has awarded $169 million to 4,200 projects involving records held by various institutions across the country. These grants are used for preserving records, publishing them, making them accessible to the public, and establishing archives. The NHPRC's reach extends into all states and the District of Columbia, into all types of records repositories, and deeply into classrooms, the media, and scholarship at all levels. For example, NHPRC grants have helped to establish or modernize public records programs throughout the country, from places like Seattle and Boston to Lauderdale County, Mississippi, and Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. NHPRC grants have also helped to preserve and make accessible oral history and tribal records of a number of Native American tribes. The Commission has provided funding for publication of some or all of the papers of sixteen U.S. Presidents, as well as those of prominent military leaders, jurists, members of Congress, inventors, innovators, and civil rights leaders. Grants have supported 296 publishing projects involving nearly 900 individual volumes of original documents and 9,100 reels of microfilm. NHPRC-funded archival projects at the state and local levels, in colleges and universities, and with nonprofit groups are of great assistance to scholars, family and local historians, journalists and authors, documentary film makers, lawyers, and many others. Other grants have created "cyber archives," which in turn have made available massive amounts of primary source materials on the Internet. Additional grants were made for research into ways to preserve and make accessible records created or stored in digital format. Recently, the NHPRC has played a role in the Gulf States recovery efforts. At my urging, the Commission provided grants to Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas to help assess the damage wrought by Hurricane Katrina to archives and records. Many of the records that suffered damage were those vitally needed by individuals and families to prove citizenship and eligibility for benefits. NHPRC grants often have an impact that goes well beyond the immediate needs of the recipient organization or agency--a ripple effect that increases the impact of each grant immeasurably. For example, NHPRC grants have supported the organization and publication of papers of two Founding Fathers, John Adams and Alexander Hamilton. These papers were invaluable in the research for two award-winning books, David McCullough's John Adams (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001) and Ron Chernow's Alexander Hamilton (New York: Penguin Press, 2004). Grants like these, which have underwritten the publication of papers of historical figures, have also spawned spin-offs, such as curriculum guides for teachers and documentaries for television. In short, NHPRC grants act as catalysts, providing seed money for projects that increase the number and availability of sources of American history and deepen our appreciation of the forces that have established and preserved our democracy for these 230 years. NHPRC also helps the National Archives fulfill its larger role as civic educator. NARA has a responsibility not only to preserve and make accessible the documents that tell the nation's history, but also to promote the study of history as important to the survival of the vibrant American democracy. NARA also feels a responsibility to meet the needs of history educators at all academic levels, from kindergarten programs in our neighborhood schools to postgraduate work at our finest universities. NHPRC's impact goes far beyond the modest investment of Federal funds made for its grant program. An NHPRC grant is a perfect example of how a little spending by NARA can go a long way. For more information about NHPRC and the grants it has made over the years, go to <http://www.archives.gov/nhprc>. |
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