Archives Found

Have you been reading the updates on the Haiti earthquake and wishing that you could help? Are you an archivist, conservator, preservation professional? Read on.

There has been a call for volunteers through the Blue Shield network, and according to the International Council of Archives, as of February 11, 2010, there have been over 500 volunteers.

From the Blue Shield press release:

The Blue Shield is the protective emblem of the 1954 Hague Convention which is the basic
international treaty formulating rules to protect cultural heritage during armed conflicts. The
Blue Shield network consists of organisations dealing with museums, archives, audiovisual
supports, libraries, monuments and sites.
The International Committee of the Blue Shield (ICBS), founded in 1996, comprises
representatives of the five Non‐Governmental Organisations (NGOs) working in this field:
- The International Council on Archives (www.ica.org),
- The International Council of Museums (www.icom.museum),
- The International Council on Monuments and Sites (www.icomos.org), and
- The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (www.ifla.org)
- The Co‐ordinating Council of Audiovisual Archives Associations (www.ccaaa.org)
National Blue Shield Committees have been founded in a number of countries (18
established and 18 under construction). The Association of National Committees of the Blue
Shield (ANCBS), founded in December 2008, will coordinate and strengthen international
efforts to protect cultural property at risk of destruction in armed conflicts or natural
disasters. The ANCBS has its headquarters in The Hague.

The Association of National Committees of the Blue Shield (ANCBS) wants to help the people of Haiti

The earthquake in Haiti of 12th January has caused an enormous devastation. The amount of people that lost their lives is beyond imagination. At the moment basic humanitarian aid and the rebuilding of a functioning infrastructure is crucial.

However, as soon as the situation in Haiti has become more stable, Blue Shield wants to help to enable experts from all over the world to support their Haitian colleagues in assessing the damage to the cultural heritage and therefore to the identity of their country. Subsequently, Blue Shield wants to support recovery, restoration and repair measures necessary to rebuild libraries, archives, museums, monuments and sites.

An important task of ANCBS is to coordinate information. ANCBS needs to know who and where the experts are. ANCBS therefore calls upon archivists, restorers, curators, librarians, architects and other experts to register online as a volunteer.

ANCBS wants to be able to bring experts in contact with those organizations that will send missions to Haiti, and make sure that volunteers will be informed about the situation in Haiti.

Please join Blue Shield to help your Haitian colleagues.

More information at the website.

Information from the ICA- first and second update on Haiti; list/statement of needs (download pdf at this link)

The International Council on Archives wants to publicize throughout the international community the efforts of our Haitian colleagues, who have formed a crisis cell “Heritage in danger”, on the fringes of the official commission for the evaluation of buildings and reconstruction. An initial statement of requirements has been issued and you will find a copy of it attached. The Secretariat has very recently been in touch with Jean-Wilfrid Bertrand, the National Archivist of Haiti, and Jérémy Lachal, Executive Director of Libraries Without Borders, currently on mission in Port-au-Prince. Jean-Wilfrid and others have confirmed that the items on the requirements list are really needed, and that, if anything, it is an under-statement. Jean-Wilfrid has in particular emphasized the urgent requirement for tarpaulins. These are needed to protect records that are at present lying on the ground, because the buildings that previously housed them have been destroyed. If nothing is done now, they will be completely exposed during the forthcoming rainy season. ICA is now working as a matter of urgency on ways of getting these and other materials to him at Port-au-Prince as quickly as possible.

… from the “equipment” section of the list:

2.2. Equipment
2.2.1. 60,000 acid-free archive storage boxes (350 x 350 x 350
mm)
2.2.2. 150,000 plastic gloves
2.2.3. 150,000 protective masks
2.2.4. 30,000 rolls of adhesive tape (neutral glue)
2.2.5. Pencils, felt-tips, labels, acid-free wrapping paper, glue,
string, zinc-coated paper clips, staplers, needles, 8½ x 11,
8 ½ x 14 size paper
2.2.6. 50 laptop computers
2.2.7. Three computer servers
2.2.8. 100 tents to act as temporary shelters for records and
salvage personnel
2.2.9. 20 two-way handheld radio transceivers
2.2.10. 20 mobile phones
2.2.11. 15 digital cameras of semi-professional specification
2.2.12. 8 GPS (global positioning system) devices
2.2.13. 200 safety helmets with lamps (miner’s helmet-style)
2.2.14. 30 heavy duty flashlights
2.2.15. 10 pick-up trucks
2.2.16. 5 lorries
2.2.17. Temporary storage facility measuring 10,000 square meters.
The managers of the Canne-à-Sucre historical park have
offered a storage facility, which is far too small
2.2.18. 2000 struts or props with hydraulic jacks
2.2.19. 2000 tubular scaffoldings with gaskets
2.2.20. 30 20 x 40 feet containers
2.2.21. 100 metal trunks (or durable plastic)
2.3. Financial Resources
We need money to:
2.3.1. Provide logistical support (fuel, food, transportation,
communication expenses, etc.
2.3.2. Rent storage facilities
2.3.3. Rent or buy second hand containers
2.3.4. Offer incentive pay for non volunteer workers
2.3.5. Purchase records, photographs, audio and video material
created prior to the earthquake
2.3.6. Write a damage report with photographic evidence
2.3.7. Purchase inventory software and set up a database

Full list of needs, requirements available in PDF at the bottom of this ICA announcement.

A few sources of information:

dLoc (Digital Library of the Caribbean)

IFLA- Haiti update

Cultural riches turn to rubble in Haiti quake- New York Times

A quick roundup of things that have recently caught my attention:

Are archivists today’s real peacemakers?

Politicians, beauty queens, and rock stars all claim they want world peace. But could the unassuming archivist, more likely to be found buried in a stack of yellowing newspapers than at a global summit, be the true peacemaker of our time?

That was the prevailing theme at the Scone Foundation’s “Archivist of the Year” awards, held last week at the CUNY Graduate Center: archivists aren’t here merely to perform the dutiful-but-dull task of preservation, but to defend civil liberties, encourage transparency, and maybe–just maybe–facilitate historical reconciliation between former enemies. Underscoring the idea of archivist-as-peacemaker, this year’s award was shared by representatives of both sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Khader Salameh of the Al-Aqsa Mosque Library in Jerusalem, and Yehoshua Freundlich of the Israel State Archives.

You can also listen to the fall 2009 podcast of Dr. Saad Eskander’s talk on Recovering Iraqi Records to the Simmons GSLIS community here.  Eskander’s 2006-2007 blogs on the topic are available at the British Library.

Torn Lincoln paper digitally reunited with other half:

Call it a scholar’s birthday present to Abraham Lincoln. David J. Gerleman, an adjunct history professor at George Mason University, has digitially stitched together a torn document whose pieces are held by two different archives.

The lower half of document bearing President Lincoln’s signature is held at St. Lawrence University, in Canton, N.Y., while the upper half is at the Illinois State Archives, in Springfield. While the two pieces are still physically states apart, digital images of them have been pasted together to form an entire legal document with a coherent history.

Full article in Wired Campus. Digital image can be seen on this site (scroll to very bottom under “reunited documents”)

Now’s a good time to start thinking about MayDay 2010- what are you doing to promote disaster preparedness?

ALA-ALCTS is launching a national Preservation Week May 9-15, 2010 and there’s a call for two-minute advocacy speeches.

From the announcement:

Contest — Making the Case for Preservation Action to Save Collections

We all know how hard it is to lift the sense of urgency and priority for preserving collections, especially in our economically tight and
digitally oriented times. The American Library Association’s Association of Library Collections and Services (ALA-ALCTS) is
sponsoring a competition for the best “2-minute speech” to convince 3 key audiences of the importance of action for preservation as a part
of the first national collection Preservation Week (May 9-15, 2010).

The target audiences are:

●       Decision makers-directors, board members, elected and appointed officials, and other people who choose priorities for action and provide
the resources;
●       Friends, family, visitors and users, and others who work outside collecting institutions, and the cultural heritage, conservation, and preservation fields-public support is essential for preservation action;
●       Library, archives, and museum staff outside the preservation or conservation fields – shelvers, check-out and ILL staff, building operations, and housekeeping personnel can have a significant impact on collections preservation.

Here’s how the contest will work:
1.      Select one or more target audiences (i.e. decision makers; general audience; and/or library/archive/museum staff) to persuade with a 2-minute speech to support preservation and take preservation action.

2.      Write a short, compelling, and easy-to-understand argument that will persuade your target audience.  Send in one 2 minute speech per target audience.

3.      Send your written submissions in one e-mail per target audience to Yvonne Carignan, Library Director and Head of Collections, Historical Society of Washington, DC, carignan@historydc.org.

4.      Yvonne will distribute all submissions to a review panel representing preservation, conservation, and collecting institutions of a variety of types and sizes.  The panel will select the top three entries in each category.  The winning “speeches” will be highlighted on the Preservation Week Web site (www.ala.org./preservationweek) and the winners will also receive a surprise from ALCTS.

5.      The deadline for submission is March 8, 2010,  so don’t delay.

Here are some hints to help:
Send us the reasons for supporting preservation that have worked with people you know.

Audience:  Key decision-maker  –

If you had only 2 minutes to convince your institution’s doubting Board Chair, Director, Major Funder, that collections preservation should become a strong priority, budget priority, high priority, core function  of your institution, what would you say? what points would you make?

If you had only 2 minutes to convince your institution’s doubting Director that collections preservation should become a core function of your institution, what would you say?

Audience:  Friends, family, and neighbors outside the field
If you had only 2 minutes to convince your — Great aunt, cable or satellite installer, or neighbor that preserving cultural heritage collections should become a
well-funded activity, budget priority, high priority in your community, what would you say? what points would you make?

If you had only 2 minutes to convince your neighbor that preserving cultural heritage collections should become a high priority in your community, what points would you make?

Audience:  Line staff in your institution outside preservation and conservation

If you had only 2 minutes to convince your colleagues that by making collections preservation a strong priority, high priority, core function, they could make a real difference to your users, what would you say?  what points would you make?

If you had only 2 minutes to convince your institution’s volunteers that by making preserving your collections a high priority, they could make a real difference to your users, what points would you make?

[sorry for the dreadful pun; I just couldn't restrain myself.]

This is an excerpt from a post that I’ve added to the (closed) course discussion board for LIS 2223: Archival Access, Advocacy, and Ethics. I’ve talked about PAHR before on the blog, but I think that it’s important to continue discussing and supporting this and other archival advocacy efforts.

PAHR is a bill, introduced in the House of Representatives, authorizing the Archivist of the United States to provide grant funding for preservation and records projects at the state level. Last summer at the SAA meeting in Austin, PAHR advocacy was a hot topic in many of the roundtables and several sessions.

While this site is somewhat outdated, you can read about the bill and funding allocation, as well as talking points, background information, and a list of sponsors by state.

Why is PAHR important? As discussed yesterday in class, funding is important to continuing the mission/vision of archives. Visibility and building a coalition of support may be even more important, and while the money that this bill provides will certainly be welcomed by the recipients; the lasting legacy of this particular could be laying the foundation for future support.
I’d like to encourage you to read the bill on the PAHR site and then tell me if you agree or disagree, and explain your position.

PAHR site: http://www.archivists.org/pahr/index.asp

GovTrack: H.R.2256

Library of Congress summary: H.R.2256

Some links that might be of interest:

SAA 2009 session #210: Money, Money, Money: Lessons from Successful Advocates for Archives Funding: http://saa.archivists.org/Scripts/4Disapi.dll/4DCGI/events/eventdetail.html?Action=Events_Detail&InvID_W=1254

Recent developments noted on ArchivesNext by Kathleen Roe (but not yet added to PAHR site): Truly fantastic news about PAHR

PAHR Facebook group

The State Library of Massachusetts, for now– but for how long? Governor Deval Patrick (for whom I voted in 2006) is now threatening to close the library because of state budget issues. If you disagree with this, sign the petition here and let the governor’s office know that this is a bad idea. You can read the Boston Globe article about the $600 million budget gap and impending layoffs here.

A big thumbs up to Massachusetts Library Association members who rallied on Boston Common at the State House yesterday to support libraries. What are you doing to show your support for libraries and archives in your state? Have you contacted your legislator about PAHR (Preserving the American Historical Record) yet? Don’t just be a patron of your favorite institutions– be a supporter. Make sure that your voice has been heard by your legislators in support of libraries and archives.

Thanks to ArchivesNext for bringing this story to our attention.

The 75th International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) conference is being held in Milan, Italy from August 23-37, 2009.The theme of the 2009 conference is “Libraries create futures. Building on cultural heritage.”

Unfamiliar with IFLA? Here’s a little bit about the organization:

The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) is the leading international body representing the interests of library and information services and their users. It is the global voice of the library and information profession.

Founded in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1927 at an international conference, we celebrated our 75th birthday at our conference in Glasgow, Scotland in 2002. We now have 1600 Members in approximately 150 countries around the world. IFLA was registered in the Netherlands in 1971.

Read more about IFLA here.

Preconference/satellite events coming up:

IFLA Preconference 2009: Digital Information for Democracy: Information, Access, and Preservation (August 19; Rome, Italy)

Moving in, Moving up, Moving on: Strategies for Regenerating the Library and Information Profession (August 18-20; Bologna, Italy)

Conservation and preservation of library material in a cultural-heritage oriented context (August 31-September 1; Rome, Italy)

You may find a full list of satellite meetings associated with IFLA 2009 here.

There are a LOT of interesting-looking sessions. Here are a few conference events that may be of particular interest:

Session 92: Statistics and Evaluation, Information Technology and Preservation and Conservation

Statistics for cultural heritage

• Statistics in preservation as a basis for positive action
  IRMHILD SCHÄFER (Bavarian State Library, Munich, Germany)
• Statistical tools for the evaluation of preservation needs
  ALISON WALKER and JULIA FOSTER (British Library, London, UK)
• The project NUMERIC: statistics for the digitisation of the European cultural heritage
  ROSWITHA POLL (Münster, Germany)
• Digital cultural heritage in the Netherlands: collecting statistics on production investments, and use
  TRILCE NAVARRETE HERNÁNDEZ and  FRANK HUYSMANS (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
• Measuring usage of cultural heritage documents; The German project Open Access Statistics
  MATTHIAS SCHULZE (University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany)
• Metrics and strategies for Web Heritage management and preservation
  EMMANUELLE BERMÈS and GILDAS ILLIEN (National Library of France, Paris, France)
• The DISCmap project: Digitisation of Special Collections: mapping, assessment, prioritisation
  MILENA DOBREVA (University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK) et al.
• Museum statatistical data in Germany and Europe
  MONIKA HAGEDORN-SAUPE and AXEL ERMERT (Institute for Museum Research, Berlin, Germany)

Session 163- Rare Books and Manuscripts, Preservation and Conservation and Library History

Dispersed cultural collections. Preservation, reconstruction and access

• Virtual reunification, virtual preservation and enhance conservation at the British Library
  HELEN SHENTON (British Library, London, UK)
• Virtual reunification as the future of ‘codices dispersi’: Practices and standards developed by e-codices Virtual Library of Switzerland [Français]
  ANNE MARIE AUSTENFELD (Mediävistisches Institut der Universitsät Freiburg, Freiburg, Switzerland)
• Discovering and studying the ancient handwritten cultural heritage
  ORNELLA FOGLIENI and GILIOLA BARBERO (Regione Lombardia, Milan, Italy)
• The library of the Cistercian Abbey of Clairvaux at the time of Pierre de Virey (1472)
  LOUIS BURLE (Médiathèque de l’agglomération Troyenne, Troyes, France)
• Deconstruction and reconstruction: detecting and interpreting sophisticated copies
  MARGARET LANE FORD (Christie’s, London, UK)
• Dispersed musical treasures. The music autographs of Beethoven and Bach at the Berlin State Library [Deutsch]
  BARBARA SCHNEIDER-KEMPF (Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin, Germany)
• ‘Returning home’: migration and repatriation of Latvian cultural objects and collections
  INESE A. SMITH (Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK)

Session 193- Information Technology

New repositories: architectures interoperability and data exchange

• Not (just) a repository, nor (just) a digital library, nor (just) a portal: a portrait of Europeana as an API [Français]
  CESARE CONCORDIA (CNR-ISTI, Pisa, Italy), STEFAN GRADMANN (Humboldt- Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany) and  SJOERD SIEBINGA (Europeana Development, The Hague, Netherlands)
• Video active – European television heritage online
  JOHAN OOMEN (Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision, The Netherlands),  VASSILIS TZOUVARAS (National Technical University of Athens, Athens, Greece) and MARCO RENDINA (Instituto Luce, Italy)
• A trust P2P network for the access to open archive resources
  EMANUELE BELLINI and PAOLO NESI (University of Florence, Florence, Italy)
• Persistent identifier distributed system for digital libraries
  MAURIZIO LUNGHI, EMANUELE BELLINI, MAURIZIO LANCIA, BRUNELLA SEBASTIANI, MASSIMILIANO SACCONE, ROBERTO PUCCINELLI  and  MARCO SPASIANO (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Rome, Italy)

You may find the full IFLA 2009 conference program here.

Want to keep up with news coming from Milan? On Twitter, follow @IFLA_HQ and watch for #ifla09

Think this all sounds pretty interesting? IFLA 2010 will be in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Additional links:

• Conference programs from IFLA 2008- Quebec, Canada and IFLA 2007- Durban, South Africa.

• IFLA Rare Books and Manuscripts SectionBlog by senior IFLA policy advisor, Stuart Hamilton

• 2007 and 2008 highlights from 025.431: The Dewey Blog

More recent articles about the effects of state budgets on archives and preservation.

An update to the Oregon Historical Society’s situation:

Oregon Historical Society funded to keep research library open through May- Oregon Public Broadcasting

Historical Society spokeswoman Rachel Schoening says it’s important to maintain the library and to allow researchers to use it.

Rachel Schoening: “It’s extremely important and if you’re trying to write anything that is historically significant and accurate regarding the state, you have to have access to something in our library.”

Schoening says the two new hires may not restore the hours the library had before.  But she says a schedule should take shape by the end of the month.

Downturn forces Oregon Historical Society to slash funding -The Oregonian:

The Oregon Historical Society announced Wednesday evening that it slashed 15 of 45 full-time staff equivalents because of a combination of decreased state funding, a shrinking endowment and a hostile foundation and individual giving environment.

The staff cut lowers the historical society’s $4 million budget by $1 million, says executive director George Vogt.

The cutbacks, however, may be just the beginning: Vogt anticipates further cuts if the state slashes funds next year, all of which may affect the outcome of numerous foundation grant applications the historical society has pending.

“Lovers of history need to call legislators and be very vocal about this,” Vogt says. “The squeaky wheel gets the grease.”

The cuts approved by the historical society’s board were made across the institution, including the museum and development staff. Salaries for management-level employees also were reduced by 10 percent.

The majority of the cuts affected the society’s most vital connection to the community, its research library. The research library, visited by historians, archivists, history buffs, photographers and the plainly curious, contains a encyclopedic collection of documents on Oregon history as well as a comprehensive photography collection numbering more than 2 million prints. There are also countless books and other materials in the library archives.

Archives building: dedicated in January, closed in March- Arizona Capitol Times

The archives closure was perhaps the most notable cost-cutting move by the Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records department. Other divisions are operating on reduced hours, said GladysAnn Wells, the agency’s director.

Until the cuts, the library department had $2 million in operating funds, expected to carry it until June 30, the fiscal year’s end. In January, however, the Legislature reduced that by nearly $1.5 million, she said.

There was one place to cut, Wells said.

“All we had left, really, was salaries,” she said.

Making the cuts meant layoffs, furloughs and reducing employee hours to half-time or quarter-time.

The agency had about 115 full-time employees, she said. She didn’t have a figure on the number of people laid off.

“We’re still doing it, so I don’t have a final count,” she said. “Dozens.”

The budget for the next fiscal year will likely lead to even bigger cuts.

 State sells Confederate-era cash to raise money- Charleston Regional Business Journal

The surplus property division of the S.C. Budget and Control Board has listed the Civil War-era money for sale on eBay. For instance, the starting bid for a canceled $4 bank note — issued from the Bank of the State of South Carolina, which collapsed during the Civil War — starts at $150.

The Bank of the State of South Carolina was one of the few banks of the era operated by a state; it was founded in 1812.

“With the state budget cuts, we’ve lost about one-third of our budget in recent years,” said Charles Lesser, senior archivist for the department. “We’re in very dire budgetary times. This is one way, an imaginative way, of keeping our heads above water. And we’re making space (in the vault). Every little bit helps.”

Should any history buffs be offended by the sale, Lesser was quick to reassure that the state is not selling off any original, precious or last-remaining items from the department’s vault.

He estimated that, at one point, the department had some 1 million sheets of canceled banknotes, if not more.

“We would not sell unique documents,” he said. “What we’re doing in this process, we’re keeping two perfect sets of everything for ourselves and giving one set to the state museum.”

Have you talked to your representatives and your state archivist about how you can help support PAHR?

Two years ago, I wrote about a copy of the Declaration of Independence that was found in a Maine attic and sold to a private collector.  The Supreme Court of Virginia ruled this morning that the collector may keep the document.

From the WSJ article:

In 2005, after receiving a tip about the sale, the Maine archivist, David Cheever, sued Adams, demanding the document’s return. The argument: the document was a “public record.” Maine contended the document never should have been sold because of a state law which presumes that public documents remain public property unless ownership is expressly relinquished by the government.

Virginia’s high court disagreed on Friday, saying that a lower court did not err in ruling that Maine didn’t prove the document was ever an official town record.

So how is a copy of the Declaration of Independence, which had originally been distributed throughout Massachusetts (which Maine was once a part of) to be read to its citizens, not a public record? Adams’s attorney argued that Wiscasset’s town clerk copied the text of the Declaration of Independence into the town’s record books on Nov. 10, 1776. It’s that transcription, not the document upon which it was based, that is the official town record, the attorney said. And that’s the argument the court ultimately bought.

After the ruling, Cheever was one unhappy Mainah. He told the AP he found it “incredible” that the state’s rights were trumped by a private collector. “To us, it’s a public document. It was then. It is now.”

Related links:

Virgina Man Beats Maine in Declaration of Independence Smackdown- WSJ.com

Va. Supreme Court says collector can keep Declaration of Independence copy- Richmond Times-Dispatch

Court: Va. man, not Maine, owns 1776 copy of Declaration- Bangor Daily News

A few bits and bobs that tickled our fancy over here at Archives Found headquarters, but don’t really fit anywhere else….

• Archivist-turned-British-secret-intelligence-agent, now mystery novelist Stella Rimington has a new book out this month.  From an article in The Australian:

The ability to think clearly and organise information is more important to a real-life agent than any martial arts skills, says Rimington, who never carried a gun during her glittering secret service career.

Her university training as an archivist turned out to be an enormous asset because, “I mentally program information in quite an orderly way, and one of the key skills of a security service is about organising your own information and being able to relate what you learn to what you already know”.

I think that information science degree programs should start listing “international spy” on the list of potential careers, though I’m not sure I’d choose that over being an archivist… you?

• “The Archivist Cometh, or Mr. DeMille Wouldn’t Like This!” – short column in the Palm Beach Post that talks about the bereft feelings that some donors have after the boxes have been packed and Elvis has left the building…

• Official porn collection from the Dutch city of Leeuwarden is missing in action– short article from the AP and Columbus Dispatch.

Spokesman Erik Krikke of the city’s historical center said the archive — which contained photos, drawings and erotic texts with a connection to the city — may have been taken home “accidentally” by an employee or visitor.

“We’re hoping that someone will say ‘Hey, I have that in my attic’ and bring it back,” he said today. “No questions asked.”

• “Text Message Love Letter from the 1800s”- article from WalesOnline.uk

“DID u thnk th lnguge of txtng strtd wth th mbl fon?

Well, if so a century-old love letter discovered by archivists at Swansea University shows you couldn’t be more wrong.

The missive penned by William Weightman to his “dearest” Fanny was found in a temperance society minute book kept between 1879 and 1890.”

And last, but not least:

• From the Times Online and in honor of Valentine’s Day, Valentine memories from the French- check out the INA website for “14 ways to say I love you” – clips of various love songs, old and new.

 A quick roundup of recent articles about the effects of state budgets on archives and preservation.

 Economy hurts effort to preserve the past- The Columbus Dispatch

“Preserving the past is important, but if governments don’t start spending and borrowing less, there won’t be much of a future left for our kids to enjoy,” Sepp said.

The Ohio Historical Society’s budget has shrunk by 13 percent in the past eight years. The society has laid off its preservation staff and is relying on other workers and outside conservators to monitor and maintain collections.

With all of its storage space filled and no money to expand, the society is going through its collections to decide what not to keep. It has virtually stopped accepting donations of artifacts. In some cases, donors sell or give the artifacts away.

 Gov. Jennifer Granholm to propose pay cuts, eliminating departments- MLive.com

Granholm will propose the elimination of one state department, History, Arts and Libraries, and ask Lt. Gov. John Cherry lead a commission to recommend further reductions. The goal would be to reduce the total number of departments from 18 to eight.

Archives chief cuts own job to trim budget - The State (SC)

The Archives and History agency preserves and promotes the state’s heritage. The archives center houses three centuries’ worth of historical documents. The agency also coordinates historic preservation efforts and history education. The latest cuts reduce its staff to 61 employees, Stroup said.

Historical Society puts microfilming state newspapers on hold- Missourian

“There might be people 30 years from now that will be interested in the same kind of research that I’m doing, and it’ll be impossible if there aren’t any archives,” Meyer said.

Off the records- newsreview.com (Reno, NV)

Guy Louis Rocha may be the only state agency chief in Nevada’s capital who has twice experienced his agency being targeted for total elimination by two different state budget directors.

“They wanted to pave paradise and put up a parking lot,” quipped Rocha, referring to the Joni Mitchell song, in which she sings, “That you don’t know what you’ve got/Till it’s gone.”

For more than a quarter of a century, state archives administrator Rocha—like many state agency directors—has been Sisyphus, pushing his operation into the 20th century repeatedly, only to have it roll back down under the pressure of chronic budget crises or intramural state government politics. He was never able to push the agency into the 21st century.

State erases 1.6 billion budget deficit- The Arizona Republic

Even before the budget was finalized, details emerged on what those cuts mean.

The state parks director has said a $25 million cut will force the closure of five parks; the Parks Board meets Tuesday to decide which ones to close.

The state Library and Archives Department is ironing out details for an agency-wide furlough; it could affect operating hours of the new state museum, which was dedicated just two weeks ago.

Arizona State University has announced furloughs of 10 to 15 days for most of its faculty and staff, but that was when the school thought it would share in a $100 million budget cut. The Legislature authorized $141 million in cuts to the three universities.

Some more information:

Preserving the American Historical Record (PAHR)

Legislation “To authorize the Archivist of the United States to make grants to States for the preservation and dissemination of historical records” will be reintroduced soon (with a new bill number) by Representatives Maurice Hinchey (D-NY-22) and John McHugh (R-NY-23). Talk to your representatives and your state archivist about supporting PAHR.

Heritage Health Index by Heritage Preservation and IMLS- 2005 report on the state of collections in the United States can be used in discussions with local and state boards about preservation. (Does anyone out there know if this is being updated?) Full 2005 report can be found here.

One “solution” that I think we’ll be hearing more about as the economic climate gets tougher: attempting to sell parts (or all of) a collection. The General Motors Heritage Collection has announced that they are selling cars from their collection this month, including hundreds of concept and rare vehicles that have been stored by GM since being built. One way to look at this is from an appraisal and collections management standpoint: is this sale accomplishing goals such as the narrowing of the collection scope or removing vehicles that do not contribute to the strength of the collection? Perhaps the two-millionth Saturn from 1999 or the 2007 Yukon “CSI Vegas” aren’t the most important pieces of the collection– but it depends. Showing the progression of Saturn as a car from the first one in 1991 to the two millionth one in 1997 could be vitally important for some reason– it’s the job of the curatorial/museum staff to figure out what makes sense, and perhaps also to figure out whether the original reasoning for keeping these vehicles is still sound. Articles in the media seem to focus on the fact that GM is having a crisis, and the sale of these heritage vehicles could raise a little bit of cash– but even if they sold all of them, it would be a drop in the bucket (probably less than $5 million dollars by one estimate). I think this is more important in terms of discussing history in broader terms: whose responsibility is it to make sure that history isn’t being lost by selling off pieces to the highest bidder? Are we still able to understand and interpret in the same manner without having the physical object? What is the import of a single object, and does that differ from the importance that it holds within the context of the rest of the collection, particularly considering that all of the items in this auction have an ironclad provenance attached? (They’ve been in the custody of GM since they were conceived and “born”). I think we’ll see a lot of individuals trying to part with items perceived to have historical value, and probably more institutions doing the same, particularly corporate collections.

A few articles and posts about the sale:

Cash-Starved GM to part with trove of historic, unique vehicles- Detroit Free Press

Museum: Portion of GM heritage car collection up for sale- Lansing State Journal

GM’s own heritage collection is up for sale- Huffington Post

Classic GM cars to go on the block- Los Angeles Times