Once again, we have the opportunity to ask the Council of DC for action on the long-running—and unfortunately, increasing—neglect of the DC Archives.
On Friday of this week, the Committee on Housing and Executive Administration will hold a Performance Oversight Hearing on the Secretary of the District of Columbia, the office that administers the DC Archives. You may have noticed that the Council committee has changed. Now, at-large Councilmember Anita Bonds will be leading oversight for the operations of the DC Archives.
So we are asking for your help to make a good first impression this Friday, stating the need for leadership at the Archives, concrete planning for a new facility, and community engagement through the Archives Advisory Group.
Testify Virtually:
WHEN: Friday, February 26, 2020 at 9AM
WHERE: Webinar (Register for invitation)
HOW: Email: Housing@DCCOUNCIL.US or call 202-724-8198 to register
This is the first time the Council has allowed virtual testimony, and we do not know whether they will permit it in the future. We know everyone’s life is upside down, but if you can tune in from your house for just a part of your day, we can show the broad support for the DC Archives like never before.
Send an email to the Mayor and Council:
We have attached proposed language at the end, but it means more to the Councilmembers to hear your thoughts, even if it’s just a sentence. Forget about polish and speak from your experience about the importance of the documents inside.
Click the button below to open your browser with the right emails already populated.
Leave a Voicemail for the Council
The Committee also takes testimony in voicemail form, at (202) 350-0894
Spread the word:
Share this invitation with colleagues, friends, and ANC Commissioners
Thank you in advance for your help in preserving and opening one of DC’s most important cultural resources.
Suggested Comment Letter:
A quarter century of neglect has left the DC Archives with an inadequate facility and damaged historical documents. While in recent years the District increased resources to the Archives and promised still more, its operations experienced significant backsliding in the past year.
A recently hired archivist resigned out of frustration and the Public Records Administrator was removed with little public explanation.
The archives experienced a substantial leak while the building was unoccupied.
The Archives has been closed to the public since the beginning of the pandemic. While other institutions have accepted limited remote research requests, that service has not been available at the Archives.
I look forward to hearing an update on the recruitment process for both positions, as well as a plan to reopen public access once it is safe to do so.
I am likewise concerned that plans for the long-needed replacement facility have been delayed further. The Council pushed back appropriations for the replacement facility until 2025, a full decade after funding was first set aside. Without adequate staff, cataloguing and organizing the records for relocation has stalled. A few years of delay in the archives may not seem like much after twenty-five years of stagnation, however that long delay was never planned. Instead, it was made up of one or two year delays and unfulfilled promises, year after year after year, as our documentary heritage deteriorated.
And finally, during last summer’s budget process, the Council created a volunteer board to advice the Chairman on the operations of and future facility for the Archives. However, the board has not been filled, despite it incurring no financial obligations. This is the second advisory board the Council has created and not staffed. I ask that the Council fulfill this simple promise immediately.