1. Humanities Day On the Hill
2. GAO Issues Harsh Report on the Library of Congress
3. Public Witnesses Testify on National Archives and NHPRC's
FY'97 Budgets
1. Humanities Day on the Hill -- On May 2 a coalition of
humanities organizations, spearheaded by the Federation of State
Humanities Councils, invited members of Congress and staff to
attend "Humanities on the Hill: 1996, A Celebration of the
Humanities." To a packed audience, Ken Burns talked about the
importance of NEH to his work and showed a sneak preview of his
upcoming film, "The West." The program also featured a mini-
chautauqua with a visit by Mark Twain presented by George Frein
of the Great Plains Chautauqua. Kermit Hall, Dean of Humanities
at Ohio State, was a most able moderator for the event; and there
were also remarks by Sheldon Hackney, Chair or NEH, and Sharon
Percy Rockefeller, President of WETA.
Not only did many legislative aides and members of Congress
attend, but a number of Senators and Representatives spoke
briefly. Senator Thad Cochran (R-MS), who secured the beautiful
Senate Russell Caucus Room for the occasion, spoke of the
importance of the humanities in American life, as did Senators
Robert Bennett (R-UT), Ted Stevens (R-Alaska); John Chafee (R-
RI), Claiborne Pell (D-RI), Alan Simpson (R-WY), Judd Gregg (R-
NH), Trent Lott (D-MS), and Representatives Patsy Mink (D-HI),
Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY), Tillie Fowler (R-FL), and Ralph Regula
(R-OH). Bennett stressed the important role of NEH in nurturing
an understanding of our unique culture and political system.
Stevens talked about the commendable programming undertaken by
the state humanities council in Alaska. Gregg pointed out that
Ken Burns--a native of New Hampshire--is a jewel among film
producers and that Burns has produced with NEH and state
council's support films that both educate and entertain. Lott
said the states and the nation benefit from the humanities, and
he strongly affirmed that there is a bipartisan commitment to the
humanities in Congress.
In one of the memorable phrases from the morning, Boehlert (R-NY)
said that the message he was getting from the American people was
that they "want to do more with less, but don't want more of
'knowing less.'" Boehlert also noted that Representative Peter
Torkildsen (R-MA) was circulating a letter to other Republican
members of the House that will be sent to Representative Regula,
the Chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior,
urging an appropriation for FY'97 for NEH of at least $110
million, the appropriated level for this year. At a later point
in the program, Regula indicated that he had great appreciation
for the humanities but that he needed help in convincing his
colleagues on the appropriations subcommittee of the importance
of funding for the endowments.
Ken Burns made clear in his presentation that the production of
the Civil War and the Baseball films would have been impossible
without NEH, which provided the rigorous peer review and the
blessing that then made it possible to raise corporate funds. We
aren't just economic beings, he stressed and then noted that the
market place doesn't produce the best news or children's programs
or preserve the papers of the founding presidents nor does the
market place produce B-2 bombers. There is a role for the
federal government, Burns said, in making our country worth
defending. Few agencies play such an important role he said in
helping to preserve our fragile culture. Anything, Burns said,
that threatens the endowments weakens our country.
The message from Sharon Rockefeller, who has also served on the
West Virginia humanities council, was that NEH and public
broadcasting are partners and that PBS is able to be the story
teller of the nation's history because of the high quality of
documentary films supported by NEH. The market place, she said,
has neither the will nor desire to support the kinds of projects
currently funded by NEH.
Sheldon Hackney talked about the difficulty in explaining the
humanities. In the legislation establishing NEH, he observed that
the Congress defined it simply by listing the disciplines
involved. Hackney said he is soliciting a "sound bite," bumper
sticker slogan, or a "tag line" that describes the humanities and
would welcome suggestions. They could be sent by e-mail to
info@neh.fed.us
Humanities Day on the Hill was a memorable celebration of the
humanities.
2. GAO Issues Harsh Report on the Library of Congress -- In a
draft report that is to be made public on May 7, the General
Accounting Office (GAO) in its review of the Library of Congress
has concluded that the library needs to cut costs, that the
library has serious management problems, and that there needs to
be a basic reconsideration of the role of the Library. Based on
access to a 24-page executive summary, the Washington Post
reported on April 29 that the GAO "recommends that to contain
burgeoning costs, the Library become for Congress and the nation
a passive clearinghouse of information as opposed to an active
content collector and provider." The review, conducted by the
international management consulting firm of Booz-Allen and
Hamilton, will be the major topic at a Congressional hearing on
May 7 of the Joint Committee on the Library. There will be two
panels at the hearing -- one with witnesses from GAO and the
consulting firm that prepared the report and the other with James
Billington, Librarian of Congress and other library officials.
3. Public Witnesses Testify on National Archives and NHPRC's
FY'97 Budgets --On April 30 the House Appropriations Subcommittee
on Treasury, Postal Service, and General Government held a
hearing for outside witnesses to present testimony on the FY'97
budgets of any agencies or programs under the subcommittee's
jurisdiction. Page Putnam Miller testified for NCC on the FY'97
budgets for the National Archives and the National Historical
Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), and Charlene
Bickford testified for the Association for Documentary Editing on
the budget for NHPRC. Miller urged the subcommittee to
appropriate the President's request of $196.964 million for the
National Archives, which is close to the current funding level,
and $6 million for NHPRC. NHPRC is authorized at $10 million but
currently funded at $5 million; however, the President has
requested only $4 million for NHPRC in FY'97. Miller noted that
the National Archives already has a very lean budget and she
reviewed the federal mandate for the National Archives for
identifying, preserving, arranging, describing, and servicing of
federal records. She pointed out that in all of these areas the
responsibilities and tasks are growing but the funding has been
decreasing.
Bickford also urged adoption of a $6 million budget for NHPRC in
FY'97. She noted that the presentation of history through
teaching, museums, historic sites, exhibits, and films, all
depend upon the kind of documentary evidence that NHPRC helps to
preserve and make available. She concluded that this is a model
federal program that works and that "$6 million is a small price
for another year of progress in preserving our nation's history."
Representatives Jim Lightfoot (R-Iowa) and Steny Hoyer (D-MD),
the two members of the subcommittee attending the hearing, were
responsive to the testimony but said much would depend on how
much money the Congress allocated to the subcommittee.
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