Office of the Historian, U.S. House

["L. Rebecca Johnson" <lrjm@BRAHMS.UDEL.EDU>]

PLEASE CONSIDER SUPPORTING US WITH A LETTER OR CALL TO GINGRICH OR NUSSLE

On Friday December 2, the Republican Transition Team in the U.S. House of
Representatives made several recommendations to downsize, reduce, or
abolish existing programs, positions, or offices.

Of concern to any of us who have worked with congressional collections
and benefited from the expert advice and assistance from the Office of
the Historian of the House was the recommendation to eliminate that
office or to place it under the administration of the Library of Congress.

What follows is a copy of a letter from Sherly Vogt, Richard B. Russell
Memorial Library at the University of Georgia, and current chair of the
Congressional Papers Roundtable of SAA.  The letter is addressed to Newt
Gingrich and copied to Jim Nussle (R-Iowa) who made the recommendation.

Please consider writing a similar letter of support for the Office of the
Historian of the U.S. House of Representatives.

addresses:

The Honorable Newt Gingrich
2428 Rayburn House Office Builidng
Washington, D.C.  20515-1006
Phone:  202 225 4501
FAX:  202 225 4656

The Honorable Jim Nussle
308 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D.C.  20515-1502
Phone:  202 225 2911
FAX:  202 225 9129

You may want to FAX or phone the representatives because THEIR DECISION
MAY BE MADE AS EARLY AS NEXT MONDAY, DECEMBER 12.

Please share this post with any interested archivist, congressional
repository, congressional researcher, or historian.

Thank you,

L. Rebecca Johnson Melvin
SAA Congressional Papers Roundtable Steering Committee
(University of Delaware Library  lrjm@brahms.udel.edu)

                     c - o - p - y
December 5, 1994

The Honorable Newt Gingrich
2428 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C.  20515-1006
FAX  202 225 4656

Dear Mr. Gingrich:

        Re:  Office of the Historian, U.S. House of Representatives

        This letter is written on behalf of the Congressional Papers
Roundtable of the Society of American Archivists.  The Roundtable is
composed of 137 members representing 75 institutions across the United
States which house the personal papers of members of Congress.   All
Roundtable members have benefited from and worked regularly with the
Office of the Historian.

        We are distressed to learn that the Transition Team has
recommended abolishing the Office of the Historian or placing it under
the administration of the Library of Congress.  We find this
recommendation incomprehensible for in its eleven years of existence, the
Historian's office has performed a unique function in providing an
understanding of the development of the House as an institution and of
the contributions of the individual members who have served.  Especially
important to us, the Historian's office has proven indispensable to our
work in soliciting, preserving, managing, and making available for
scholarly research the historical papers of House members.  The office
serves, to us and to members, as an advisor for the disposition of
members' papers, as a clearinghouse for issues related to congressional
collections, and as a resource for the specific study of the U.S. House
of Representatives.

        Through the auspices of the office of the Historian much progress
has been made in recent years to document the U.S. Congress and its
members.  The office has brought awareness of the need to preserve the
historical record and encouragement for its research and study by the
academic community.  Cultural and social historians are now putting
politics back into their writings.  They are discovering the richness of
congressional papers:  to study the U.S. Congress and the grassroots of
politics found in constituent correspondence to document regional history
and the sweeping changes in American culture brought about by social
movements.  As administrators of these collections, we rely upon the
expertise of the Office of the Historian in coordinating legal and
ethical issues relating to congressional collections.  To provide the
necessary service, this office should be administered by the House itself.

        Now is also the opportunity to give serious consideration to
creating the position of a full-time archivist for the House of
Representatives.  The Senate has such a position and has profited from
the on staff consultation in providing records management and archival
administration and disposition for its official records and the personal
papers of its members.  While the House Historian's office will provide
advice when requested in these areas, it does not have the authority
necessary to ensure the preservation of the historical documentation of
the House.  If the Historian's office were placed along with other
records functions within the House administration, it would give that
position the opportunity to have a direct impact on a wide variety of
records issues.

        On a personal note, I am head of the Richard B. Russell Library,
which has collected twentieth-century congressional papers as well as
other politically related papers for over twenty years.  We presently
administer twenty-five collections of former members of Congress from
both the Democratic and Republican parties.  From the inception of the
Office of the Historian, I have gratefully called on the staff regularly
for information and advice.  They have always responded professionally;
their conduct is nonpartisan.

        Mr. Gingrich, as a trained historian and as one who early
arranged for the archival disposition of his papers at West Georgia
College, I am sure you understand the significance of our appeal to you
to continue the Office of the Historian in the U.S. House of
Representatives.  We shall appreciate your careful consideration of the
Transition Team's recommendation and of this letter.

Sincerely,

Sheryl B. Vogt
Congressional Papers Roundtable
Society of American Archivists

cc:  The Honorable Jim Nussle