From the Records Preservation and Access Committee website:
Congressmen Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) and Chris Cannon (R-UT) have issued a “dear colleagues” letter to the members of the House of Representatives, inviting them to sign on as original sponsors to the “Preserving the American Historical Record” (PAHR) bill.
PAHR proposed to increase federal support for state and local archival records held by government agencies, historical societies, libraries, and related organizations. This initiative would establish a program of formula-based grants to states for re-grants and statewide services to support preservations and use of historical records. The program, to be administered by the National Archives, will provide a total of $50 million per year nationwide. Each state would receive a portion of these funds for redistribution to organizations within its borders. This program would be in addition to the existing national grants program within the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.
How can you help?
Contact your Representative in Congress and urge them to sign on as an original sponsor of PAHR. Write a few sentences telling him or her how PAHR would help his or her constituents — you! (Tell them how vital it is to have records preserved and available to the public.) Also, spread the word about this action alert!
Time is critical. Deadline for action is Saturday, May 10.
Faxing your Representative is the preferred method of communication. The Humanities Advocacy Network maintains a website with all of the contact information for legislators: http://www.humanitiesadvocacy.org/action_ctr.html
Further information about PAHR, including the bill, background information, and the amount of funding for each state can be found at:
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March 4, 2008 at 2:25 am
Ken Spangler
Thanks so much for the great read! I don’t consider myself a newbie to genealogy research but I was delighted to find a website that I hadn’t heard of! I will have to check out WeRelate and see what it is about. It looks pretty interesting.
It’s also interesting to see another person who chose Roots Magic. I definitely have to check that one out.
I’m loving this Carnival of Genealogy!
Ken
March 4, 2008 at 10:59 am
Chery Kinnick
Amy, it’s good to hear from you again. Fun post, and I hope you are able to track down Matilda (we know she’s out there, somewhere).
Please consider a post about some of your favorite tombstone enscriptions. I think that would be a GREAT prompt for others. If you start, I promise I’ll join in.
Chery
March 4, 2008 at 5:05 pm
Nikki-ann
600 photos in cemeteries in 1 weekend?! That’s got to be some kind of record!
March 6, 2008 at 7:11 am
Amy
Ken — Thanks for stopping by! I bet you’ll enjoy exploring WeRelate. There are so many possibilities for its use.
Chery — Good to see you! I’ve had lots of ideas for posts, but very little time to do any of them. Hopefully when finals are done next week, I can get a little time to relax and do some fun stuff
I’ll accept your challenge and post some of my favorite tombstones!
Nikki-ann — Thanks for stopping in! One of the cemeteries I visited was Lexington Cemetery in Lexington, Kentucky. That place is *huge*! The variety of stones was incredible.