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Vol. 26:1 ISSN 0160-8460 March 1998
Seeking a Groundswell
by Roger A. Bruns, Acting Executive Director
We sense movement; not yet the rumblings of seismic change but positive vibrations, nevertheless. Last August, President and Mrs. Clinton stood in the National Archives Rotunda before the Declaration of Independence and announced their plans for the celebration of the millennium. They came to the National Archives, they said, because the documents in the Rotunda represented those things that the celebration of the millennium should be about - an understanding and respect for the nation's past. The President and the First Lady were there to announce the creation of a special office to encourage worthy historical and cultural initiatives. The President said that the millennium offers us "a wonderful opportunity to honor the past and imagine the future." Mrs. Clinton added: "The celebrations of the millennium will reflect creativity, diversity, and raw energy of Americans."
A recent survey conducted by the Council of State Historical Records Coordinators talks about "A Passion for History" now alive in the country. It talks about the increasing numbers of individuals who are tracing their family roots, visiting historical sites, volunteering at historical institutions, reading historical journals, watching historical films, and visiting Internet sites with historical themes. The report quotes historian Michael Kammen, who, while warning against commercialism and vulgarization, says that "heritage that heightens human interest may lead people to history for purposes of informed citizenship, or the meaningful deepening of identity, or enhanced appreciation of the dynamic process of change over time."
The tangible evidence of movement is starting to mount. The Presidential budget for 1999 has requested increases for both the National Archives and Records Administration and the NHPRC. Mrs. Clinton and the Pew Charitable Trusts have announced a major grant to NARA from the Pew Trusts to safeguard the Charters of Freedom - the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.
The NHPRC has received word of several major grants to Commission-sponsored projects. The Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives' Ordinary People, Extraordinary Lives project has received pledges of $30,000 from the Newspaper Guild of New York, Local No. 3, and other labor organizations; the Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution project at the University of Wisconsin has received a grant of $85,000 from the Bradley Foundation; and the Papers of Margaret Sanger, a project at New York University, has received a grant of $60,000 from the Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Foundation.
I believe that during the coming millennial period, all of us who care about the documentary record must effectively spread the message. We will see in the coming months and years, I am confident, many other important contributions to preserve the nation's documentary heritage. Now is an especially propitious time for all of us in the business of history to step forward. Now is the time to formulate a national strategy for saving the nation's documentary record and making it available for research; to champion efforts to train archivists and records managers; to make new materials available in edited form in books, microfilm, and CD-ROM; to grapple with the difficult problems posed by electronic records; and to help teachers in making primary source documents available to children in the classroom. Let's turn these early positive tremblings into a groundswell!
