_____________________Kansas City Area Archivists______________________

KCAA --- The Dusty Shelf --- 2000

Eastern Kansas -------------------- Vol. 19, Nos. 1-2 -------------------- Western Missouri

INDEX

HARRY AND HISTORY
The Transformation of the Truman Library

It was said that as a child Harry S Truman read every book in the public library of interest to a boy.  As an adult, he was an omnivorous reader of books on American history, constantly acquiring new books on political history and biographies of political leaders. Truman easily quoted obscure facts about early Presidents and members of Congress, and was so knowledgeable that he often drew comparisons between current events and historical ones.

A member of President Truman’s staff, George Elsey, was a graduate of Princeton University with a degree in history.  He was also a member of the National Historical Publications Commission. Elsey said that there were no anecdotes or legends about the White House or the presidency that one could tell Truman that the President didn’t know already.  At his first meeting with Truman, Elsey sought to impress the President with his knowledge of history but found himself at a disadvantage.  Truman already knew all of Elsey’s stories, and he knew more about them than Elsey did!

Truman took tremendous interest in the fate of his presidential papers.  He wanted them lodged in a safe place that could also be a center of research and scholarship on the workings of government.  Many people, including Elsey, advised Truman to keep his papers in Washington D.C., arguing that no one would use them if they were located outside the zone of the Eastern Establishment.  Truman called such thinking “parochial” and believed that those who fostered it were too “eastern minded.”  And so the Truman Library was located in Truman’s own Independence, Missouri, where it was dedicated on July 6, 1957.  

For the next few decades, archivists worked steadily to open the records to researchers and the public through description and declassification. Over one million pages of documents were declassified.  Some of these were classified at such a high level that at the time of their creation only the President and a handful of key advisors had access to them.  The Library also embarked on an extensive oral history program.  The Truman Library now has open over five hundred oral histories and over five hundred manuscript collections, comprising more than fifteen million pages.  The early work of the Truman Library staff laid a strong foundation for the Library’s entry into the new millennium and the Internet Age.

During the 70’s and 80’s, the research room at the Truman Library was packed all summer long with twenty or more people.  Many of the researchers were foreign policy researchers, interested in newly opened and declassified foreign policy documents.  Researchers came from Washington D.C., New York, and the Ivy League universities.  On many occasions, there were more non-American than American researchers in the room.

As the Truman Library’s clientele evolved, the staff was able to devote more resources to other constituencies.  At the beginning of the 90’s, the library adapted by developing the student research files.  These are essentially photocopies of the most important and interesting documents on a topic, such as the decision to drop the atomic bomb.  The topics, in general, fill either one or two archives boxes.  Undergraduates and honors high school students use these documents, either in the research room, or in large seminar rooms, where they can work with less restriction than in our research room.  The student research files helped keep the number of researcher visits up, while helping meet some of Library’s requirements for public programs. 

The Web site has also evolved.  The Library’s first Web page was run from the University of North Carolina, and later from the University of Texas.  Other Presidential Libraries had their Web sites at these locations as well.  The real excitement began when the University of Missouri-Columbia began providing this service to the Truman Library.  The University of Missouri has an excellent team that posts our information, and we no longer have to compete with the other presidential libraries for posting.  Also, the Truman Library’s URL (http://www.trumanlibrary.org) is much more descriptive now.  

The Truman Library is a Federal repository, and an initiative from the National Archives and Records Administration, our parent agency, led to a growing emphasis on placing documents on Web sites in order to meet current customer service guidelines.  But the library has a small staff, and little funding could be allocated in that direction. 

A group of local school districts saved the day.  They applied for and received a six million-dollar grant from the United States Department of Education. They are now known as Project WhistleStop. They used their money, in part, to put nine of our fifty-two student research files on-line, with more scheduled to be added in the future.  Their site (at http://www.whistlestop.org) is linked to the Truman Library site.  When the WhistleStop grant runs out in 2002, the Library, which is an official partner, is expected to take over the site and operate it.

The Library also has been involved in many “fiftieth anniversary” activities recently.  The Truman presidency was very active in shaping contemporary society, and some of these anniversaries have included the founding of the United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and the creation of the Department of Defense.  We have now approached the fiftieth anniversary of the Korean War.

For the 50th anniversary of the Korean War, the Truman Library’s archives unit is using archival materials in traditional ways, but also in ways that are novel.  A special subject guide for the Library’s records related to the Korean War has now been posted online and is available at http://www.trumanlibrary.org/hstpaper/koreasub.htm.  This new access tool has elicited positive feedback from scholars and the public, including many users overseas.  Transcripts of some oral history interviews currently are available online, including interviews with White House Assistant George M. Elsey, Secretary of the Army Frank Pace, Ambassador to Korea John Muccio, Assistant Secretary of State for U.N. Affairs John Hickerson, and other key officials from the State Department.  The online oral history project is funded by a grant from the Gilbert Foundation.  The guide will be used as part of a larger cooperative Web page to be developed by the Library in conjunction with other National Archives repositories, including the Eisenhower Library and the National Personnel Records Center, which holds the military personnel records of the Korean War.

Oral histories, photographs, and documents are being used in another unique project that combines the Truman Library’s archival and educational functions.  An online student research file on the Korean War is under development with Project Whistlestop, the Department of Education technology challenge grant program, of which the Library is a partner.  Ideal for high school students and undergraduates, the Korea research file documents how the war was fought from the Washington, D.C. perspective.  Personal accounts of Truman administration participants provide the chronology and place the action in context. To develop a deeper understanding, users can link to images of the key records created during the period, or to longer participant recollections in the oral history transcripts.  Combat photographs shift the researcher’s focus, describe the progress of the war in Korea, and provide counterpoint to bureaucratic action. The Korean War student research file may be found online at http://www.whistlestop.org/study_collections/korea/large/index.htm.

Archival materials also will be used in two important new museum exhibits. A permanent exhibit on the Truman presidency, designed by Chermayeff and Geismar/Metaform, will open in spring 2001.  An important segment of the exhibit will be devoted to the Korean War. In the fall of 2001 the Library will debut a major temporary exhibit, “Conflict and Consequence: the Korean War and Its Unsettled Legacy.” While the Library is making great use of its Korean War materials, new insights resulting from ongoing scholarly research in the records are certain to appear in the next three years.  One place where these findings will be presented is at the 50th anniversary conference on the Korean War sponsored by the Truman Library Institute and the University of Missouri-Kansas City, scheduled for fall 2001. 

The White House Decision Center, scheduled to open at the Library in fall 2001, will provide yet another educationally novel approach to engaging America’s youth in history.  It is funded by a number of philanthropies.  Online materials from Project WhistleStop pertaining to the initial week of the Korean War will be used in the curriculum with other archival resources.  The project involves three experiential learning scenarios for high school students from the greater Kansas City area.  Up to 60 students daily will occupy the White House, acting as the President and his advisors as they try to resolve a difficult dilemma of the period. The three decision- making scenarios are the outbreak of the Korean War, the desegregation of the armed forces, and the Berlin airlift.

President Truman was right. The Midwest has turned out to be a great place for his papers to be located.  And, thanks to the Internet,  President Truman would be thrilled with the idea that children in classrooms all over the world can read and study the documents of his presidency.

Carol Briley
Truman Library

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“Closing the Books on the Twentieth Century”

MAC/MARAC JOINT MEETING / CLEVELAND, OHIO
October 19-21, 2000

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Preservation Notes
by Alan F. Perry

So, How’s Your Alkaline Reserve These Days?

Ever since W.J. Barrow undertook his early research on paper chemistry and established that acid paper is bad for us, institutions large and small have been searching for a “magic bullet” treatment that would stabilize paper. 

The 15th Annual National Archives and Records Administration Preservation Conference, engagingly titled “Deacidification Reconsidered,” was held in Washington on March 28. Administrators, chemists, and conservators employed by NARA, the Library of Congress, the University of Texas, and Carnegie-Mellon Research Institute, and conservators in private practice, addressed the current theory and practice of deacidification.  (While the conference title used the term “deacidification,” many conservators now prefer “alkalization,” thus emphasizing the importance of the alkaline buffer left within treated paper by the better processes.)

Some of the papers dealt with arcane matters of chemistry (I had no idea that lignin molecules were that “chaotic”), but many others confronted the more practical concerns that archivists and librarians face when they consider their preservation options.  The “bottom line” was that deacidification, whether mass or sheet-by-sheet, will continue to be an important weapon in the preservation armory of archivists and librarians.

Most archives will probably continue to selectively alkalize some unusually valuable sheets here, and the contents of a couple of folders there.  Few archives establishments, including NARA, are likely to involve themselves with many mass deacidification projects.  Alkalizing does nothing to strengthen brittle paper, a large-scale selection process is very time-consuming, and there is always the difficulty of keeping track of large quantities of loose records shipped off to a contractor.  NARA currently feels that nagging agencies to produce record copies of documents on permanent paper will head off future problems, while maintaining appropriate holdings maintenance standards, and filming dangerously unstable records, is more appropriate than a mass alkalization program.  The agency is, however, reconsidering this policy in the light of such recent developments as the apparent success of mass deacidification at the Library of Congress.

The Library of Congress is, indeed, another story.  While it has given up on the explosive (literally) diethyl zinc process it developed, it has moved on to using a commercial process to systematically alkalize deserving volumes from the 17.8m books in its collection.  A screening process that examines some 75,000 books per year selects those books that the library feels will benefit from deacidification.  Volumes with pages too brittle to benefit from treatment are microfilmed.  The Library of Congress has found that the process is indeed cost-effective: it costs about $15 to alkalize a 300 page book, as opposed to nearly $200 to microfilm it, and between $500 and $2,500 to digitize it. 

The LC has contracted with Bookkeeper, which offers one of the successful commercial processes. Accelerated aging tests of LC books treated by Bookkeeper have confirmed that the process seems to work well.  Meanwhile, conservators performing item-by-item bench conservation continue to brew their own alkalizing solutions or, in some cases, fall back on one of the Wei-T’o or Bookkeeper formulations. 

Through all this I think I recognized a subtext in the conference, one that won’t surprise many archivists.  Consideration of the relative merits of one alkalizing formula or another is important, but the bedrock archives preservation principle still applies: how long your paper records last depends more on the macro- and micro-environmental storage conditions you provide than on any other factor.  It may well be worth your while to stabilize valuable papers with Bookkeeper or Wei T’o, but even records with a comfortable alkaline reserve won’t hold up well over the long term if they are assaulted by high or erratic temperatures, polluted air, or careless handling.  As always, we must keep in mind the dreadfully boring, but dreadfully important, basics.

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The Society of American Archivists
64th Annual Meeting

August 28-September 3, 2000
Denver, Colorado

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March 6, 2000

As you will remember, in the case of Public Citizen v. Carlin, a Federal judge declared NARA’s General Records Schedule 20, concerning the disposition of electronic copies of certain Federal records, null and void.  But last August an appeals court reversed the decision.  The plaintiffs then filed a petition asking the Supreme Court to review the Court of Appeals decision.  Today the Supreme Court refused to hear the case, letting stand the decision in favor of NARA.  That should conclude this case. 

In effect, my legal authority as Archivist of the United States to issue GRS 20, and the propriety of my doing so, have been upheld.  I am grateful for that, and for the renewed opportunity we now have to continue in an orderly way to develop practical methods for managing and preserving records in the electronic era and ensuring ready access to them.  Our guidance to agencies on electronic records disposition already has advanced beyond the original GRS 20 in this case, and our efforts to help agencies meet preservation and access needs for records in all media will aggressively continue.  We look forward to working on this with all interested parties.

John Carlin, Archivist of the United States
Commenting on the GRS 20 Case 

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Membership Committee Report

We would like to welcome the following new members to KCAA.  Thanks for joining and we hope you find your membership in KCAA helpful and enlightening.

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Mini Report: Sales of Keeping Your Past

A large ad and brochure mailing campaign was completed mid-April. Many went to institutions or entities that have newsletters, and we hope that they will carry our add in their forthcoming issue.  Spread the word!  Let Marilyn Burlingame know if you need more brochures.  Keeping Your Past sells for $8 to KCAA members and $12 to non-members.

The KCAA Steering Committee welcomes Bryan Culp as the Publicity Committee’s new chair.  Bryan is the Dole Archivist at the Spencer Research Library at KU.

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Letter to the Editor:

What a nice feeling came over me as I read Eric Page’s Corner Chair in the last newsletter.  To see my name mentioned almost right away as one of his mentors was a thrill. We all like to be acknowledged once in awhile! And no, it doesn’t seem like fourteen years since I saw that young, shy freshman.  Just think, I got to take this unknowing youth and mold him any way I wanted!  Eric, it’s been my pleasure to watch you grow into a fine professional.

It occurred to me, though, as I read his eloquent editorial that describes what we do as professionals, and what Kansas City Area Archivists does, that we need to take time and speak of our non-professionals and volunteers.  You fill a physical need, helping those of us who always are short of help, and you often provide fresh insight into what we do and why.  You are appreciated more than you’ll really ever know. Several times over the last 20 years my office has been lucky enough to have volunteers. Right now,  I, for one, would probably swoon if someone came into the office and announced:  “I’m here to volunteer.”  And I most certainly would not give that person a mundane project to work on. It would be one of my most interesting and fun projects.  That way I would hope you would come back again and again for more.

Marilyn Burlingame
UMKC Archives

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MidAmerican Archives
News of KCAA People & Repositories

RLDS Library-Archives
RLDS Librarian Sue McDonald recently reviewed the Library Collection Policy.  As 1999 drew to a close, RLDS Heritage Team Coordinator Mark Scherer (RLDS Church Historian) facilitated three sessions involving Library-Archives staff, drawing upon the expertise of some favorite local area information management professionals:  Craig Kubic, Midwest Baptist Seminary; Anne Schultis, Park College Librarian; John Mark Lambertson from the National Frontier Trails Museum; Neil Johnson, from the Harry S. Truman Library; and Harold Smith, Librarian-emeritus, Park College.  Our discussions focused on some special issues that face repositories with shared library-archives functions.  We acknowledge and thank these professionals for taking time to share their most helpful insights and observations.  Participants gathered for lunch at Steak and Ale as an expression of thanks.  (Reported by Ron Romig)

Kansas State Historical Society
Joseph P. Laframboise joined the KSHS staff in 1996 as an electronic records archivist.  In 1998 he became a processing archivist and cataloger.  In this report, he describes his work on a notable collection in the Society’s holdings:

My first processing project was the Adjutant General’s records, spanning 1856 to 1992.  They comprise 317 boxes, 62 reels of microfilm, and 212 volumes.  Series One includes military records and contains 147 boxes, 35 microfilms reels, and 158 volumes, from the period 1861 to 1947.  One sub-series covers the Civil war, another the Indian wars, the third covers the Spanish-American war, the fourth spans World War One, and the last covers World War Two.  Series Two contains civilian records, including those pertaining to National Guard, peace time, and soldiers homes.  The present finding aid is over 275 pages.  And, for the first time to anyone’s knowledge, a one-time hodge-podge of loose ends are now together in one finding aid. 

The materials include architectural drawings, clothing books, consolidated morning reports, correspondence, county militia papers, descriptive rolls, draft rolls, enlistment papers, and enrollments.  There are hospital reports, indices (indexes), land records, maps, muster rolls, the officers commissioned register, payrolls, post returns, regimental order books, returns, reports, rosters, selective service records, special orders, yearbooks (annuals), and weekly strength returns.  There is information on Fort Dodge, Indian home guards, Lincoln hall, the militia, the Mother Bickerdyke home, National Guard, Nimitz hall, and the soldiers home.

The collection includes the records of two African American regiments.  There are records for the 1st Kansas Colored volunteer infantry, A.K.A. 79th regiment Kansas Colored volunteer infantry, and the 2nd Kansas Colored volunteer infantry A.K.A. 83rd regiment Kansas Colored volunteer infantry.  Also, the complete transcript of the Court Martial proceeding dealing with Colonel J W F Hughes are present.  There are records documenting Enrollment of Civil War Soldiers and their widows and orphans, and Enrollment of World War One Soldiers and their widows and orphans records, from 1883 and 1930 respectively.  These lists are nearly as useful as census records when it comes to gathering information on an individual.  Both a microfilm reel and a volume describe the Price raid dated October 8 to October 28, 1864.  A brief outline and muster roll of the Topeka Medical College problem of 1895, and the St. John circus Riot of 1896, are available.  Both times the 2nd Regiment of the Kansas National Guard played a prominent role.  The cyclone (tornado) that hit Wellington in 1892 and the Leavenworth riot of 1901 are also covered in the same fashion.  

For those interested in labor history, the troops were called out to quell a strike in Cherokee (CK) County in 1879 and 1880.  Correspondence and a Biennial report reflect the situation.  The strike arose over mine conditions and the miner’s treatment.  The Parsons rail road strike of 1886 is also covered in correspondence and accompanying muster rolls. 

The microfilms contain hidden gems for genealogists.  The Kansas Soldiers home at Fort Dodge has a Lincoln Hall and a Nimitz Hall.  KSHS has yearbooks, or annuals, containing pictures, resident and employee listings, and -- most interesting of all -- various biographies.  For example, a Spanish-American war veteran recalls that war, and there are stories of Old Fort Dodge and Nimitz Hall.  One resident has a narrative on the pioneers of Ford county and the early days of the Fort Dodge area.  There is a listing of people exhumed in 1886 and re-interred at Fort Leavenworth the same year.  One also finds a history of the Kansas Soldiers Home, the opening of the Cherokee Strip on September 16, 1893, the experience of being in war-time Australia during World War II, and a complete history of Old Fort Dodge.  Land records are available on microfilm too.  There are deeds, abstracts, easements, and related documents used to determine legal ownership.  Most contain information on lot and section numbers.  A majority deal with Ford (FO) County.  There are warranty deeds, indentures, and leases.  A majority of these deal with Ellsworth (EW) County.  Feel free to contact the Kansas State Historical Society regarding the collection.  (Reported by Joseph P. Laframboise)

Special Collections–KC Public Library
For the last year, John Byrd, of the Special Collections department, has been putting the department’s Local History Index cards into a digital format.  These cards contain information on subjects of local and regional interest, including biographical references.  A few months ago this index was mounted on the department’s Web page found at http://www.kclibrary.org/sc/localh.  As of May 1, all subject cards were entered.  This represents about one third of the total cards and contains over 11,000 individual entries.  These entries contain tidbit information, along with citations from magazines, newspapers, books, vertical files, archival material, reports, theses, dissertations, maps, and more.  Most entries include a short descriptive paragraph, and the items cited can be found in Special Collections.  When searched electronically, the requested items are displayed alphabetically according to material type.  Biographical entries are now being entered, and the staff adds new material to the index as it becomes available.

The department’s Web site has been expanded and improved.  There are now 250 biographies online.  Approximately 100 maps will be added in the near future.  A section on local architecture includes profiles on 20 Kansas City buildings.  These profiles include photographs and a short bibliography on each building.  The site also includes selected architectural resources available in Special Collections, including a local architectural bibliography, scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, and selected collections that have been processed.  For those interested in researching the history of their house, a new section contains tips on resources found in Special Collections.  The on-line biographies contain local architects, and links are provided to this source.  There are currently four online exhibits that feature architecture found in the city.  Links to other Internet sites are provided that leads researchers elsewhere for other information. Check this site at: http://www.kclibrary.org/sc/architecture.  (Reported by Sara Nyman)

Western Historical Manuscript Collection--KC
The Western Historical Manuscript Collection-Kansas City has much to report for the first half of 2000.  Our biggest change has been in personnel.  Bettie Swiontek, Senior Clerk, took advantage of UMKC’s early retirement opportunity and departed in mid-April. Bettie was honored on Sunday afternoon, May 21, for her eleven years of employment at WHMC-KC.  Her friendliness, willingness to go an additional step to help researchers, and her knowledge of the collections and of Kansas City history will be missed.  For administrative or reference questions, you can still contact David Boutros, Jennifer Parker, or the new part-time Manuscript Specialist, Bonnie Cozad.  

WHMC-KC has recently received several significant and interesting collections.  The Central Industrial District Records (1924-ca.1980s) contain all manner of administrative records concerning the businesses in the West Bottoms and the development of that district.  This will be a useful collection on many levels.  We are also very pleased to have the records of the Kansas City Junior League.  The bulk of the materials date from the 1960s to the present, but the collection includes newsletters and other individual items going back to the 1930s.  A large series of scrapbooks has been microfilmed, and the Junior League is developing an oral history program with our assistance.  Another new collection is the Downtown Kiwanis Club Records from 1929-1986, including minutes, reports, and newsletters.  

A young member of the Katz family recently came into our offices seeking photographs of the Katz Drug Store at Main and Westport, which we were able to provide.  As a result of this meeting, we received a batch of material related to Katz promotions and merchandising.  We hope to acquire more records in the future.  It is interesting to note, too, that Katz memorabilia has become highly collectible -- so keep an eye out at those estate sales!  

Finally, we received a small, curious collection of correspondence and ephemera belonging to a Mr. Kenkichi Furuichi.  Mr. Furuichi received a diploma from the Kansas City-Western Dental College in 1921.  He moved to New York State afterward.  This material was found in a house in the Sunset Hill district whose previous owner had employed a Japanese houseman at one time. Much of the correspondence is written in Japanese, and we would like to have it translated in order to shed more light on this man.  If anyone knows of a volunteer who might be interested, please contact us.  (Reported by Jennifer Parker)

Center for the Study of the Korean War
The Center for the Study of the Korean War, which was located on the Independence Square for the past decade, has moved to the new Graceland University campus at 1401 West Truman Road in Independence.  The Center archives and library are housed in the lower level, attached to the college library.  The grand re-opening on June 25 coincided with the 50th anniversary of the Korean War’s beginning.  The collection fills 1,000 feet of shelving.  (Reported by Paul M. Edwards)

Liberty Memorial Museum Archives
Construction on the Liberty Memorial will take about two years.  During this time, the museum’s archives still operates, actively collecting materials and assisting researchers.  The director of the museum went to New York recently to take part in a segment for the History Channel.  One of Kansas City’s local television stations, Channel 9, filmed photos and other documents from the archives for on-air Memorial Day promotions.  In late March, the collection and archives moved out of the Memorial into temporary housing facilities.  Mail can still reach us at the old address: Liberty Memorial Museum, 100 W. 26th Street, KCMO 64108.  

Friends University
The Kansas Humanities Council has awarded Friends University and the Mid-America Yearly Meeting of Friends a grant for cataloging and preserving historic photographs documenting the Quaker experience in Kansas.  To date nearly 700 photographs have been catalogued and preserved.  (Reported in the MAC Newsletter, April 2000).

University Archives, UMKC
With sadness, the University of Missouri-Kansas City Archives and The Western Historical Manuscript Collection announce the death of Dr. Kenneth J. LaBudde, Professor Emeritus and retired director of the University Libraries (1950-85) on March  25, 2000.  Professor LaBudde was active in the Jackson County Historical Society, the Kansas City Posse of the Westerners, the Organization of American Historians, the American Studies Association, the Society of Architectural Historians, the Garden History Society, the Decorative Arts Society and the Bibliographical Society of America.  He received the University of Missouri Thomas Jefferson award in 1988.  In 1993 Kansas City Area Archivists presented him with its Holly Award for having been the first Associate Director of  the Western Historical Manuscript Collection (KC) and for assuming the responsibility of University Archivist at UMKC, collecting an important part of the institution’s printed history, before that office was budgeted in 1978.  He had a key role in the establishing the Architectural Records Collection at WHMC.  Besides his continued interest in the development of the University Libraries after his retirement, he also remained committed to the historical community.  He appeared at our office every month or so with his collection of news clips and printed materials.  Dr. LaBudde filled an important place in our collecting effort of informative materials  We will miss him, his sharp eye for historical information, and his support, warm smile and friendship.  (Reported by Marilyn Burlingame).

The Truman Library
Larry Hackman has announced that he will step down this year as director of the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and president of the Truman Library Institute.  Hackman has led the Library through significant changes since becoming director in 1995.  The centerpiece of his tenure has been preparing for the Library’s renovation and developing its “Classroom for Democracy” initiatives.  In his resignation letter, Hackman stated:  “I am pleased the Library will be able to upgrade and expand its building; install new permanent exhibitions and a new temporary exhibition gallery; and create the White House Decision Center where students can learn about problem solving, decision making, and communication through role playing on real issues from the Truman Presidency.  With the core resources in hand ... it is the perfect time to find a talented and energetic new director to bring these new programs to life.”  He added:  “The Library has clarified its mission, adopted a compelling vision, identified the issues critical to success, and is pursuing sound strategies to address them.  .  .  .  Overall the Library staff is better organized, better trained and better equipped. We organized a capital campaign that raised over $24 million for the complete renovation of the Museum.  The Library has a much higher public profile, especially in Greater Kansas City, and its potential for service is better understood. Expectations are higher, inside and out.”  Hackman will remain at the Library on a reduced schedule until a successor is appointed or until the end of the year.  Scott Roley, assistant director, will be acting director when Hackman is absent.  

Thanks to the William T. Kemper Foundation, archival materials pertaining to the Truman Administration and the Korean War will be available world-wide in a groundbreaking cooperative Web page developed by the Library in conjunction with other National Archives repositories.  Meanwhile, an online student research file on the Korean War is under development with Project Whistlestop, a Department of Education technology challenge grant program of which the Library is a partner.  (Submitted by Carol Briley)

Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art Archives
The staff of the Spencer Art Reference Library and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art Archives bade farewell to Head Librarian Susan Moon on June 2, 2000.  Moon leaves to become Head of the Arts Library at the University of California, Santa Barbara.  She has directed the Spencer Art Reference Library for almost eight years.  She has overseen many changes and improvements, including the implementation of the Leonardo online catalog, the relocation of the museum Archives from its previous Westport location to the Library stacks area in 1995, and the installation of compact storage this past summer.  She will be greatly missed.  Jeff Weidman, Associate Librarian, Access Services and Collection Development, will serve as Acting Head Librarian until Susan’s position is filled.  (Reported by Margaret Hellner).

NARA-Central Plains Region
After a two year experiment with togetherness, NARA’s Central Plains Region is once again divided into several parts.  From 1997 to 1999, “seamlessness” was the watchword, with staff holding both archives administration and records center responsibilities.  Now, however, we are divided into three parts: archives, records management, and the records center.  As NARA gears up to compete with commercial records centers (Iron Mountain, primarily), it has erected a bureaucrat-proof wall between archives and records management on the one hand, and records center operations on the other.  While archives and records management functions will continue to be funded by tax dollars, the records center must support itself by collecting service fees from Federal agencies whose records it stores.  For the Archives, the resulting staffing profile is grim.  A staff that included more than eight full time equivalent employees a few years ago is reduced to five.  Better times, we hope, are coming. 

Archives of St. Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City
The Archives of St. Luke’s Hospital was founded in 1976 by Ferne Malcolm (Welles) under the direction of Maurice Barker, who was associated with the hospital’s Foundation for Medical Education and Research.  Later the archives was placed under the direction of Karen Weideraenders, Director of Library Services.  Over the first four years, we collected historical materials, current information, and publications in a small study room of the medical library.  But when space became available, the archives moved to the upper floor of the old Dickson and Diveley Building at 5423 J. C. Nichols Parkway.  I retired in 1985, and others took responsibility for the archives in the ensuing years:  Maellen Powell, Jan Foster, and Martha Reynolds, in succession.  Craig Hannasch was hired in 1993 and developed the archives until 1995.  He was the first professionally trained archivist to manage the archives since my retirement.  In 1995, however, there was a staff reduction, and Craig had to find other employment.  In September 1995, Karen Weideraenders and Richard Hastings, CEO of Saint Luke’s, approved my return to the archives as a volunteer, together with other persons whom I planned to recruit.  

The archives consists of seven moderately small rooms.  Our collections include photographs, slides, news clippings, in-house publications, pamphlets, writings (books and articles) by our medical staff,  and discarded medical equipment.  We also have copies of oral history interviews recorded before 1985.  Saint Luke’s-Shawnee Mission Health System now incorporates seven hospitals.  The others are Anderson County Hospital at Garnett, Kansas; Crittenton Behavioral Health; Saint Luke’s Northland; Saint Luke’s South; and Wright Memorial Hospital of Trenton, Missouri.

We are all volunteers, but not novices.  Dorris Mayfield was employed by the CIA for thirty years and brings her record-keeping skills with her.  Margaret Sails, an expert typist, gives her time to indexing in-house publications.  Bob Schubert is our computer advisor.  We have a great challenge here.  The work is interesting and it challenges anyone planning and executing the system.  We love the work because we are giving a gift to the hospitals and to the community.  In return, we have the satisfaction of what we hope is a job well done.  We welcome re-searchers.  The archives is open on Fridays from 10:00am to 3:00pm.  Our telephone is (816) 932-2517.  (Reported by Ferne Welles)

Nazarene Archives
Dr. Richard Cantwell, head of the Music Department at Tabor College, returns to Olathe each summer and has worked in the archives for three summers in a row.  Rich’s understanding of church music has been a help in the past, but this summer he indulged another interest -- the inner life of church congregations -- and focused his attention on our congregational collections.  He has done an excellent job revising and improving the inventories of collections we hold pertaining to churches in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, New York, California, Pennsylvania, and ten other states.  This includes the Kansas City First Church of the Nazarene Collection, whose church board minutes are currently being microfilmed.  

The Archives recently received the P. F. Bresee Research Collection from biographer and historical theologian Carl Bangs.  Phineas Bresee (1838-1915), the most significant of the Church of the Nazarene’s founders, was the subject of a critical biography by Professor Bangs titled Phineas F. Bresee:  His Life in Methodism, the Holiness Movement, and the Church of the Nazarene (1995).  The 5.5 c.f. collection contains the assembled materials upon which that book was based, including copies of fugitive materials in Methodist congregational and conference archives in New York, Iowa, and California.  Bangs, a friend to archivists throughout his career, has consistently based his major publications on thorough archival research.  His first major project, begun as doctoral student at the University of Chicago, was a study of Holland’s late-16th-early 17th century theologian James Arminius.  Researched in Dutch university and municipal archives, it was later published as an intellectual biography that gained Bangs recognition as a specialist in Reformation studies and Dutch religious history.  That attention to detail is evident in his biography of Bresee and lies is at the heart of his current project:  a book on the Mennonite Friesens.  His wife, Marjorie Friesen Bangs, who speaks Dutch and German like her husband, has been his constant partner in these projects.  Bangs served as president of the American Society of Church History, and the Archives is grateful to receive a substantial collection that enhances our sources pertaining to Nazarene origins.  

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Archives Nation
History, Archives and the Public Interest

Library of Congress Remembers Jefferson On Its 200th
Thomas Jefferson’s personal library of nearly 6500 books was purchased by the United States after the Library of Congress’ collection was burned by the British in 1814.  Now, as the Library of Congress celebrates its 200th anniversary, a major exhibit places Jefferson’s library as a collection before the public for the first time.  Many of the volumes purchased from Jefferson were lost in a fire that occurred in 1851.  But Library of Congress staff have assembled together the surviving volumes, and they have worked to fill in the gaps by locating copies of the identical editions that were destroyed.  Some of these identical editions were already in the Library’s other holdings, while other gaps have been filled by making purchases.  Over 90 percent of the original collection acquired from Jefferson has been recreated.  And the public, for the first time, can view it in the Northwest Gallery and Pavilion of the Jefferson Building, arranged in the order that Jefferson devised for the collection’s organization.  An online preview of the exhibit is found at: http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/jefferson/  (Press Release)

Independent Counsel Subpoenas National Archives
Robert Ray, Kenneth Starr’s successor as Independent Counsel, subpoenaed National Archives policy documents related to the record-keeping practices of the executive office of the President.  Ray is investigating whether the White House deliberately concealed e-mail messages when responding to subpoenas from a grand jury and from congressional committees. Unlike regulations that allow federal agencies to destroy e-mail messages if paper copies are printed, all White House e-mail records are preserved for future transfer to the Presidential Libraries administered by the National Archives.  In 1993, as a result of litigation between the National Archives and Public Citizen over the preservation of the e-mail of Oliver North and John Poindexter, the National Archives instituted procedures for preserving White House e-mail.  (Page Putnam Miller, NCC Washington Update, April 28, 2000).

DoHistory.org
The Harvard Film Study Center has launched a fascinating and imaginative Web site for historians, teachers, students, and life-long learners that aims at teaching “how to do history.”  The experimental site features an interactive case study focused on the midwife and healer, Martha Ballard (1735-1812) of Hallowell, Maine, whose diary was the basis for a Pulitzer Prize winning book and the PBS film A Midwife’s Tale.  The DoHistory Web site takes users into the process of investigating historical phenomena and provides a set of practical guides that can be used for initiating personal history projects.  DoHistory introduces users to some of the key questions:  What sources do we use?  Why?  How do we reconcile conflicting accounts?  How do we interpret what we find?  Users can read the entire diary of Martha Ballard, either in her own handwriting or via a transcription copy.  Users can also search a large archive of primary documents that provide context to Ballard’s life story.  The archive includes town histories, selections from writings and diaries of contemporaries, and medical texts of her day.  One of the more striking parts of the Web site focuses on the rape of Rebecca Foster, an acquaintance of Martha Ballard and the young wife of a local Congregational minister.  The man accused of raping Foster was Judge Joseph North, and users can view portions of the trial record and contrast it with the version in Ballard’s own diary.  The DoHistory Web site includes a page that discusses the stages of a historical research project.  Related pages show how to use primary sources, read 18th century writing, use diaries as historical sources, record oral history interviews, read probate records, search deeds, and make a timeline.  The Web site is found at:  www.DoHistory.org  (AASLH’s Dispatch, June 2000)

National Archives Criticizes CIA Records Management
The 56-page National Archives report, “Records Management in the Central Intelligence Agency,” acknowledges that the CIA exercises many elements of good records management but concludes that there are “serious shortcomings that must be rectified.”  The report focuses on adequacy of documentation, preservation concerns, the need to revise retention and destruction schedules, and electronic files.  NARA and CIA staff visited over 30 major program offices and a large number of subordinate components, where they examined the creation, maintenance, and disposition of CIA records.  CIA schedules call for historical records to be transferred to the National Archives after 50 years, rather than the usual 30 years or less followed by most federal agencies. Because the CIA was formed in 1947, the agency still retains most of its records.  The report notes that “skimpy and unsystematic” CIA holdings at the National Archives consist largely of copies of documents drawn from many separate records series.  “Even the most comprehensive of these collections, the Soviet estimates, consists solely of copies of the final estimates themselves, not the related background papers that document their formulation.”  The report identified numerous unacceptable practices, such as classifying the record descriptions in the schedules for the retention and destruction of records, a practice that is “not warranted and serves only to create misperceptions and arouse suspicion.”

The report discusses the CIA’s destruction of files of a 1953 operation in Iran.  In response to National Archives inquiries, the CIA claimed that these records were destroyed in keeping with the Archives’ approved schedules.  The report, however, states that there was no schedule in effect that provided for the destruction of these records and that the CIA’s “destruction of records related to Iran was unauthorized.”  The report concludes that “CIA retention of permanent files for 50 years is no longer appropriate” with the end of the Cold War.  The report stresses that permanent records should be transferred to the National Archives in coherent blocks, not individual documents drawn from a variety of separate files, the current CIA practice.  The report sets as a goal the transfer to the National Archives by the end of 2003 of most of the permanent CIA files created prior to President Kennedy’s inauguration in 1961.  These files, the report states, should include the files of the Director of Central Intelligence and other high level policy offices, the finished intelligence products and related background papers, and files of offices concerned with budgetary matters, legal issues, and congressional relations.  (Page Putnam Miller, NCC Washington Update, April 5, 2000).

Pinkerton Records Donated
The Pinkerton National Detective Agency, founded in 1850, has donated its archives to the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress.  The collection documents the agency’s history in the period 1850-1938 and consists of about 100 boxes of documents and photographs.  The Manuscript Division already holds the Civil War correspondence of Allan Pinkerton, the agency’ founder.  (Press Release)

U.S. & Nixon Estate Settle
On June 12, the Justice Department and Richard Nixon’s estate reached an out-of-court settlement ending twenty years of litigation.  At issue: White House tapes and papers seized by the U.S. government after Nixon’s resignation in 1974 and placed in the custody of the National Archives.  The government will pay $18 million for the collection--a fraction of what Nixon’s estate had sought.  Nixon sued in 1980, seeking compensation.  Government lawyers countered, arguing that the documents were created by public officials, at public expense, on public equipment, and for the public’s benefit; therefore, Nixon’s Estate should receive no compensation.  Much of the $18 million will go to lawyers fees, estate taxes, and unpaid interest on back taxes.  It is believed that the remaining sum will go to the Richard Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, California.  The records of the Nixon presidency will remain as a special collection at the National Archives facility in College Park.  (Page Putnam Miller, NCC Washington Update, June, 16, 2000)

Other Nixon Notes

Harold Stassen Papers Opened
The Minnesota Historical Society has opened the Harold Stassen Papers, a collection focused on the career of a Minnesota governor, presidential contender, naval officer, United Nations charter delegate, and Eisenhower Administration cabinet member. The collection relates primarily to Stassen’s career through 1958, the year he left the Eisenhower Administration.  It documents mid-20th century Republican Party dynamics and U.S. international relations.  Many papers relate to Stassen’s 1938 race for governor and his presidential campaigns in 1948 and 1952, where he developed grass  roots strategies and created organizational structures that strayed from the traditional emphasis of the Republican Party’s leadership.  Stassen resigned as Minnesota governor to enlist in the Navy during World War II and became an Assistant Chief of Staff for Admiral Halsey when the latter took command of the Third Fleet in June 1944.  Stassen’s war diary documents the Third Fleet’s prominent role in the Battle of Leyte Gulf.  Stassen participated in the liberation of the O’Mori Prisoner of War Camp and formulated evacuation plans for Allied prisoners of war interred in Japan.  Because Stassen was known for his strong internationalist leanings, Franklin Roosevelt appointed him to the U.S. delegation to the 1945 United Nations Conference on International Organization.  The papers pertaining to Stassen’s involvement in creating the United Nations charter show how he sought to improve America’s position as a global leader.  Stassen’s papers also document his involvement in various professional and religious associations.  The most notable are the International Council on Religious Education, the Committee on Constitutional Aspects of International Agreements of the American Bar Association, the Crusade for Freedom, the American Baptist Convention, and the U.S. Inter-religious Committee on Peace.  The collection totals 212 c.f. and its inventory is at: http://www.mnhs.org/library/findaids/00202.html.  (Based on press release).

Slave Labor Key in Building U.S. Capitol and White House
A group of congressional lawmakers led by Rep. J. C. Watts (OK) wants to honor the African American slaves whose work was largely responsible for erecting the White House and Capitol building.  Over 400 of the 600 workers involved in these projects from 1792-1800 were slaves.  Their owners received the paychecks paid by the federal government for their work.  Watts, Rep. John Lewis (GA), and other legislators want a task force to uncover the full dimensions of the story and recommend how to commemorate the slaves who built two of the most symbolic buildings associated in the public mind with the story of American democracy.  Edward Hotaling, a television reporter, discovered the pay slips in March while working on a story on the 200th anniversary of the buildings.  (Reported by Lizette Alvarez in the New York Times, July 13, 2000.)

America’s Library
 “America’s Library,” a new Web site of American heritage designed especially for children by the Library of Congress, debuted on April 24 (www.americaslibrary.gov).  By May 30, it had handled 6.5 million transactions.  Billed as “easy to use” and “entertaining,” the Web site integrates maps, prints, manuscripts, photographs, and audio/video recordings from the LC’s collections around themes that appeal to youngsters.  Users can “Meet Amazing Americans,” “Jump Back in Time,” “Explore the States,” or “Join America at Play,” among other options.  The Web site launch is part of the LC’s 200th anniversary celebration.  (Press Releases).

Laurel Vlock, Co-Founder of Holocaust Archive
Laurel Vlock, co-founder of the Fortunoff Archive of Holocaust Testimonies at Yale University, died July 8 from injuries sustained in a car accident.  A filmmaker and former television producer, Vlock teamed up with Dr. Dori Laub in 1979 to establish the Holocaust Survivors Film Project.  The project recorded the testimonies of Holocaust survivors, of whom Dr. Laub, a psychiatrist, was one.  By 1985, the archive had over 700 testimonies on videotape.  A decade later, there were 3,200.  Vlock received an Emmy Award in 1981 for a documentary she produced using survivor accounts.  (Reported in New York Times, July 12, 2000).

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Newsletter Exchange
Local, State, and Regional News

Neal Moore Honored by Midwest Archives Conference
Neal Moore, who played an important role in creating the Ozarks Labor Union Archives at Southwest Missouri State University (Springfield, Missouri), was honored by the Midwest Archives Conference at its Spring 2000 meeting.  Moore was one of three recipients of the MAC President’s Award.  The award honors individuals and institutions not directly involved in professional archival work that make, nonetheless, significant contributions to the profession.  Moore’s interest in creating a labor archive was directly related to his role as president of the Ozarks Labor Historical Society.  In addition to the labor collections themselves, which total over 2500 linear feet, Moore has worked diligently to raise endowments to ensure the ongoing care of the collections. 

This October:  MAC’s Joint Meeting With MARAC
For its Fall 2000 meeting in October, the Midwest Archives Conference is meeting jointly with the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference in Cleveland, Ohio.  The meeting will be at the Sheraton City Centre on October 19-21.  The conference will explore the dichotomous world of the modern archivist, who is caught between traditional manuscript preservation and rapid technological change.  In addition to the standard selection of  sessions, the meeting will include a reception at the renovated Cleveland Public Library, and tours of three archival repositories in the Cleveland area (Durham Tavern Museum, Western Reserve Historical Society, and Cleveland Museum of Art), among other opportunities.  The Midwest Archives Conference currently has 912 individual and 177 institutional members.  (MAC Newsletter, July 2000)

Missouri Chautauqua Expands
During summer 2000, the Heartland Chautauqua program, sponsored by the Missouri Humanities Council, had two groups of Chautauqua speakers touring simultaneously.  The groups toured in June.  The work of both groups centered on the theme:  “Inside the Civil War.”  The Chautauqua East troupe visited sites in Illinois as well as Missouri.  (Missouri Humanities Council News, Spring 2000)

New England Archivist Notes
The Vermont State Archives is using a hybrid technology that combines microfilm (to meet space and preservation requirements) and digital components (to ease retrieval and distribution of records).  Records are microfilmed, blipped, and indexed using microfilm database software that interfaces with the microfilm reader/scanner.  The database searches for the requested files, identifying the appropriate roll(s).  Once a roll is loaded, the database goes directly to the selected file.  The operator can then digitize the filmed records individually or in batches, and then print, e-mail, or save the captured images.  

                Tennessee Archivists
At the Society of Tennessee Archivist’s biannual meeting in April, assistant Tennessee State archivist William Moss noted that “state and county courts were converting to electronic records at an alarming rate, and were throwing out paper records as quickly.”  These “quick fixes” may “not really be effective solutions.  Lack of knowledge on the part of state legislators, and stagnant and/or reduced budgets” may be having an impact on the situation, he stated.  (Tennessee Archivist, Spring 2000). 

The Merl R. Eppse Papers were highlighted in a recent issue of Tennessee Archivist.  The collection, held by the Tennessee State Library and Archives, document several facets of American social history.  Merl Rawls Eppse (1893-1967) chaired the History Department at Tennessee State Agricultural and Industrial College (now Tennessee State University).  He received his doctoral degree from Columbia University and wrote several books, including A Guide to the Study of the Negro in American History (1943) and The Negro Too in American History, a high school and college text adopted in 1938 by the Tennessee Board of Education.  The Eppse collection contains about 20,000 items, mainly correspondence, beginning with Eppse’s early years as a student at Drake University and running up through his retirement in 1960.  He participation in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is amply documented, as are his business concerns, including his directorship of the Greenwood Cemetery and his work as a director for the National Educational Publishing Company of Nashville.  Some of his correspondence reflects the early origins of the Civil Rights movement within the context of the Black Church of the 1930s and 40s.  Eppse corresponded with noted African Americans of his day, including W.E.B. Dubois and Carter Woodson.  The collection also includes account books, clippings, land records, speeches, writings, and legal documents.  The Eppse Papers are available on microfilm for researchers who can make use of interlibrary loan.  (From Gregory Poole, Tennessee Archivist, Spring 2000). 

The American Dance Festival Archives
The American Dance Festival, which originated in 1934, has been associated since 1979 with Duke University, where each summer dancers and choreographers from around the world “invade the lawns, studios, libraries, dormitories, and theatres of Duke University for the six-week school and performance session,” as Laura Clark Brown aptly puts it.  Festival staff have their permanent office on Duke’s East Campus.  Brown, the ADF ‘s archivist, notes that “the sixty-seven year history of the Festival is also, in part the history of modern dance in America…. the scene of over 500 premieres and commissioned works.”  In 1993, however, ADF leaders were storing the organization’s records in a Durham warehouse that lacked climate control, shelving, or organization.  Then heavy rains flooded the building.  Duke University Libraries and the North Carolina State Archives stepped in to assist.  The State Archives stored and dried over 300 cartons of documents that had been soaked.  The crisis led to the creation of an intentional archives program.  Today, the American Dance Festival retains ownership of its records but Duke University Libraries provides storage and staffing for ADF’s 600 linear feet of records and 2000 films and videos of American dance.  The collection includes administrative records; correspondence between students, teachers, and performers; still photography; and moving pictures.  Assistant archivist Greta Reisel is preparing a guide that will document the ADF Archives’ procedures, policies, and the nature of its collaboration with Duke.  It is hoped that the guide can serve as a blueprint for other cultural organizations that need to develop strategies for preserving their archival assets. (Adapted from Laura Clark Brown in The North Carolina Archivist, Spring 2000)  

Women Veterans Historical Project
In 1998, historians and archivists at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro initiated the Women Veterans Historical Project with the intention of documenting the experience of women in the armed forces.  The project’s workers have been collecting letters, papers, photographs, published accounts, uniforms, medals, and oral histories.  In the past two years, attention has focused largely on women veterans of World War II, and attention has focused primarily on women now living in North Carolina.  Over 125 interviews have been conducted and private papers have been acquired.  The project will be expanded this year to include Korean War veterans.  Limited funding has meant that most of the contacts have been with women living in the state.  Because of the large retiree population living in the state, however, the project has reached many women who were born and joined the military in other sections of the nation.  (Adapted from Betty Carter’s report, The North Carolina Archivist, Summer 2000).  

Turning 30 in Ohio
“This marks the 30th anniversary issue of the Ohio Archivist, which started publication with the spring 1970 issue.  Where were you in spring, 1970?  It was a different world:  the bombing of Cambodia and the Kent State shootings were in the news, the Watergate crisis would not erupt for a couple more years, computers were only found in a few universities and other cutting-edge institutions.  It was still possible (though not luxurious) to live on $9000 a year.  Ten dollars would buy you a full bag of groceries or a good dinner at an elegant restaurant (including the wine).  Several hundred species of wildlife which are now extinct were still in existence, and Canada geese were creatures that people traveled hundreds of miles to hunt, instead of tame pests around local parks and golf courses.  The Latin mass was abolished in Catholic churches that year, and some present-day archivists were not even a glint in their parents’ eyes!”  (Ohio Archivist, Spring 2000).

Southern Archives Conference
Seventy-eight people attended the Southern Archives Conference on April 14-15 in Memphis, Tennessee.  The conference began with sessions structured around the theme “Documenting the Civil Rights Movement.”  Other sessions dealt with architectural renovations and electronic finding aids.  The final session focused on Memphis blues and jazz music, and ended rousingly with a live performance by jazz musician Alfred Rudd, who provided a musical overview of Memphis music since the days of blues artist W. C. Handy.  The Southern Archives Conference meets every other year and is a regional  organization of archivists in Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana.  (Alabama Archivist, Spring 2000)

Senator Paul Coverdell’s Papers
The sudden death of U.S. Senator Paul Coverdell in mid-July shocked family, colleagues, and constituents.  The Republican Senator from Georgia, only 61, was apparently in good health, but he suffered a brain hemorrhage on July 17 and was rushed to surgery.  He died the following day.  His staff faced a dismaying problem:  in the midst of dealing with their shock and grief, they simultaneously had to anticipate transferring his official papers and preparing his Senate offices for another occupant.  Fortunately, his family and staff did not have to deal with the question of where to transfer those papers. Nearly a year ago, Coverdell designated an official repository for his Senate papers, signing a deposit agreement on August 23, 1999 with Georgia College & State University in Milledgeville, Georgia.  On the basis of that agreement, his papers will be housed in the Ina Dillard Russell Library.  

Coverdell, who earned a journalism degree from the University of Missouri, served in the U.S. Army in Okinawa, Korea, and the Republic of China.  He was Minority Leader in the Georgia Senate for 15 years.  In 1989, he became director of the Peace Corps during the Bush Administration.  He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1992, and served in a leadership post for nearly all his tenure.  He was the 5th ranking Senate Republican at the time of his death.  

In 1997, Coverdell donated to Georgia College & State University papers related to his tenure as Peace Corps director.  The agreement two years later to transfer his Senate papers there ensures that historians and students will have access to a good set of records pertaining to American politics and legislative action at the end of the 20th century.  Coverdell was reputed to be one of the harder working Senators.  One of his special areas of interest was world affairs, and Republican colleagues relied especially on his policy advice in the areas of education and Latin American issues.  (SGA Newsletter, Fall 1999; and Atlanta Journal-Constitution, July 19, 2000.)

 Documenting North Carolina’s Outer Banks
Writer David Stick, a coastal historian, was researching and writing Graveyard of the Atlantic when he began collecting a library and assembling papers pertaining to Atlantic maritime history.  His gift of those materials -- some 80 cubic feet of books, papers, and original works of art -- to the State of North Carolina became the core collection of the Outer Banks History Center at Manteo, on historic Roanoke Island, where the story of British North America has its beginning.  The Center opened in 1988.  Its 3600 sq. ft. stackroom holds books, maps, pamphlets, photographs, oral history recordings, paintings, periodicals, and serial publications.  Among the collections are materials of the U.S. Lifesaving Service and U.S. Coast Guard that include 3,131 original wreck reports from an area spanning southern Virginia to South Carolina.  The Center’s collections also include copies of the architectural plans and technical drawings of North Carolina lighthouses, purchased in 1996 from the National Archives.  The Center has a number of items dating from the Civil War, including regimental histories, diaries, engravings, and artwork.  Among the artwork, for instance, are sketches of the North Carolina coast made by two Union soldiers from Massachussetts, cousins Edwin and James Champney.  Their sketches include one of the few known images that depict the original Cape Hatteras lighthouse, completed in 1803 and added onto in 1853.  (The current Cape Hatteras Lighthouse was completed in 1870, and the original one was later destroyed.)  Another noted collection has come from geologist Robert Dolan of the University of Virginia, who assembled a collection of articles, photographs and maps focused on coastal processes.  (Adapted and edited from Sarah Downing’s Institutional Profile in North Carolina Archivist, Fall 1999).  

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Publications
Books, Pamphlets, Videos, Et Cetera

Joseph Rosenblum’s Practice to Deceive: The Amazing Stories of Literary Forgery’s Most Notorious Practitioners discusses the cunning, skill, and techniques of forgers, and explores their personalities and varied motives.  Forgery for many is simply a quick way to acquire easy money, but others deceive from more subtle motives.  Mark Hofmann’s forgeries, for instance, were designed to attack the Mormon Church.  And what about eighteen-year old William Henry Ireland, who found a “lost” Shakespearean play and pulled off one of the great hoaxes in British theatrical history?  What was his real motive? Hardcover,  370 pages, ISBN 1-58456-010-X / Order No. 57365-EM / Price $39.95.  Available from:  Oak Knoll Press, 310 Delaware Street, New Castle DE 19720 USA.  Phone: (302) 328-7232 / Toll-free 1-800-996-2556 / Fax: (302) 328-7274  Email: oakknoll@oakknoll.com / Web: www.oakknoll.com 

Library of Congress Asian Collections:  An Illustrated Guide, describes Asian collections held in America’s premier library and tells the story of how they came to be there.  Mya Thanda Poe, chief of the LC’s Asian Division, states:  The story involves a fascinating cast of scholars, diplomats, missionaries, explorers, adventurers and soldiers who collected and brought home to America print and nonprint material.”  The collection began with a 1869 gift of 10 works in 933 volumes offered to the U.S. by the Emperor of China.  80 pp., soft cover.  $10.  Credit card orders:  202-707-0204.  

Carol Kammen and Norma Prendergast have edited the 700-page Encyclopedia of Local History, available from AASLH and the AltaMira Press.  It features over 500 entries from over 130 contributors.  $79.95 plus s&h.  Cloth.  Phone orders:  1-800-462-6420.  

Diane M. Zorish has written an Introduction to Managing Digital Assets:  Options for Cultural and Educational Organizations (1999), a survey of options for managing intellectual property in networked environments.  She offers a general assessment of issues that institutions should consider when developing management strategies for digital resources.  167 pp.  Published by the Getty Information Institute.  Available from SAA (product code 375) for $23.95 members, $28.95 non-members.

Authentic Electronic Records:  Strategies for Long-Term Access (1999) by Charles M. Dollar is a comprehensive study designed to assist archivists and records managers in developing a realistic long-term access strategy for electronic records.  Includes a technology primer, as well as cost data to help organizations plan a realistic budget for long-term preservation of electronic materials.  Published by Cohasset Associates.  Available from SAA (product code 905).  $75.  

Abraham A. Schechter’s Basic Book Repair Methods emphasizes procedures, including cleaning and mending paper, book hinge repair, cloth re-backing, and more.  Also deals with economy, efficiency, and conservation grade materials and provides names and addresses of vendors.  Published by Libraries Unlimited, 1999.  102 pp., softcover.  Available from SAA (product code 368) for $19 members,  $25 nonmembers.  

Anne J. Gilliland-Swetland has written the report Enduring Paradigm, New Opportunities:  The Value of the Archival Perspective in the Digital Environment.  The study examines how the archival perspective is useful in addressing problems faced by those who design, manage, disseminate, and preserve digital information.  She argues that archivists, who are aware of how societal, institutional, and individual memory is constructed, are valuable in an online world where information is subject to loss of context, corruption, and loss.  $15.  Collections, Content and the Web is a related publication that explores how the Internet is affecting collections-based institutions.  It is based on a conference held in 1999.  $20.  Both publications can be ordered from CLIR Publications Orders, 1755 Massachusetts Ave., N.W., Suite 500, Washington, D.C.  Or call 202-939-4750.  

The American Association of Museums has published A Museum Guide to Copyright and Trademark (1999).  Publicity states that the guide “introduces the legal regimes of copyright and trademark in a museum context and offers museums a series of best practices for identifying and administering intellectual property.”  Discusses “copyright law, trademark law, the World Wide Web, and licensing.”  226 pp.  Soft cover.  Through SAA, $24 members, $30 nonmembers (product code 385).  Call:  312-922-0140.  

Frederick Stielow has edited Creating a Virtual Library:  A How-To-Do-It Manual (1999), published by Neal-Schuman.  Does your archives or library need to take control of its own Web site expansion?  This manual provides clear instructions for mounting a relatively advanced virtual library in a short period of time, for low costs, and even with an initially under-trained staff.  Through SAA, $50 for members, $55 for nonmembers (product code 387). Call:  312-922-0140 for telephone orders. 

The National Archives has published Picturing the Century:  One Hundred Years of Photography from the National Archives.  The 136-page book contains 157 illustrations that “capture the hopes and fears of the American people.”  $19.95 plus $3 p/h.  ISBN 0-295-97772-8.  Phone orders:  1-800-234-8861. 

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Around the Web
Online Resources & Exhibits

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Ann Marie Przybyla, Cleveland Museum of Art and Chair of SAA’s Museum Archives Section, recently shared with colleagues some things she had “learned during three years of continuous employment as a museum archivist.”  Among them: