I feel some trepidation weighing in on this. Like Christina Hostetter, I still feel new to the profession and do not have a complete understanding of the history of NARA and SAA's involvement in demanding (or not demanding) accountability. Many of us are interested in NARA as citizens and funding for NHPRC as a means of funding our own projects. However, in addition to finding time to learn about the history of these organizations, many of us have quite a few other things to learn about that have a more immediate impact on our collections. The nature of the profession is such that many of us come to it from different areas of expertise, or even from different types of collections, and we continually try to educate ourselves about how to better care for our own repositories. This leaves little time for other topics. That said, I appreciate the dialog on the list as a means of learning about different takes on what has happened in the past, and what expectations other archivists have for the future. One thing I have been wondering about is NARA's claim of "independence." (See http://www.archives.gov/about/history/anniversary/intro.html) Please correct me if I'm wrong, but the President still proposes the budget for NARA, which is then voted on by Congress like all others. That makes their position rather delicate, NARA is being funded by the same government it wishes to make accountable. It doesn't seem that it can ever be truly independent. If the President is able to request NHPRC be cut from the budget every time he proposes one, and he is able to issue executive orders limiting the rights of citizens to obtain access to his records, how does it not then follow that others in the government, perhaps Congress, whose members may also not want to be held accountable for their actions, will agree to cut their funding, and gradually extend this practice to other portions of the agency? Perhaps SAA is reluctant to be overly critical of NARA while it is in the midst of trying to argue for a better budget for them. Linda Hocking Curator of Library & Archives Litchfield Historical Society P.O. Box 385 Litchfield, CT 06759 860-567-4501 [log in to unmask] http://www.litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List sponsored by the Society of American Archivists, www.archivists.org. For the terms of participation, please refer to http://www.archivists.org/listservs/arch_listserv_terms.asp. To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to [log in to unmask] In body of message: SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname *or*: UNSUB ARCHIVES To post a message, send e-mail to [log in to unmask] Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html Problems? Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <[log in to unmask]>