NCH WASHINGTON UPDATE (Vol. 11, #40; 20 October 2005)
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1. HIGHER EDUCATION BILL ON FAST TRACK
2. NPS SEEKS PUBLIC COMMENT ON CONTROVERSIAL “MANAGEMENT POLICIES” DOCUMENT
3. PUBLISHERS SUE GOOGLE TO STOP BOOK SCANNING
4. CIVIL WAR COLLECTION DONATED TO PARK SERVICE
5. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS AND SMITHSONIAN LAUNCH HURRICANE RELIEF AND
DOCUMENTARY EFFORTS
6. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS INITIATES AUDIOVISUAL MATERIALS MIGRATION PROJECT
7. BITS AND BYTES: Gilder Lehrman Summer Institutes Announced; C-SPAN
Launches new Web Site; NEH “Idea of America” Winning Essay Posted
8. ARTICLES OF INTEREST: No posting this week
1. HIGHER EDUCATION BILL ON FAST TRACK The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions has placed the Higher Education bill (S. 1614) on the fast track. It has been attached to a bill that would cut over $15 billion from the education budget, primarily from government subsidies to private student-loan providers. The budget-cutting legislation, considered a top priority for the Senate Republican leadership, passed the committee on 18 October by a vote of 15-5.
The 2005 Spending Reconciliation bill is aimed at meeting the panel’s obligations as part of a broader Congressional effort to reduce the federal deficit, continue to lower taxes, and provide hurricane relief to the victims of Katrina and Rita. Both Democrats and Republicans believe that this reconciliation bill provides the best chance for the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act and also for providing additional grant aid to help low-income students gain access to colleges and universities. Others, including some lobbyists, recognize that linking the two bills together may be the only way to ensure that the reauthorization takes place by the end of this year.
Section 851 of the Senate version of the Higher Education Act is entitled “American History for Freedom.” It authorizes the Secretary of Education to award three-year grants on a competitive basis to institutions of higher education and certain non-profit groups for the purpose of strengthening post-secondary academic programs or centers that promote and impart knowledge of traditional American history; the history, nature, and threats to free institutions; and the history and achievements of Western Civilization. (See related story “ Senate Committee Approves Revisions to Higher Education Act – New History Language Included” in NCH WASHINGTON UPDATE, Vol. 11 # 35; 15 September 2005.)
While the Senate is expected to move forward with the reconciliation bill, it is unclear what action the House of Representatives will take. Chairman John Boehner (R-OH) of the House Education and the Workforce Committee has yet to make his views or intentions known.
2. NPS SEEKS PUBLIC COMMENT ON CONTROVERSIAL “MANAGEMENT POLICIES” DOCUMENT On 18 October 2005 the National Park Service (NPS) released for public comment a proposed update of its key policy setting statement – "NPS Management Policies," a document that park managers use for policy guidance to achieve the Service’s mission to conserve park resources while providing for their enjoyment by present and future generations.
In a press briefing held at the Department of the Interior (DOI), Department and NPS officials announced proposed changes to the document, which was last updated in 2001. NPS Director Fran Mainella, several deputy directors and a number of career park professionals including regional directors, park managers, and rangers who were involved in the drafting process, participated in the briefing.
According to Mainella, “No one can enjoy the parks if they are impaired. Our updated policy guidance will help the 21st century managers conserve our natural and cultural resources while ensuring enjoyable and appropriate experiences for visitors. To manage parks emphasizing either conservation or enjoyment, to the exclusion of the other, imperils the national park concept.”
Mainella also announced a 90-day comment period in which the Service is “seeking review and comment from Congress, NPS employees, our partners and the public to help us refine and strengthen this critical stewardship document.”
Management Policies has been reviewed and updated several times in the past, most recently in 2001 and prior to that in 1988. The current revision to Management Policies was requested by Congress and is the product of a series of meetings allegedly among some “one hundred career professionals.” Reportedly, park managers had also urged some of the revisions in order to address the “changing needs and circumstances of parks” which, according to some critics, is code language for enhancing recreational use over preservation and conservation. NPS insiders report a slightly different view – that the document is largely the reflection of about two dozen and high-ranking NPS and DOI officials and that there was little input from regional offices or the field.
According to the National Park watchdog group, National Parks Conservation Association, “this proposal appears to be a significant improvement over earlier drafts but the true test is whether it is an improvement to the existing 2001 Management Policies.”
A preliminary analysis by the National Coalition for History (NCH) suggests that there are a number of new provisions and substantive changes that deserve close scrutiny, including several that may well weaken the agency’s mandate to preserve and protect historic sites and heritage. From the first page of the revised document’s “Introduction,” there is evidence of an effort to put the NPS on a new track with respect to managing park heritage resources: there is language that seeks to obfuscate if not negate outright the legislative distinctions between the carefully selected language crafted by Congress in the NPS Organic Act relating to “conserve, preserve, and protect.” The "Introduction" states that throughout the document, except where statutory language is quoted or cited, these words are “generally to be used interchangeably.”
In a glaring if not deliberate omission, nowhere in the Introduction is the language of the NPS Organic Act directly cited; rather, its meaning is paraphrased. A definition of “impairment” has been added: it means an action that “in the professional judgement of the responsible NPS manager, would harm the integrity of park resources or values, including the opportunity that otherwise would be present for the enjoyment of those resources or values, in violation of the NPS Organic Act.” Similarly, there is a definition of “appropriate use” defined as anything that does “not cause unacceptable impacts on park resources and values”; “appropriate use” is not described in terms of preservation or conservation nor is there present the statutory mandate to leave park resources “unimpaired for future generations.” Instead we see the language emphasizing visitor use: “The concept of appropriate use is especially important with regard to visitor enjoyment.”
In the realm of Cultural Resources Management (chapter 5) the changes appear not so draconian, though language relating to the Service supporting its cultural resource professionals by “maintaining and improving their disciplinary knowledge and skills in promoting professionalism through continuing education, graduate level courses, seminars, training, teaching and attendance at professional conferences...” has been struck. There is new language relating to nominations for World Heritage list designation, and new language in a number of sections relating to the consultation process. For example, decisions relating to “user capacity” and “treatment of cultural resources” are no longer left to NPS professionals, disciplinary experts and traditionally associated peoples, rather, they are to include affected “partners, communities...and other interested individuals and groups. ”
The notice of availablity of the draft Management Policies document has been published in the Federal Register and is accessible for review and comment for 90 days at http://parkplanning.nps.gov/waso or it can also be viewed at http://www.nps.gov . The NCH has filed a Freedom of Information (FOIA) request for a side-by-side comparison version that indicates any and all changes, additions, or deletions to the Management Policies guideline currently in place (2001 version) and the public comment release version made available 18 October.
3. PUBLISHERS SUE GOOGLE TO STOP BOOK SCANNING Over the last couple of months this publication has reported on the ongoing controversy over GOOGLE’s effort to scan millions of library books so they can be viewed on the Internet. On 18 October the Association of American Publishers and several of its members filed a copyright-infringement law suit against GOOGLE. The suit follows on the heels of a class action lawsuit brought by the 8,000 member Authors Guild which also alleged that GOOGLE’s library project violated copyright law.
The publishers allege that the search engine’s project is infringing copyright to “further itw own commercial purposes.” GOOGLE denounced the lawsuit as “shortsighted” and countered that the company’s project falls under the copyright law’s fair-use provision. The matter will now be settled in court.
4. CIVIL WAR COLLECTION DONATED TO PARK SERVICE A massive collection of artifacts relating to the Trans-Mississippi region of the Civil War has been acquired by the National Park Service (NPS). The $4.5 million agreement also includes the acquisition of a 20-acre property with a five-bedroom Victorian home that serves as a museum. It is located directly across the street from the Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield in Republic, Missouri, which is operated by the National Park Service. Tours of the museum will be included in the price of admission to the park.
Tom Sweeney, a retired radiologist from Springfield, Missouri, amassed this collection that consists of thousands of artifacts including diaries, uniforms, weapons, and flags. Many of the items have been used for illustrations in the Time-Life book series about the Civil War. Some of the more significant items of note include the sword belt, buckle, and sash worn by General Patrick Cleburne when he was killed at the Battle of Franklin, and the Confederate battle flag of the 1st Cherokee Mounted Rifles carried by Indians under Stand Watie.
Over the years, Sweeney traveled around the country attending collector’s shows and acquired hundreds of artifacts and relics. With the funds he obtained from the NPS when the agency purchased John Brown’s bible (currently on display at Harper’s Ferry National Historical Park in West Virginia), Sweeney was able to finance the opening of his museum in 1993 which he called “General Sweeney’s.” The museum was named after his ancestor, General Thomas W. Sweeney, who lost an arm in the Mexican War and fought at Wilson’s Creek where he was wounded a second time. Since the museum opened, Sweeney and his wife Karen have diligently researched, categorized, cross-referenced, and displayed the collection for visitors.
Michael L. Vice, the retired curator at the Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania, described the collection as “extraordinary” and noted that the cataloguing and record keeping is what distinguishes it from others. He also observed that this collection should serve as a reminder about the presence of the Civil War in the west, something that it commonly forgotten.
5. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS AND SMITHSONIAN LAUNCH HURRICANE RELIEF AND DOCUMENTARY EFFORTS The Library of Congress (LOC) and Smithsonian Institution (SI) have initiated a number of efforts to help in the hurricane aftermath. The LC has launched several efforts to benefit libraries and museums while the SI has begun to collect artifacts in order to document the hurricane’s impact on the region.
The LOC has started the Book Relief Project aimed at sending books to hurricane shelters and schools that are serving people displaced from their homes due to the storms. A list of all libraries that have been affected by the hurricanes has been developed and the information will be used to develop an assistance action plan that is aimed to help in recovery efforts. Additionally, the LOC has gathered information regarding the recovery and preservation of water-damaged materials, which can be viewed online at http://www.loc.gov/preserv/ . The Library also is determining what preservation materials it can donate to help with the recovery effort, and has prepared a training course in disaster recovery and preservation techniques for librarians in the affected regions. Finally, the American Folklore Center at the LOC is working to begin an oral history project for hurricane survivors. Efforts are underway to train historians and other academics in conducting oral histories, and will be donating tape recording equipment to the project. The Library will assist in the development of a database and a recording archive so that this collection of oral histories will be usable by historians, journalists, and other researchers.
The Smithsonian Institution has also been working to document the hurricanes and their aftermath. Some seventeen objects have been collected for use in various Smithsonian museums: a cot from the Superdome, for example, will be part of a museum exhibit in the National Museum of African American History and Culture while a curtain collected from a flooded house with layers of sediment illustrating the extent of the flood is likely to be displayed in another SI museum. Some 900 photographs have also been collected documenting the hurricane and its aftermath.
6. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS INITIATES AUDIOVISUAL MATERIALS MIGRATION PROJECT The Library of Congress has contracted in order to purchase the System for the Automated Migration of Media Archives (SAMMA) for the purpose of migrating its massive collection of audiovisual material in preparation for its move to the National Audio Visual Conservation Center in Culpeper, Virginia.
During the next few years, SAMMA will be used to digitize and migrate many of the hundreds of thousands of recordings in its collection. Upon completion of this project, projected sometime in 2007, the National Audio Visual Conservation Center of the Library of Congress will be the first centralized facility in America especially planned and created for the acquisition, cataloging, storage, and preservation of the country’s collections of audio and visual recordings. It is expected to be the largest facility of its kind in the entire world.
7. BITS AND BYTES Item #1 – Gilder Lehrman Summer Institutes Announced: The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History has announced 21 week long seminars for high school and middle school teachers to be held in the summer of 2006. Seminars are tuition free and participants receive a $500 stipend, books, and room and board. The seminars are all on major topics in American history and are being led by eminent historians. Some of the topics of note include: “The Great Depression, World War II, and the American West,” at Stanford University, led by David Kennedy and Richard White; “America Between the Wars,” at Columbia University, led by Alan Brinkley and Michael Flamm; and “The Era of George Washington”, at Brown University, led by Gordon Wood. Applications must be submitted by 1 February 2006. Seminars are limited to thirty participants per seminar by competitive application. A complete list of topics, dates, locations, and application forms is available online at: here . E-mail seminars@gilderlehrman or call Sasha Rolon at (646)-366-9666 with any questions.
Item #2 – C-SPAN Launches new Web Site: C-SPAN has announced the debut of Capital News, an online news compendium for just about everything in the realm of politics. Headlines are updated every 15 minutes; the website also offers its visitors with the most popular video clips of the day and daily polls about a varying political issue. The site also provides links to hundreds of useful websites under its “useful resources” section, including federal agencies, military branches, lawmakers, policy organizers and blogs of every political persuasion, international government, and judicial sites. Capital News can be accessed at http://www.capitalnews.org .
Item #3 – NEH “Idea of America” Winning Essay Posted: The National Endowment for Humanities (NEH) has posted the winning essay in the third annual “Idea of America” Essay Contest. The annual essay contest, open to high school juniors across the country, is part of the NEH’s "We the People" initiative to strengthen the teaching, study, and understanding of United States culture and history. Carmiel “Carmi” Schickler, a 17-year-old student from Port Washington, NY, was selected from six finalists at an award ceremony sponsored by the NEH at the Old Post Office Building in downtown Washington D.C. As the grand prize winner, Schickler received $5000. The five runner-ups each received $1000. A full copy of the award-winning essay is available online at: here .
8. ARTICLES OF INTEREST No posting this week.
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