Legislative Action Items
Michigan Genealogical Council
Here are some items of pending legislation of interest to the genealogy community.
Support for the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) Reauthorization Needed by Wednesday.
NHPRC is due for reauthorization in Congress this year-a year when fiscal issues are hotly debated, and very serious situations are developing for essential programs like NHPRC. On Thursday, July 1 at 2:30, the Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census and the National Archives will mark up, or vote on, House bill, HR 5616 (new version of HR 1556.) It is now more similar to the comparable Senate bill (S. 2872), but the Senate version still calls for reauthorization of NHPRC at only $10 million. It is essential that the subcommittee approve the $20 million authorization version. There are some strong anti-spending voices on the committee-so it is critical that we let Chairman Lacy Clay (D-MO) know that the archives, history, and genealogy community wants to see this bill passed. Please call, fax, or email Chairman Clay and the subcommittee members by Wednesday evening. It is particularly important if you are in a state with one of the subcommittee members that you write directly to your member.
Members are:
Carolyn Maloney, D, NY fax: 202-225-4709
Steve Driehaus, D, OH fax: 202-225-3012
Henry Cuellar, D, TX fax: 202-225-1641
Judy Chu, D, CA fax: 202-225-5467
Eleanor Holmes Norton, D, DC fax: 202-225-3002
Danny Davis, D, IL fax: 202-225-5641
John Mica, R, FL fax: 202-226-0821
Patrick McHenry, R, NC fax: 202-225-0316
Lynn Westmoreland, R, GA fax: 202-225-2515
Jason Chaffetz, R, UT fax: 202-225-5629
Call or send faxes to:
Chairman William Lacy Clay
Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census and the National Archives
B-349C Rayburn House Office Building
Washington DC 20515
Fax: 202-225-4784 or Email: send as a pdf to Anthony.Clark@mail.house.gov.
Points to make in the letter (It can be brief and stress the first three points):
HR 5616 (new version of HR 1556), calls for reauthorizing the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) at the funding level of $20 million. It is scheduled to be marked up on Thursday, July 1 at 2:30 pm ET.
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IF YOU ARE WRITING TO A SUBCOMMITTEE MEMBER, URGE THEM TO ATTEND THE MEETING AND VOTE IN FAVOR OF HR 5616, to significantly improve the condition of and access to the American historical record.
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NHPRC is the only federal agency that provides grants specifically for archives, which it does through competitive grants for projects with a national scope and a modest State-National Partnership grant category for grants to states.
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NHPRC is a good investment of federal dollars. All grants must provide a 50% cost-share in local funds. NHPRC grants often serve as "seed money" to start archival programs or additional archival activities. Many institutions then continue to support the program with their own dollars after the grant period.
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NHPRC stimulates jobs in the archives and records management profession. Historical records projects are "jobs-heavy." On the average 75% of NHPRC funds for projects are used to pay staff.
Provide information on why NHPRC is important to your region/state/institution, or tell a personal story about your use of a record or its importance to you.
For more information visit: National Historical Publications and Records Commission.
Thank you.
Preserving the American Historical Record. Much of the American record — evidence of births, education, marriage (and divorce), property
owned, obligations satisfied and criminal conduct — is held at the state and local level. Our state
and local history organizations preserve the records that protect our rights. Our nation has
recognized the importance of history by its support of national institutions — the National
Archives, the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution. Yet this support is not adequate
to reach the rest of our nation’s archives being held in government agencies, state and local
historical societies, archives, and library history collections. Very simply, more resources need
to be directed to states and regions to ensure essential care so that documents and archival
records in many forms can be readily used for a host of purposes by the people of this nation.
Please write your U.S. congressional representative and U.S. Senator and encourage their support of this bill that will benefit genealogists, not just today but also in the future. If passed with full funding, Michigan could realize $1.7 million annually.
For contact information on your elected officials you may use this finding aid.
Here is a finding aid for your Michigan State Representative and State Senator in Lansing. All you need to type in is your zip code.
PUBLIC RELEASE
July 15, 2009
To Whom It May Concern:
As you may be aware, Michigan is facing a huge financial crisis. Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm issued Executive Order 2009-36 dissolving the Department of History, Arts & Libraries and splitting the various functions between various other state departments. The Library of Michigan would be transferred to the Department of Education, and the Archives of Michigan would be transferred to the Department of Natural Resources. This order would take effect October 1, 2009.
What is of concern is Section B (8) of the Executive Order that states:
“Unless the Superintendent finds it impracticable, these measures shall include, but not limited to, all of the following:
(a) Eliminating circulation of specific collections (including, but not limited to, the Main, Dewey, and General Reference collections, the Michigan collection, the Michigan Documents collection, and the Rare Book collection) or, alternatively, transferring such collections to other suitable institutions, . . .
(c) Suspending or eliminating participation as a participating lending library in MeLCat,
(d) Eliminating or transferring to other suitable institutions the Federal Documents Depository and the non-Michigan genealogy collection.”
The Executive Order directs the Superintendent of Public Instruction to continue to look for ways to reduce library costs.
Also in the Executive Order is the formation of a committee to look at how to further reduce costs for the next fiscal year. The Executive Order can be reviewed at http://www.michigan.gov/gov/0,1607,7-168-21975---,00.html.
In response to the Executive Order, ten (10) Michigan senators have introduced bills (SB 503 – SB 527) transferring all functions of the Department of History, Arts & Libraries to the Department of State. This would include a separate pot of money from the general fund, held by the Department of Treasury, for any donations. The donations that are not spent at the end of the fiscal year remain in the account and are not transferred to the general fund. These bills are currently in a Senate subcommittee.
http://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2009-2010/billanalysis/Senate/pdf/2009-SFA-0503-S.pdf.
While the Michigan Genealogical Council understands the crises the state is in financially, we feel that breaking up the collection at the Library, which has items dating back to the 1800s, is not the answer. Once this collection is gone, there is no going back. This would be a great loss to the citizens of this state as well as those that come to our state to use this collection. This would also be a blow to all public libraries, as they receive part of their funding from the library and have access to MeLCat, which is the system used for interlibrary loan.
The Council would like to encourage everyone to contact their legislators (in person or by phone) to help save one of our most valuable resources. For a listing of Michigan legislatures, you can visit the following website:
House (http://house.michigan.gov/find_a_rep.asp)
and Senate (http://senate.michigan.gov/SenatorInfo/find-your-senator.htm).
Please contact your family, friends, coworkers, societies, listserves, and anyone else you can think and encourage them to show their support for the Library and its fabulous collection. Let us band together and save our state’s history.
Thank you for your support,
Cynthia Grostick, President
Michigan Genealogical Council
http://mimgc.org
president@mimgc.org
The following is an analysis of several bills introduced in the Michigan Senate concering the Library of Michigan and the Department of History, Arts, and Libraries. Senate Fiscal Analysis of SB503-SB518. Pages 4 and 5 address the Library of Michigan.
Governor's Executive Order No. 2009-36, available at the Governor's website, abolishes the Department of History, Arts, and Libraries.
Library of Michigan — pages 1 and 2, and pages 6 thru 9,
Archives of Michigan — pages 1 and 2, and pages 11 and 12.
Creation of the Michigan Center for Innovation and Reinvention Board — pages 22 thru 25.
23 June 2009
Fellow Michigan Genealogists:
The Library of Michigan continues in suspense. At a recent staff meeting, the State Librarian, Nancy Robertson, informed the staff that she was applying for the position off Director of the Capital Area District Library in Lansing. As of 19 June, an appointment for her to be interviewed for this position is scheduled before the first of July.
At the same staff meeting, the State Librarian informed the staff that Judith Moore, head of the Library of Michigan Foundation, had accepted a position with the University of Michigan in its Development department (ie fund-raising).
New hours for the Library of Michigan beginning 7 July have been officially announced. The Library will be open 10:00 am to 5:00 pm, Monday through Saturday. This will provide some 6 hours of fewer public services than at present, but it does end the confusion of whether the Library is open Monday and Thursday all day.
The Legislature continues work on a budget for the fiscal year 2009-2010 - huge cuts will be made and all avenues of fund-raising explored.
Please contact your legislators and express that your wish that the Library of Michigan remains in its purpose-built building, housing books written by and about Michigan people for over 150 years, plus books published in Michigan. Emphasize that you are willing to see the Library hours cut very greatly, but that you are NOT willing to see it closed completely and the building emptied, at great cost, for another use.
Joanne Harvey
Michigan Genealogical Council President and Legislative Chair
16 June 2009
Fellow Michigan genealogists,
Genealogy and history in Michigan are under severe threat.
In our present State financial crisis, Governor Granholm is looking at all state functions to see what is essential to be funded, now and for the future. It is expected that there will soon be another Executive Order from the Governor making further cuts - and that closing the Library of Michigan and disposing of its collection is among them.
It is correct that the Governor has already directed in an earlier Executive Order that the Department of History, Arts and Libraries shall be broken up - the Director of that Department, William Anderson, retired at the end of 2008. This Executive Order maintains some of the Department functions, moving them to other departments, but so far, it has not been executed.
The week of June 8, 2009, there was a Staff Meeting of the Library of Michigan staff, at which the State Librarian, Nancy Robertson announced that she has applied for the vacant position of Director of the Capital Area District Library and that Judith Moore, head of the Library of Michigan Foundation, has accepted a position with the University of Michigan fund-raising function.
New hours for the Library of Michigan public services have been announced to begin July 7 - 10:00 am to 5:00 pm, Monday through Saturday. This shortens the time the Library will be open for public services but it will be easier to follow since the closed mornings confused some patrons.
Lt Governor John Cherry has been directed by Governor Granholm to set up a "Workgroup on Streamlining Government" identifying seven core functions of state government. The full description of this workgroup and its actions so far are available on the Internet at http://michigan.gov; from there one goes to the link for state officials on the lower right of the page, and from there one selects the link for Lieutenant Governor. Please make this website known to all genealogists or anyone who cares about Michigan's history.
The website says that town hall meetings will be held this summer - it is quite possible that a decision might be reached in time to begin the fiscal year 1 October. A full print of the website made at 2:00 pm June 16 did NOT show the time nor place of the town hall meeting on June 16 - it is on the website now at 4:30 pm. This is NOT a timely notice to those who wish to participate - the actual time and place were obtained verbally from Gov. Cherry's office on Friday 12 June and communicated to the Flint Genealogical Society, which is sending three speakers including a past President of the Michigan Genealogical Council.
WHAT CAN WE AS GENEALOGISTS DO ABOUT THIS? Someone who works with the legislature said, "If the Library is going to be saved, the People/grass roots will have to do it - and you (genealogists) are the people."
CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATOR IMMEDIATELY! Preferably in person! If not in person, make phone calls to the Legislator's office and ask to speak to the Chief of Staff. Make it clear that you understand Michigan's terrible financial predicament, and understand that severe cuts will be made. EMPHASIZE that the Library of Michigan's collection is irreplaceable, and that moving it elsewhere will curtail service, possibly damage some of the rare items, and be tremendously expensive. We know for a fact that someone in the State's Administration invited the Board members of the Capital District Area Library to view the Library of Michigan side of the Michigan Historical Center, and asked if there was interest in rental. CADA is NOT interested in renting.
EMPHASIZE that you do not oppose downsizing, that you are willing to see very minimal days of service each week, but that you strongly OPPOSE moving the collection, emptying the building, and destroying this state-wide resource.
WE ARE THE PEOPLE - WE NEED TO USE OUR VOICES AT ONCE!
Please notify me by phone or email which legislators have been contacted and what their reactions were. Please watch for the hearings - we will let you know as soon as they are announced - it is rather evident that the hearings are not being widely publicized, perhaps with the idea of making opposition difficult. Written opinions are accepted at the hearings and by the workgroup, c/o Lt. Governor John Cherry, State Capitol, P.O. Box 30026, Lansing MI 48909, with a copy to your legislator and to Governor Jennifer Granholm, State Capitol, P.O. Box 30013, Lansing, MI 48909.
Joanne Harvey, President, MGC
Legislative Chair, MGC
If you contact by writing, hard copy is taken more seriously than e-mail. Do both, but if there is a choice write on paper or visit in person. Emphasize that the Library of Michigan has for well over 180 years collected books written by/published in Michigan, and other materials as well. This collection is priceless and cannot be replaced or repeated today! The Library of Michigan also has one of the ten largest American genealogy collections, drawing researchers from all over Michigan and other states.
6 May 2009
Here is the Governor's Executive Order #22 issued 5 May 2009. References to the Library of Michigan are on pages 2, 10, 11, and 19.
26 April 2009
Fellow Michigan Genealogists:
Thank you for the strong response you made to our first letter about the severe situation of the Library of Michigan. Along with this is a copy of Senate Bill S247 which was a response to your action and to the excellent work of the genies who came to Lansing and testified at the Senate Bill hearing which considered the financial situation and History, Arts and Libraries Department.
The financial situation has only gotten worse in the ensuing time period — currently tax revenues to the State of Michigan are running close to one hundred million dollars per month BELOW the revenues on which the current 2009 budget was built.
With that in mind, there is a conference this next week between three top state financial officials to make adjustments in what is being spent currently — which will surely be very difficult.
Michigan State University continues to consider accepting the collections of the Library of Michigan, pursuant to the worst case scenario which would see the closure of the entire west side of the Michigan Historical Center, with all functions and collections dispersed elsewhere. This is a horror show — MSU does not really want a genealogy collection, has no real place to house it, has no plans nor desire to serve family history researchers, and no plans nor desire to serve either the general public nor an adult specialized clientele &mdash NOR any parking either!
Please contact your legislators again — and we may be back to you shortly with further information on how to contact them in person.
Yours in the trenches,
Joanne Harvey, President, MGC
Many thanks to the entire genealogical community who responded so well, expressing their feelings about the Library of Michigan and the Archives of Michigan, to the Michigan State Senate Appropriations Sub-Committee. There is still much work to be done...
Thank you,
Joanne Harvey, Research Access Chair
Michigan Genealogical Council
The following Senators are on the Appropriations Sub-Committee for the Department of History Arts and Libraries. Please write to them in your own words, explaining why the Library of Michigan and Archives of Michigan are important to you.
Senator Thomas M. George, Chair person
P.O. Box 30036
320 Farnum Bldg
Lansing, MI 48909-7536
(517) 373-0793
Senator Cameron Brown
P.O. Box 30036
405 Farnum Bldg
Lansing, MI 48909-7536
(517) 373-5932
Senator Irma Clark-Coleman
P.O. Box 30036
310 Farnum Bldg
Lansing, MI 48909-7536
Fellow Michigan Genealogists,
The economic situation in Michigan and America continues declining. Michigan's state departments are attempting to restructure, and legislators are working on new budget proposals with huge cuts.
The rumor mill is lethal! As researchers we need to remember that a rumor is not primary or even secondary source information, but based on, like so much of our family information, probably a grain of fact which can be misinterpreted.
At this time, there is a rather public rumor that one group is considering closing the Library of Michigan entirely, and emptying the west side of the History, Arts and Libraries building. The Library's collection might be offered to a "local university," obviously Michigan State University, which has never had a genealogy collection and is itself facing large cuts. Some form of legal and archival support for the Michigan government must be maintained by law, but its format is debatable.
Now is the hour! All genealogists need to get into immediate contact with their local Senators and Representatives, emphasizing forcefully that the Library, even downsized severely, needs to be preserved. Make it plain to your legislator that you understand our state's fiscal situation, and that you are amenable to severe cuts, but that the statewide internet, inter-library loan, electronic support, are crucial to Michigan citizens and that you as a taxpayer feel they must be maintained in at least some format.
Do it now! Do it often! Get several other society members to contact their legislators and keep track of which legislators have been contacted and their response, forwarding this information to MGC (Joanne Harvey). Your on-site research team is providing speakers for legislative committees and will be a presence there.
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Fight for the Library of Michigan!
Joanne Harvey, Research Access Chair
Michigan Genealogical Council
Michigan Public Act 222 has changed some of the requirements for 501c(3) Non-Profits operating in the State of Michigan.
For the full text of the act see the Michigan Legislature web-site
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