Help the Library of Virginia

If you have not heard funding and access to the Library of Virginia is in jeopardy thanks to the Legal Genealogists blog post yesterday.  Today I received an email spelling out exactly what needs to be done.  If you want to help, PLEASE do.  The Library of Virginia needs your help this week to get its budget amendments through the Senate Finance Committee.  It is a repository beyond compare and one which is need for research from a variety of fields.  

To be clear, without full funding, this is how the LVA will be effect:

....  Without a private papers specialist, new private papers (from newly donated bible records to private historical documents collected from the public and scanned as part of the CW150 or WWI centennial projects) will remain unavailable to researchers.  LVA has been unable to put Virginia’s vital records from 1853-1896 (and some to the 1930’s) online, largely because it has not had the staff to prepare and issue RFPs or negotiate and manage a contract with a vendor like Ancestry to scan, digitize and index the records.

Senate Finance will be coming out with its budget by Sunday of this week (February 5).  Please send a letter TODAY if possible, to Senate Finance Members asking them to fully fund LVA’s two relatively modest budget requests...

You do not need to be a resident of the state of Virginia to help.  Write, call, send a carrier pigeon, but let the legislature know that we need this funding for the library to go through.  

Please concentrate messages to Senator Tommy Norment (Williamsburg/James City County), Dick Saslaw (Falls Church/Alexandria), Emmett Hanger (Augusta/Staunton/Waynesboro) and Frank Ruff (Mecklenburg-Danville) becasue they have not came out in support.  Also, the Education Subcommittee of Senate Finance are the key people to contact.  Those persons are Senators Norment, Newman, Howell, Saslaw, Hanger, Ruff and Dunnavant. 

Please preserve Virginia’s history and make it accessible to researchers!


The members of the Senate Finance Committee in block email are as follows:
district03@senate.virginia.gov; district24@senate.virginia.gov; district32@senate.virginia.gov;district35@senate.virginia.gov; district18@senate.virginia.gov; district23@senate.virginia.gov; district15@senate.virginia.gov; district07@senate.virginia.gov; district04@senate.virginia.gov; district27@senate.virginia.gov; district40@senate.virginia.gov; district26@senate.virginia.gov; district39@senate.virginia.gov; district12@senate.virginia.gov
   
Senator Thomas K. Norment Jr: (804) 698-7503 district03@senate.virginia.gov
Senator Emmett W. Hanger, Jr: (804) 698-7524 district24@senate.virginia.gov
Senator Janet D. Howell: (804) 698-7532 district32@senate.virginia.gov
Senator Richard L. Saslaw: (804) 698-7535 district35@senate.virginia.gov
Senator L. Louise Lucas: (804) 698-7518 district18@senate.virginia.gov
Senator Stephen D. Newman: (804) 698-7523 district23@senate.virginia.gov
Senator Frank M. Ruff, Jr: (804) 698-7515 district15@senate.virginia.gov
Senator Frank W. Wagner: (804) 698-7507 district07@senate.virginia.gov
Senator Ryan T. McDougle: (804) 698-7504 district04@senate.virginia.gov
Senator Jill Holtzman Vogel: (804) 698-7527 district27@senate.virginia.gov
Senator Charles W. Carrico, Sr.: (804) 698-7540 district40@senate.virginia.gov
Senator Mark D. Obenshain: (804) 698-7526 district26@senate.virginia.gov
Senator George L. Barker: (804) 698-7539 district39@senate.virginia.gov
Senator Siobhan S. Dunnavant: (804) 698-7512 district12@senate.virginia.go

Why should eliminating the NHPRC concern us

Last week a draft bill was sent to the US House of Representatives which included a provision to National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC).  Why am I talking about this?  Well, it will affect every single genealogist out there researching in US records.

eliminate the

The NHPRC was founded in 1934 and has several goals.  Mainly they promote the preservation of American documents important to our heritage.  Especially documents that relate to democracy, history and culture.  They give grants to many different organizations who fall within the auspices of their mission as well projects that document democracy.  The NHPRC also publishes many books and pamphlets about these documents and aide in the historical research of our country.  Check out this guide to what they do for more information.

Those grants have furthered our ability to have access to documents that may have otherwise never seen the light of day.  It has preserved literally thousands of collections through digitization and proper training for archivists on care and storage.  That has in turn allowed researchers and the public access to these records and smaller archives that would have otherwise never happened. 

So why was a provision put in this bill to end funding?  To help pay for the cleanup costs that will be incurred by the federal government due to the OPM security breach.  Now, before you go off on how that is a very important thing.  Trust me, I get that.  It affected my whole family too.  But, I feel strongly that cutting ALL funding to an organization that is dedicated to preserving our documentary heritage is wrong.  WRONG! 

Yes, I am impassioned.  Yes, I think you should be too. 

As of this morning, it was reported by the National Coalition for History (NHC) that the draft bill, sponsored by Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform (OGR) Committee, was pulled.  However, the committee will resume after Labor Day and it is likely that they may take another look at this bill again at that time.  This issue may still resurface.  You can keep up to date on the developing details through the NCH website.

I hope you see how anyone interested in continuing to preserve American historical documents should pay close attention to this ongoing story.