Tweet
All,
I've done my best to drill right down into the actual meat of the proposed "America First" budget for the purposes of this community and our interest in preservation, conservation, and interpretive efforts as it stands to affect our nation's battlefields, landmarks, landscapes, associated programming and institutions. It's been an undertaking to cut through the flack trying to get at the actual proposed numbers. I completely avoided all mainstream media, non-profit and second hand source material which reported on this topic in a truly dizzying way with a variety of results which lacked citations or clarity. My goal was to produce a factual and un-biased set of numbers and proposed effects on the associated programs, departments, grants and initiatives.
I solicited moderator advice for how I might write such a thread as to avoid political arguments and produce a thread which (like our favorite musket defarb topics) results in a productive and factually driven discussion. This list should afford us, as a community, an informed voice we can use in discussions at home, with pards in camp or with our elected representatives. Remember this budget outline is a list of Executive Officer priorities and will be used as the jumping off point as our elected representatives negotiate the 'budget deal.' I will do my best to track and report back as the drafts are proposed. A discussion here, driven by primary sources, will allow each of us to engage with those representatives to defend, amend, or alter the budget into something we each (personally) find most satisfactory.
I have divided the post into a few main chunks. My writing will be in bold, notable items in italics and primary source information left neutral. I have provided links/citations for the primary source material so you can dig into them a bit more. It is possible to start here at the Federal funding source and follow each link down to specific local projects, museums or initiatives.
Part 1, NPS
The vast majority of the information below comes from the DOI FY18, Budget in Brief under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke. Overall, the 12% cut to the NPS widely reported seems to be accurate. Here is how it breaks down into Departments and initiatives relative to battlefields, grants, maintenance, programs, etc. (https://edit.doi.gov/sites/doi.gov/f...ights_book.pdf)
Park Operations –
The 2018 NPS budget request for operations is $2.2 billion. This is a decrease of $143.8 million below 2017, comprised of $168.1 million in net program decreases and $24.3 million in fixed costs increases. Of these reductions, $131.8 million will be achieved through base funding reductions in park units, regional and central offices, and program support officces; $26.6 million in project funds; $4.2 million in one-time 2017 costs related to the Presidential inauguration; $4.0 million in reductions to the volunteer program, $2.2 million in the elimination of the National Capital Area Performing Arts program; and $351,000 in changes to external administrative costs. This is partially off set by a $1.1 million increase for new requirements at existing park units. The budget maintains $99.3 million for repair and rehabilitation projects, which address the deferred maintenance backlog, as well as $112.7 million for cyclic maintenance projects, which ensure maintenance is conducted in a timely fashion and does not become deferred.
National Recreation and Preservation –
This appropriation supports local community efforts to preserve natural and cultural resources. The 2018 President’s request includes $37.0 million for these programs, a decrease of $25.5 million compared to the 2017 level, comprised of $26.0 million in program reductions o set by $496,000 in fixed costs increases. These changes include a program reduction of $18.8 million to eliminate payments to National Heritage Areas, allowing NPS to maintain $809,000 for technical and administrative assistance to the existing National Heritage Areas.
Historic Preservation –
The Historic Preservation Fund supports Historic Preservation Offices in States, Territories, and tribal lands to preserve historically and culturally signicant sites and provides competitive grants to other, non-Federal entities. The 2018 budget request for the Historic Preservation Fund is $51.1 million, a decrease of $14.2 million. This level consolidates funding within the core grants-in-aid programs to States and Territories at $42.1 million and Tribes at $9.0 million. These grants allow State, territorial, and tribal governments to meet preservation responsibilities required by the National Historic Preservation Act to protect and preserve historic resources, based on their understanding of local needs and priorities. To protect these core activi-ties, the budget eliminates recently initiated competitive grant programs.
Construction –
The 2018 request includes $226.5 million to fund construction projects, equipment replacement, management, planning, operations, and special projects. This is $34.0 million above the 2017 level, including $653,000 in fixed costs increases. The increase will help address deferred maintenance and allow for targeted and measurable upgrades to a number of the NPS's highest priority assets. The budget provides funding critical to help address the NPS deferred maintenance backlog, including $137.0 million for the line-item construction activity, a $21.0 million increase compared to 2017. Within this amount is $18.2 million for critically needed repairs to Arlington Memorial Bridge, which provides an important transportation link between the District of Columbia and Virginia; $4.0 million for demolition or disposal projects for NPS assets that are no longer needed or create a risk within parks due to poor facility conditions; and $4.0 million for projects that mitigate public safety hazards on abandoned mineral lands within the national park system. The budget also includes programmatic increases of $10.2 million for construction project planning, $1.0 million for construction oversight provided by the Denver Service Center, and $3.7 million for regional facility project support. These increases are partially o set by $2.6 million in reductions to other programs that do not directly relate to deferred maintenance.
Land Acquisition and State Assistance –
The 2018 request for this account is $26.4 million, a decrease of $147.0 million, comprised of $147.2 million in program decreases and $193,000 in fixed costs increases. This reduction reflects a redirection of funding from lower priority activities, such as Federal land acquisition, toward higher priority activities at NPS and across the Department, including the need to address NPS deferred maintenance. The budget does not include funding for major Federal land acquisition projects in 2018, but retains $8.5 million for American Battlefield Protection Program acquisition grants, as well as $8.7 million to administer both ongoing Federal land acquisition projects and American Battle eld Protection grants. Additionally, the budget includes $3.1 million for emergencies and hardship land acquisition and $3.1 million to acquire inholdings and facilitate land donations and exchanges.
The Land and Water Fund State Conservation grants program provides funding to States for the purchase of lands for preservation and recreation purposes. The program is intended to create and maintain a nationwide legacy of high quality recreation areas and facilities and to stimulate non-Federal investments in the protection and maintenance of recreation resources across the United States. The 2018 budget reflects a shift in funding for the NPS State grants program from current to permanent funding. In prior years, annual, current appropriations derived from the LWCF provided the main source of funding for this program. Starting in 2009, the current LWCF appropriations for the State Assistance program have been supplemented by revenues from certain oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico, as authorized by Section 105 of the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act. These GOMESA receipts are projected to increase signi cantly in 2017, with a substantial increase in permanent funding available for NPS State grants reflected in the following year.
While this permanent funding benefits State and local governments through the NPS program, the amount of receipts available is difficult to predict. Therefore, the budget proposes to replace the complicated formula for allocating receipts to the LWCF State grants program established by GOMESA with a comparable permanent appropriation of $90.0 million in 2018, increasing to $125.0 million in 2022 and each year thereafter, derived from the LWCF.
Part 2, National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)
The vast majority of the information below comes from the 'America First' budget, FY18, From the Office of Management and Budget under the direction of the Executive Office. I have used the budget as a jumping off point to dig into each item and extract from it the programs, initiatives, etc. which speak to our interest in preservation, conservation, and interpretive efforts.
The Budget also proposes to eliminate funding for other independent agencies, including: the African Development Foundation; the Appalachian Regional Commission; the Chemical Safety Board; the Corporation for National and Community Service; the Corporation for Public Broadcasting; the Delta Regional Authority; the Denali Commission; the Institute of Museum and Library Services; the Inter-American Foundation; the U.S. Trade and Development Agency; the Legal Services Corporation; the National Endowment for the Arts; the National Endowment for the Humanities; the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation; the Northern Border Regional Commission; the Overseas Private Investment Corporation; the United States Institute of Peace; the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness; and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
(https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whi..._blueprint.pdf)
The elimination of the NEH will dramatically impact our mission as preservationists, educators and our passion of material-culture. The Institute of Museum and Library Services will be effected but I will focus on the NEH herein. The NEH offers four grants that I could find which have be heavily utilized by our community, most specifically historic societies, libraries, museums, etc. Perhaps the most recognized effect the NEH has on our community are the various digital initiatives resulting in myriad primary source material being conserved, digitized and made publicly accessibly. This includes, but is not limited to; artifact and manuscript conservation, newspaper digitization, preservation training, etc. These grants are integral to smaller organizations and in some cases literally allow them to stay open. The NEH grants set to expire are:
Sustaining Cultural Heritage Collection
Sustaining Cultural Heritage Collections (SCHC) helps cultural institutions meet the complex challenge of preserving large and diverse holdings of humanities materials for future generations by supporting sustainable conservation measures that mitigate deterioration, prolong the useful life of collections, and support institutional resilience: the ability to anticipate and respond to natural and man-made disasters. (https://www.neh.gov/grants/preservat...ge-collections)
Preservation and Access Education and Training
The Preservation and Access Education and Training program supports the development of knowledge and skills among professionals responsible for preserving and establishing access to humanities collections. Thousands of libraries, archives, museums, and historical organizations across the country maintain important collections of books and manuscripts, photographs, sound recordings and moving images, archaeological and ethnographic artifacts, art and material culture collections, electronic records, and digital objects. The challenge of preserving and making accessible such large and diverse holdings is enormous, and the need for knowledgeable staff is significant and ongoing. (https://www.neh.gov/grants/preservat...n-and-training)
Preservation Assistance Grants for Smaller Institutions
Preservation Assistance Grants help small and mid-sized institutions—such as libraries, museums, historical societies, archival repositories, cultural organizations, town and county records offices, and colleges and universities—improve their ability to preserve and care for their significant humanities collections. These may include special collections of books and journals, archives and manuscripts, prints and photographs, moving images, sound recordings, architectural and cartographic records, decorative and fine art objects, textiles, archaeological and ethnographic artifacts, furniture, historical objects, and digital materials. (https://www.neh.gov/grants/preservat...r-institutions)
National Digital Newspaper Program
The National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP) is a partnership between NEH and the Library of Congress to create a national digital resource of historically significant newspapers published between 1690 and 1963, from all the states and U.S. territories. This searchable database will be permanently maintained at the Library of Congress (LC) and will be freely accessible via the Internet. (See the website, Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers.) An accompanying national newspaper directory of bibliographic and holdings information on the website directs users to newspaper titles available in all types of formats. During the course of its partnership with NEH, LC will also digitize and contribute to the NDNP database a significant number of newspaper pages drawn from its own collections. (https://www.neh.gov/grants/preservat...spaper-program)
The NEH has several divisions or departments outside of the grants which play a role, albeit a less recognized one in preservation, interpretation, etc. That being said, I won't delve into each one but they are rather self explanatory. I will pick on the Office of State/Federal Partnerships since it helps drive non-profit organizations and programs in each state- something a little more close to home. Check out the list of organizations posted in the link below.
NEH Departments: The Division of Education, The Division of Preservation and Access, The Division of Public Programs, The Division of Research, The Office of Digital Humanities, The Office of State/Federal Partnership, The Office of Challenge Grants, Bridging Cultures.
Office of State/Federal Partnerships
By congressional mandate, the National Endowment for the Humanities, an independent federal agency in the executive branch, provides general operating support grants to the 56 state and jurisdictional humanities councils. Federal/State Partnership is the NEH office designated to work with the councils. The councils are Federal/State Partnership’s sole grantees. State humanities councils are independent nonprofit 501(c)(3) organizations governed by volunteer boards of directors and staffed by humanities professionals.
(https://www.neh.gov/about/state-humanities-councils)
Part 3, Library of Congress and National Archives and Records Administration
As I understand it the Library of Congress (LOC) is funded through the Legislative Branch's subcommittee on appropriations. I could not find any credible discussion about their budget. What is available however is their own FY18 request which is a 7.8% increase from FY17. The LOC's repositories are well known to this organization and at this point there does not appear to be a cause for concern. (https://www.loc.gov/portals/static/a...ets/fy2018.pdf)
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has submitted their budget with a reduction of $24 million in operations. Again, NARA, like the LOC doesn't need any introduction to this group as their work at the main branch and outreach programs have impacted each of us directly. There does appear to be a concern here as the reduction is a significant portion of their average annual budget and I am assuming their proposal is in response to a request to reduce their costs.
Summary of the Request
The FY 2018 budget of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) requests $376 million in discretionary appropriations. This is a decrease of -$24 million from the annualized rate of operations in the FY 2017 Continuing Resolution (CR). Within the aggregate request, $364 million is requested for the Operating Expenses appropriation, $4.2 million is requested for the NARA Office of Inspector General, and $7.5 million is requested for Repairs and Restoration of NARA-owned buildings. NARA is not requesting appropriations for the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) Grants Program. (https://www.archives.gov/files/about...nce-budget.pdf)
Part 4, Department of Homeland Security
The information below comes from the 'America First' budget, FY18, From the Office of Management and Budget under the direction of the Executive Office. Again, I have used the budget as a jumping off point to dig into each item and extract from it the programs, initiatives, etc. which speak to our interests. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has a series of programs in their Office of Environmental Planning and Historic Preservation which deal directly with cultural resources. While the Department of Homeland Security overall is being recommended for a 6.8% increase FEMA's reduction of $667 million will appear to impact their historic preservation initiatives both pre and post disaster. Jefferson Davis's home, Beauvoir was restored in part with FEMA funds after Hurricane Katrina. In Virginia the state and local grants are used to survey archaeological sites, record historic structures, museum collections and prepare mitigation plans should a natural disaster strike.
Eliminates or reduces State and local grant funding by $667 million for programs administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) that are either unauthorized by the Congress, such as FEMA’s Pre-Disaster Mitigation Grant Program, or that must provide more measurable results and ensure the Federal Government is not supplanting other stakeholders’ responsibilities, such as the Homeland Security Grant Program. For that reason, the Budget also proposes establishing a 25 percent non-Federal cost match for FEMA preparedness grant awards that currently require no cost match. This is the same cost-sharing approach as FEMA’s disaster recovery grants. The activities and acquisitions funded through these grant programs are primarily State and local functions.
(https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whi..._blueprint.pdf)
The Environmental Planning and Historic Preservation (EHP) program integrates the protection and enhancement of environmental, historic, and cultural resources into FEMA's mission, programs and activities; ensures that FEMA's activities and programs related to disaster response and recovery, hazard mitigation, and emergency preparedness comply with federal environmental and historic preservation laws and executive orders; and provides environmental and historic preservation technical assistance to FEMA staff, local, State and Federal partners, and grantees and sub grantees.
(https://www.fema.gov/office-environm...c-preservation)
Part 4, Department of Education
At this point, I am unsure what cuts to the Department of Education will directly impact interpretive and preservation efforts at schools, colleges or universities, directly related to Civil War studies, vocational preservation, or technical training, etc. The DOE does offer a number of history and civic program grants which have been used in the past to further Civil War scholarship, exhibits but I was unable to drill down past the 'America First' budget summary to determine how the proposed 13% cuts to the Department would directly related to this community's mission of preservation, education, etc.
(https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whi..._blueprint.pdf)
I've done my best to drill right down into the actual meat of the proposed "America First" budget for the purposes of this community and our interest in preservation, conservation, and interpretive efforts as it stands to affect our nation's battlefields, landmarks, landscapes, associated programming and institutions. It's been an undertaking to cut through the flack trying to get at the actual proposed numbers. I completely avoided all mainstream media, non-profit and second hand source material which reported on this topic in a truly dizzying way with a variety of results which lacked citations or clarity. My goal was to produce a factual and un-biased set of numbers and proposed effects on the associated programs, departments, grants and initiatives.
I solicited moderator advice for how I might write such a thread as to avoid political arguments and produce a thread which (like our favorite musket defarb topics) results in a productive and factually driven discussion. This list should afford us, as a community, an informed voice we can use in discussions at home, with pards in camp or with our elected representatives. Remember this budget outline is a list of Executive Officer priorities and will be used as the jumping off point as our elected representatives negotiate the 'budget deal.' I will do my best to track and report back as the drafts are proposed. A discussion here, driven by primary sources, will allow each of us to engage with those representatives to defend, amend, or alter the budget into something we each (personally) find most satisfactory.
I have divided the post into a few main chunks. My writing will be in bold, notable items in italics and primary source information left neutral. I have provided links/citations for the primary source material so you can dig into them a bit more. It is possible to start here at the Federal funding source and follow each link down to specific local projects, museums or initiatives.
Part 1, NPS
The vast majority of the information below comes from the DOI FY18, Budget in Brief under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke. Overall, the 12% cut to the NPS widely reported seems to be accurate. Here is how it breaks down into Departments and initiatives relative to battlefields, grants, maintenance, programs, etc. (https://edit.doi.gov/sites/doi.gov/f...ights_book.pdf)
Park Operations –
The 2018 NPS budget request for operations is $2.2 billion. This is a decrease of $143.8 million below 2017, comprised of $168.1 million in net program decreases and $24.3 million in fixed costs increases. Of these reductions, $131.8 million will be achieved through base funding reductions in park units, regional and central offices, and program support officces; $26.6 million in project funds; $4.2 million in one-time 2017 costs related to the Presidential inauguration; $4.0 million in reductions to the volunteer program, $2.2 million in the elimination of the National Capital Area Performing Arts program; and $351,000 in changes to external administrative costs. This is partially off set by a $1.1 million increase for new requirements at existing park units. The budget maintains $99.3 million for repair and rehabilitation projects, which address the deferred maintenance backlog, as well as $112.7 million for cyclic maintenance projects, which ensure maintenance is conducted in a timely fashion and does not become deferred.
National Recreation and Preservation –
This appropriation supports local community efforts to preserve natural and cultural resources. The 2018 President’s request includes $37.0 million for these programs, a decrease of $25.5 million compared to the 2017 level, comprised of $26.0 million in program reductions o set by $496,000 in fixed costs increases. These changes include a program reduction of $18.8 million to eliminate payments to National Heritage Areas, allowing NPS to maintain $809,000 for technical and administrative assistance to the existing National Heritage Areas.
Historic Preservation –
The Historic Preservation Fund supports Historic Preservation Offices in States, Territories, and tribal lands to preserve historically and culturally signicant sites and provides competitive grants to other, non-Federal entities. The 2018 budget request for the Historic Preservation Fund is $51.1 million, a decrease of $14.2 million. This level consolidates funding within the core grants-in-aid programs to States and Territories at $42.1 million and Tribes at $9.0 million. These grants allow State, territorial, and tribal governments to meet preservation responsibilities required by the National Historic Preservation Act to protect and preserve historic resources, based on their understanding of local needs and priorities. To protect these core activi-ties, the budget eliminates recently initiated competitive grant programs.
Construction –
The 2018 request includes $226.5 million to fund construction projects, equipment replacement, management, planning, operations, and special projects. This is $34.0 million above the 2017 level, including $653,000 in fixed costs increases. The increase will help address deferred maintenance and allow for targeted and measurable upgrades to a number of the NPS's highest priority assets. The budget provides funding critical to help address the NPS deferred maintenance backlog, including $137.0 million for the line-item construction activity, a $21.0 million increase compared to 2017. Within this amount is $18.2 million for critically needed repairs to Arlington Memorial Bridge, which provides an important transportation link between the District of Columbia and Virginia; $4.0 million for demolition or disposal projects for NPS assets that are no longer needed or create a risk within parks due to poor facility conditions; and $4.0 million for projects that mitigate public safety hazards on abandoned mineral lands within the national park system. The budget also includes programmatic increases of $10.2 million for construction project planning, $1.0 million for construction oversight provided by the Denver Service Center, and $3.7 million for regional facility project support. These increases are partially o set by $2.6 million in reductions to other programs that do not directly relate to deferred maintenance.
Land Acquisition and State Assistance –
The 2018 request for this account is $26.4 million, a decrease of $147.0 million, comprised of $147.2 million in program decreases and $193,000 in fixed costs increases. This reduction reflects a redirection of funding from lower priority activities, such as Federal land acquisition, toward higher priority activities at NPS and across the Department, including the need to address NPS deferred maintenance. The budget does not include funding for major Federal land acquisition projects in 2018, but retains $8.5 million for American Battlefield Protection Program acquisition grants, as well as $8.7 million to administer both ongoing Federal land acquisition projects and American Battle eld Protection grants. Additionally, the budget includes $3.1 million for emergencies and hardship land acquisition and $3.1 million to acquire inholdings and facilitate land donations and exchanges.
The Land and Water Fund State Conservation grants program provides funding to States for the purchase of lands for preservation and recreation purposes. The program is intended to create and maintain a nationwide legacy of high quality recreation areas and facilities and to stimulate non-Federal investments in the protection and maintenance of recreation resources across the United States. The 2018 budget reflects a shift in funding for the NPS State grants program from current to permanent funding. In prior years, annual, current appropriations derived from the LWCF provided the main source of funding for this program. Starting in 2009, the current LWCF appropriations for the State Assistance program have been supplemented by revenues from certain oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico, as authorized by Section 105 of the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act. These GOMESA receipts are projected to increase signi cantly in 2017, with a substantial increase in permanent funding available for NPS State grants reflected in the following year.
While this permanent funding benefits State and local governments through the NPS program, the amount of receipts available is difficult to predict. Therefore, the budget proposes to replace the complicated formula for allocating receipts to the LWCF State grants program established by GOMESA with a comparable permanent appropriation of $90.0 million in 2018, increasing to $125.0 million in 2022 and each year thereafter, derived from the LWCF.
Part 2, National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)
The vast majority of the information below comes from the 'America First' budget, FY18, From the Office of Management and Budget under the direction of the Executive Office. I have used the budget as a jumping off point to dig into each item and extract from it the programs, initiatives, etc. which speak to our interest in preservation, conservation, and interpretive efforts.
The Budget also proposes to eliminate funding for other independent agencies, including: the African Development Foundation; the Appalachian Regional Commission; the Chemical Safety Board; the Corporation for National and Community Service; the Corporation for Public Broadcasting; the Delta Regional Authority; the Denali Commission; the Institute of Museum and Library Services; the Inter-American Foundation; the U.S. Trade and Development Agency; the Legal Services Corporation; the National Endowment for the Arts; the National Endowment for the Humanities; the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation; the Northern Border Regional Commission; the Overseas Private Investment Corporation; the United States Institute of Peace; the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness; and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
(https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whi..._blueprint.pdf)
The elimination of the NEH will dramatically impact our mission as preservationists, educators and our passion of material-culture. The Institute of Museum and Library Services will be effected but I will focus on the NEH herein. The NEH offers four grants that I could find which have be heavily utilized by our community, most specifically historic societies, libraries, museums, etc. Perhaps the most recognized effect the NEH has on our community are the various digital initiatives resulting in myriad primary source material being conserved, digitized and made publicly accessibly. This includes, but is not limited to; artifact and manuscript conservation, newspaper digitization, preservation training, etc. These grants are integral to smaller organizations and in some cases literally allow them to stay open. The NEH grants set to expire are:
Sustaining Cultural Heritage Collection
Sustaining Cultural Heritage Collections (SCHC) helps cultural institutions meet the complex challenge of preserving large and diverse holdings of humanities materials for future generations by supporting sustainable conservation measures that mitigate deterioration, prolong the useful life of collections, and support institutional resilience: the ability to anticipate and respond to natural and man-made disasters. (https://www.neh.gov/grants/preservat...ge-collections)
Preservation and Access Education and Training
The Preservation and Access Education and Training program supports the development of knowledge and skills among professionals responsible for preserving and establishing access to humanities collections. Thousands of libraries, archives, museums, and historical organizations across the country maintain important collections of books and manuscripts, photographs, sound recordings and moving images, archaeological and ethnographic artifacts, art and material culture collections, electronic records, and digital objects. The challenge of preserving and making accessible such large and diverse holdings is enormous, and the need for knowledgeable staff is significant and ongoing. (https://www.neh.gov/grants/preservat...n-and-training)
Preservation Assistance Grants for Smaller Institutions
Preservation Assistance Grants help small and mid-sized institutions—such as libraries, museums, historical societies, archival repositories, cultural organizations, town and county records offices, and colleges and universities—improve their ability to preserve and care for their significant humanities collections. These may include special collections of books and journals, archives and manuscripts, prints and photographs, moving images, sound recordings, architectural and cartographic records, decorative and fine art objects, textiles, archaeological and ethnographic artifacts, furniture, historical objects, and digital materials. (https://www.neh.gov/grants/preservat...r-institutions)
National Digital Newspaper Program
The National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP) is a partnership between NEH and the Library of Congress to create a national digital resource of historically significant newspapers published between 1690 and 1963, from all the states and U.S. territories. This searchable database will be permanently maintained at the Library of Congress (LC) and will be freely accessible via the Internet. (See the website, Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers.) An accompanying national newspaper directory of bibliographic and holdings information on the website directs users to newspaper titles available in all types of formats. During the course of its partnership with NEH, LC will also digitize and contribute to the NDNP database a significant number of newspaper pages drawn from its own collections. (https://www.neh.gov/grants/preservat...spaper-program)
The NEH has several divisions or departments outside of the grants which play a role, albeit a less recognized one in preservation, interpretation, etc. That being said, I won't delve into each one but they are rather self explanatory. I will pick on the Office of State/Federal Partnerships since it helps drive non-profit organizations and programs in each state- something a little more close to home. Check out the list of organizations posted in the link below.
NEH Departments: The Division of Education, The Division of Preservation and Access, The Division of Public Programs, The Division of Research, The Office of Digital Humanities, The Office of State/Federal Partnership, The Office of Challenge Grants, Bridging Cultures.
Office of State/Federal Partnerships
By congressional mandate, the National Endowment for the Humanities, an independent federal agency in the executive branch, provides general operating support grants to the 56 state and jurisdictional humanities councils. Federal/State Partnership is the NEH office designated to work with the councils. The councils are Federal/State Partnership’s sole grantees. State humanities councils are independent nonprofit 501(c)(3) organizations governed by volunteer boards of directors and staffed by humanities professionals.
(https://www.neh.gov/about/state-humanities-councils)
Part 3, Library of Congress and National Archives and Records Administration
As I understand it the Library of Congress (LOC) is funded through the Legislative Branch's subcommittee on appropriations. I could not find any credible discussion about their budget. What is available however is their own FY18 request which is a 7.8% increase from FY17. The LOC's repositories are well known to this organization and at this point there does not appear to be a cause for concern. (https://www.loc.gov/portals/static/a...ets/fy2018.pdf)
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has submitted their budget with a reduction of $24 million in operations. Again, NARA, like the LOC doesn't need any introduction to this group as their work at the main branch and outreach programs have impacted each of us directly. There does appear to be a concern here as the reduction is a significant portion of their average annual budget and I am assuming their proposal is in response to a request to reduce their costs.
Summary of the Request
The FY 2018 budget of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) requests $376 million in discretionary appropriations. This is a decrease of -$24 million from the annualized rate of operations in the FY 2017 Continuing Resolution (CR). Within the aggregate request, $364 million is requested for the Operating Expenses appropriation, $4.2 million is requested for the NARA Office of Inspector General, and $7.5 million is requested for Repairs and Restoration of NARA-owned buildings. NARA is not requesting appropriations for the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) Grants Program. (https://www.archives.gov/files/about...nce-budget.pdf)
Part 4, Department of Homeland Security
The information below comes from the 'America First' budget, FY18, From the Office of Management and Budget under the direction of the Executive Office. Again, I have used the budget as a jumping off point to dig into each item and extract from it the programs, initiatives, etc. which speak to our interests. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has a series of programs in their Office of Environmental Planning and Historic Preservation which deal directly with cultural resources. While the Department of Homeland Security overall is being recommended for a 6.8% increase FEMA's reduction of $667 million will appear to impact their historic preservation initiatives both pre and post disaster. Jefferson Davis's home, Beauvoir was restored in part with FEMA funds after Hurricane Katrina. In Virginia the state and local grants are used to survey archaeological sites, record historic structures, museum collections and prepare mitigation plans should a natural disaster strike.
Eliminates or reduces State and local grant funding by $667 million for programs administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) that are either unauthorized by the Congress, such as FEMA’s Pre-Disaster Mitigation Grant Program, or that must provide more measurable results and ensure the Federal Government is not supplanting other stakeholders’ responsibilities, such as the Homeland Security Grant Program. For that reason, the Budget also proposes establishing a 25 percent non-Federal cost match for FEMA preparedness grant awards that currently require no cost match. This is the same cost-sharing approach as FEMA’s disaster recovery grants. The activities and acquisitions funded through these grant programs are primarily State and local functions.
(https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whi..._blueprint.pdf)
The Environmental Planning and Historic Preservation (EHP) program integrates the protection and enhancement of environmental, historic, and cultural resources into FEMA's mission, programs and activities; ensures that FEMA's activities and programs related to disaster response and recovery, hazard mitigation, and emergency preparedness comply with federal environmental and historic preservation laws and executive orders; and provides environmental and historic preservation technical assistance to FEMA staff, local, State and Federal partners, and grantees and sub grantees.
(https://www.fema.gov/office-environm...c-preservation)
Part 4, Department of Education
At this point, I am unsure what cuts to the Department of Education will directly impact interpretive and preservation efforts at schools, colleges or universities, directly related to Civil War studies, vocational preservation, or technical training, etc. The DOE does offer a number of history and civic program grants which have been used in the past to further Civil War scholarship, exhibits but I was unable to drill down past the 'America First' budget summary to determine how the proposed 13% cuts to the Department would directly related to this community's mission of preservation, education, etc.
(https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whi..._blueprint.pdf)
Comment