Records
Matter: Developing the
U.S.
National Archives Experience
By John Carlin, Archivist of the US: presentation at the
International Council on Archives (ICA)-CITRA[1]
meeting on "How
does society perceive archives?”
Marseilles, France, Nov-13-16, 2002
Good
afternoon.
It is a real
pleasure to be here with you today. I
always look forward to CITRA’s annual meeting because it gives me a chance to
spend time with all of you who deal every day with records and archives issues
throughout the world.
And the theme
for this year’s meeting “How Does Society Perceive Archives” is of special
interest to me. You see, since becoming
Archivist of the United States seven years ago, I have come to believe that the
way a society perceives their archives is key to gaining the kind of public
support we at the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, or NARA,
as you also know us, need to succeed in our mission of providing ready access
to the essential records of the federal government.
And the fact
that this entire CITRA meeting is devoted to this issue tells me that
regardless of our individual governing laws, or how our archival systems are
positioned in our respective countries, we all recognize that our individual
societies’ perception of archives fundamentally impacts on our success as
archivists.
All of us here
in the room today know that records are important - that records matter.
For without
records, citizens could not claim their rights or hold government officials
accountable. Without records, past
mistakes would no longer be lessons for the future. Citizens, especially
children, would have no understanding of their nation’s story. Indeed, without records, our sense of
continuity as a people would be threatened.
I have often
said that records are a foundation on which our democracy depends. But records are even more than that. As a prominent U.S. historian, and good
friend of mine says, records tell us “who we are, what we have achieved, our
adventures, and what we stand for”.
The records
NARA holds lie at the very heart of our common identity as the American
people. Just as the records you hold
in your countries tell the story of your peoples, your nations, and your
societies.
For more than
six decades, it has been the role of NARA to preserve and provide access to the
records of the American people. These
records are available in many different locations -- in Washington DC, in
Presidential Libraries and regional archives throughout the country, and now on
the Internet. And yet millions of
Americans do not know that the National Archives exists or that it holds
Government records available for their use.
And because
records matter, we realized we could no longer be passive about telling the
public about the role that records play in all of our lives. That realization gave rise to a dramatic new
project designed to reach out to the public at large. We call this project the National Archives Experience.
It began with
a major renovation of the National Archives Building in Washington, DC.
This
renovation included upgrading major building systems, improving access for the
disabled, and re-encasing the U.S. Charters of Freedom -- the Declaration of
Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights-- to ensure that they
will be preserved for generations to come.
We quickly
realized this renovation gave us the chance to do more than allow visitors to
view the Charters in new, more accessible encasements. It provided the opportunity to tell visitors
about records and about why records matter.
It is this
experience -- this discovery that records matter both to individuals and to the
society in which they live -- that will be the core of the National Archives
Experience.
It is in
essence a journey – a journey through time, and a journey through our nation’s
struggles and triumphs. It will not be
a static exhibit, but rather a collection of interactive experiences. It will
consist of six components, beginning with a visit to the Charters in the
Rotunda of the National Archives Building.
For the first
time, millions of people will be able to view all four pages of the U.S.
Constitution, as well as the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of
Rights. New cases will make the
Charters more accessible for younger visitors and those using wheelchairs. A new multi-language audio tool will allow
international visitors a more meaningful experience.
And the sense
of our nationhood illustrated by the Declaration, the government of laws
established in the Constitution, and the individual liberties proclaimed in the
Bill of Rights will be celebrated in the Rotunda.
These same
principles will be made tangible in the documents and the interactive
technology contained in the Public Vaults. The Public Vaults are exhibition spaces
that will be designed to give visitors the feeling of going “inside the stacks”
of the National Archives. Once inside
the Vaults, visitors will realize they have not just been given special access
to the National Archives, but they are now inside the past and can glimpse the
very heart of American government.
In the central
corridor of the Public Vaults will be the Record of America, a journey through
time and technology that will explore the transformation of records, from our
earliest Native American treaties all the way to the Presidential web sites of
today. The Record of America will
immerse visitors in the world of records, not just ink and paper, but photos,
films, sound recordings, and databases - all the forms of evidence by which we
know the past.
Five vaults,
each with a different theme, will bring records to life through interactive
experiences and connections to popular culture. These vaults will draw their
themes from the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution.
In We the People, visitors might help an
elderly widow establish her identity as an American citizen or discover whether
records of their family are in the Archives.
In To Form a More Perfect Union, visitors
might explore evidence from famous civil rights cases, or cast votes after
witnessing one of the great debates in our Congress.
In Promote the General Welfare, visitors
might be transported back to the day man first walked on the moon or follow the
footsteps of an explorer of the American West on a touch-screen map.
In Provide for the Common Defense, visitors
might become a filmmaker using records to create a moment of film about D-Day
or play the role of the President during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Finally, in To Ourselves and Our Posterity, visitors
might explore a cave where records are stored or solve the challenge of reading
electronic records in the 23rd century.
These vaults,
individually and collectively, are being designed to let visitors of all ages
become “users” of the Archives and see for themselves the power and importance
of records.
In addition to
the Public Vaults, the National Archives Experience will feature a Special
Exhibition Gallery devoted to changing document-based exhibits on specific
aspects of U.S. history or special exhibitions from Presidential Libraries and
other sources. Exhibits in this Gallery
will be designed to also be shown at other places around the United States and
abroad.
The fourth
major component of the National Archives Experience is a new 275-seat
Theater. By day, the Theater will
feature a continuously running film illustrating the relationship of records
and democracy through the lives of real people. By night, the Theater will serve as an outlet for documentary
films, both the films of contemporary directors and highlights from NARA’s
300,000 reels of archival footage.
Although
education is part of every aspect of the National Archives Experience, the
project will also include a Learning Center to reach students and their
teachers and parents. It will combine NARA’s current education program with new
educational opportunities both on-site and through distance learning.
For
visitors who want to learn more, and for the millions of people around the
world who will never step into the National Archives Building, the National
Archives Experience will have its final component on the Internet.
A robust
web site will recreate online much of the physical excitement of visiting the
National Archives Experience as well as connect to the records of the National
Archives itself.
The National
Archives Experience is in development now, and many people are working hard to
turn ideas into reality. And none of
this would be possible without the support of the Foundation for the National
Archives, a not-for-profit organization that is taking the leadership role in
raising the resources to fund this effort.
The Charters
of Freedom are scheduled to go back on display in September 2003. The National Archives Experience as a whole
will debut to the public in 2004.
We hope the
National Archives Experience will leave visitors with a new appreciation for
the role records play in society and a better understanding of the role of
archivists. If successful, it will
illustrate the contemporary importance and value of our nation’s recorded
history and how records serve as the link between the past and the future.
Visitors will
come to understand not only how records can help to understand the past, but
also how records enable citizens to claim their rights, entitlements, and liberties
and to hold government accountable for its actions within a democratic
society.
Visitors will
learn what we all know very well -- that records matter.
It is our hope
that each person who enjoys the National Archives Experience will take from it
an understanding of his or her own personal connection to the records in the
National Archives.
We hope that
families will see their own stories as they fit into our national mosaic and
that we can thrill and surprise young people with the real-life drama of the
American experience.
We hope that
our citizens gain new respect for the personal contributions and sacrifices
made by preceding generations to realize the vision for our country that is
found in the Charters of Freedom.
We hope that
it will inspire individuals of all ages to take action and use the Archives to
learn, to unravel, to discover, and to celebrate the stories of individuals, of
families, of communities, and of our nation that can be found in records.
President
Franklin D. Roosevelt, who in 1934 signed the legislation to establish the
National Archives, said, and I quote
“To bring
together the records of the past and to house them in buildings where they will
be preserved for the use of men and women in the future, a nation must believe
in three things.
It must
believe in the past. It must believe in
the future. It must, above all, believe
in the capacity of its own people so to learn from the past that they gain
judgement in creating their own future.”
This is a
sentiment very familiar to those of us who care for and about records. I hope that by exploring the National
Archives Experience, visitors from around the world will soon come to share our
appreciation and respect for records of all kinds.
Through
the National Archives Experience, visitors will examine the past and envision
their own future. And, I believe the
public will come to see what we as archivists already know - that our Archives
are not storage places for old, dusty paper, but a fascinating, relevant, and
very necessary part of our societies that hold the stories of our peoples and
our nations and the makings of our futures.
Thank You.
[1] CITRA is the French acronym for International Round Table Conference on Archives. It consists of national archivists, heads of archives and records management professional associations of the ICA member countries and chairpersons of the ICA committees.