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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Historians Protest Funds Allotment Group Says Misguided Priorities Threaten Heritage Of Founders

Associated Press

Declaring that “the history of our great nation is in danger,” more than 100 historians are protesting a government decision to stop giving first priority to publishing the papers of the Founding Fathers.

Instead, the founders’ papers will have to compete for money with other projects, such as documenting the history of the Seminole Indians in Florida or preserving early records of the civil rights movement. Those records are stored by the Birmingham, Ala., Public Library, but it has never had enough money to make them available to the public.

By a 6-5 vote last November, the National Historical Publications Records Commission gave highest priority to preserving records that might otherwise be lost and to finding ways to preserve electronic records, also in danger of disappearing.

That decision gave less emphasis to editing and publishing the founders’ papers and records kept by such figures as inventor Thomas A. Edison and pioneer labor leader Samuel Gompers and feminist Susan B. Anthony.

In an open letter to President Clinton and Congress on Friday, 102 historians protested the commission’s priorities, and also deplored cuts in the budget of the National Endowment for the Humanities, which had helped fund the historical publications work.

“A crisis is at hand,” the historians said. “We sorely need a new sense of commitment from the federal government to help protect the historical memory of the United States.”

But Gerald George, executive director of the commission, said that it was more important to save endangered records, including those created by computers, than publishing records safely housed in such places as the Library of Congress and the National Archives.

“Because we have few funds, we have to give first priority to saving history, and to try to continue to publish it whenever we can,” he said in an interview.

He said the policy was made necessary when Clinton proposed cutting $1 million from his agency’s $5 million budget.