Those of you with access to the Chronicle of Higher Education (May 5, 
2006), please see the story, "Archives Audit Calls Removal of Documents 
'Inappropriate.'"  If anyone is able to post on the list a link to the 
full article, please do so.  (I am not a subscriber.)

The section of the article that caught my eye was this one:

"The involvement of presidential libraries, which are operated by the 
National
Archives, was also news to some academic researchers.

'I'm surprised that they went into the presidential libraries and 
actually took
documents out,' said Anna K. Nelson, a historian in residence at 
American
University. "I think the National Archives cannot be proud of their 
actions
here. I think they cooperated unnecessarily.'

The audit found that 134 records had been withdrawn from the Eisenhower
library, 816 documents from the Kennedy library, and 318 from the Bush 
library."

The article also quotes Bruce P. Montgomery of the University of 
Colorado (and an Archives List subscriber).

"Bruce P. Montgomery, faculty director of archives at the University of 
Colorado
at Boulder, said the audit reveals the relative weakness of the National
Archives in its dealings with other government agencies.

'These other powerful executive agencies have kind of ridden roughshod 
over the
National Archives on these classification issues," he said. He praised 
the
archives for its recent attempts to make its practices more open,
however. 'This is a very good attempt to be as transparent as possible 
about
what occurred.'

Mr. Montgomery argues that the document removals are just one part of a 
Bush
Administration effort to roll back laws that were meant to open up 
government
records. 'This is a battle by the current administration against the 
post-
Watergate legislation that was passed in the wake of the Nixon years to 
make
the government more transparent.'"

Again, my apologies for not being able to provide you all with a link 
that nonsubscribers can use.

BTW, I raised my eyebrows when I read that scholars such as Anna Nelson 
are surprised that the reclassification effort included the 
Presidential Libraries.  I don't know why anyone would think they would 
not be.

Maarja

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