Best of luck to everyone in the Carolinas and Mid-Atlantic in the path 
of tropical storm Ernesto!  I hope you all escape wind/rain/storm 
damage.  It's been raining since early morning here in the DC area.

Have a Happy Labor Day, all!

Maarja
**********************************************************************
NCH WASHINGTON UPDATE (Vol. 12, #34; 1 September 2006)
by R. Bruce Craig (editor)
NATIONAL COALITION FOR HISTORY (NCH)
Website at http://www.h-net.org/~nch/
***********************************************************************

1. DEVELOPERS BREAK FEDERAL LAWS, BUT WILL THE INTERIOR DEPARTMENT ACT?
2. DEADLINE APPROACHES FOR COMMENT ON PROPOSED CHANGE IN NARA RESEARCH 
HOURS
3. PUBLIC INPUT SOUGHT ON “PRESERVE AMERICA” PROPOSAL
4. BITS AND BYTES: Information on State Civil Service Requirements 
Requested; NEH Announces Scholarly Edition Grant Competition; Best High 
School Essays Announced; NPS Historians’ Directory Published Online
5. ARTICLES OF INTEREST: No posting this week

1. DEVELOPERS BREAK FEDERAL LAWS, BUT WILL THE INTERIOR DEPARTMENT ACT?
Civil War battlefield enthusiasts were outraged to learn that 
developers, in conjunction with a local utility company, flagrantly 
violated federal laws when they trenched some 1,900 feet across the 
government-owned Harpers Ferry/Boliver battlefield and then installed a 
six-inch sewer line and a 16-inch water line without first obtaining 
the required permits. The question now is, what are Interior officials 
prepared to do about it?

The battlefield property was recently donated to the Harpers Ferry 
National Historical Park, a unit of the National Park System. When the 
property conveyed, an existing utility easement also transferred with 
the title. However, in the view of the National Park Service (NPS), the 
developers violated federal law as the government owns the land and it 
has exclusive authority over all construction activities within the 
boundary of a federal park, regardless of the existence of an easement. 
The developers were not ignorant of this assertion of federal authority 
– they were well aware of the federal permitting process, but when the 
special-use permit they requested was not issued in what they 
considered a timely fashion they commenced work anyway.

The action has prompted both the National Parks Conservation 
Association and the Civil War Preservation Trust (CWPT) to release 
statements questioning the legality of the line work. CWPT President 
James Lighthizer states, “the developers had neither the authority nor 
the permits necessary to do this,” a view mirrored by Harpers Ferry 
National Historical Park Superintendent Donald Campbell who stated, 
“violations of federal law have occurred, and we are weighing the legal 
options and considering the steps with which to proceed.”

But what action can the federal government take now, in that the 
“desecration” has already taken place? Without question, the proposed 
action by the utility company and the federal permitting that was 
required prior to commencement of work by the developer and the utility 
company, constituted what is known as a “federal undertaking” and it 
was subject to compliance provisions of the National Environmental 
Protection Act (NEPA) as well as several other federal preservation 
laws. As required by law, the NPS had solicited public comments on the 
proposed action. According to Interior sources, over 100 comments in 
opposition to issuance of the permit had been received.

When the developers took direct action and began trenching, the NPS was 
in the middle of the compliance process; officials were still 
soliciting and assessing comments from other federal and state agencies 
so as to fully comply with environmental compliance procedures. Based 
on public comments and agency concerns Interior officials had concluded 
that additional assessment was warranted and that issuance of the use 
permit most likely would be delayed, according to sources inside the 
Interior department.

Those same sources report that the Assistant Attorney General assigned 
to the Department of Justice is now assessing various criminal and 
civil options open to the government. Unless the Interior Department 
acts and prosecutes those who flaunt the law, preservationists fear 
that the inaction of the government to protect the park resources may 
well signal a greenlight for other developers to ignore compliance 
requirements knowing full well that the federal government will not 
prosecute such violations.

The NCH has contacted the Interior department and has urged the 
government to act quickly and decisively in prosecuting the violators.

2. DEADLINE APPROACHES FOR COMMENT ON PROPOSED CHANGE IN NARA RESEARCH 
HOURS
The deadline for public comments on the rule recently published in the 
Federal Register on proposed changes in the hours for conducting 
research at the National Archives Building (DC) and the National 
Archives facility at College Park (MD) is drawing near – 8 September. 
If you have not already done so, please provide NARA with your views 
and concerns this week.

As regular readers of this newsletter are aware, NARA is proposing a 
series of drastic budget reduction actions in order to address a 
projected budget shortfall in the federal government fiscal year (FY 
2007) that begins on 1 October. In order to reduce costs of operations, 
NARA proposes to have research facilities open 9 a.m. to 5 p. m. Monday 
through Friday only no longer would there be evening or Saturday hours. 
Regional archive facilities would also modify their extended hours. If 
approved as drafted, the rule and the changed hours will go into effect 
as soon as the new fiscal year begins – 2 October 2006.

To date nearly 300 comments have been received, but there is still time 
for concerned individuals, organizations and institutions to comment on 
the proposed changes. Comments must be received by 8 September 2006. A 
link to the rule is at: 
http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20061800/edocket.access.gpo.
gov/2006/pdf/E6-11763.pdf . Comments may be forwarded via 
www.regulations.gov .

3. PUBLIC INPUT SOUGHT ON “PRESERVE AMERICA” PROPOSAL
Mrs. Laura Bush, the President's wife and Honorary Chair of the 
“Preserve America Program” (a White House initiative that encourages 
and supports community efforts to preserve and enjoy the nation’s 
cultural and natural heritage), has announced that, in cooperation with 
the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP), she will lead a 
national “Preserve America Summit” in October 2006 to mark the 40th 
anniversary of the passage of the National Historic Preservation Act of 
1966.

As part of that effort, a panel of experts representing historic 
preservation, education, history, and related fields, has been 
appointed to review the major components of the national historic 
preservation program in advance of the summit. The panel, which met in 
Detroit, Michigan, on 8 August, is beginning to consider how best to 
build a preservation ethic and public appreciation of history; it is 
charged to make recommendations designed to improve the nation’s 
historical preservation policy and programs.

Among those appointed to the panel are Heather MacIntosh, President of 
Preservation Action; James G. Basker, President of the Gilder Lehrman 
Institute of American History; Spencer Crew, Executive Director and CEO 
of the National Underground Railroad and Freedom Center; and Libby 
O’Connell, Senior Vice President/Chief Historian of The History Channel 
and about a dozen others. While the historic preservation, museum, and 
public history communities are well represented on the panel, 
substantive representation from the archival community is noticeably 
absent, and there is no representation whatsoever from the 
higher-education academic history community.

Nevertheless, the panel is seeking public responses (academics are 
welcome to respond) to the following questions: “How can the 
significance and value of our authentic heritage resources and 
appreciation for the importance of knowing and understanding history be 
more broadly integrated into our national consciousness? The panel also 
wants to know, “ is the present situation in regard to historic 
preservation and broad public appreciation of the importance of history 
education already sufficient in America?” E-mail comments should be 
sent to [log in to unmask] .

4. BITS AND BYTES:
Item # 1 – Information on State Civil Service Requirements Requested: 
This week the NCH received a letter from a historian who had applied 
for a vacant historian position with the state of Pennsylvania. But the 
applicant was ultimately deemed “ineligible” to apply because, 
according to Pennsylvania Civil Service rules, she was not a “resident” 
of the state. Now we wonder, just how wide-spread is such a state Civil 
Service residency requirement? If you have information about similar or 
contrary state Civil Service requirements, please e-mail the editor at 
[log in to unmask] with whatever information you may have on 
this issue. We will publish our findings in a future NCH WASHINGTON 
UPDATE.

Item #2 – NEH Announces Scholarly Edition Grant Competition: The 
National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has announced the annual 
competition for Scholarly Editions Grants that support the preparation 
by a team of at least two editors and staff of texts and documents that 
are currently inaccessible or available in inadequate editions. 
Projects involving significant literary, philosophical, and historical 
materials are typical in this grant program, but other types of work, 
such as musical notation, are also eligible. In applying, applicants 
will need to demonstrate familiarity with the best practices 
recommended by the Association for Documentary Editing or the Modern 
Language Association Committee on Scholarly Editions. This year, there 
is a new twist on the application process that has caused some 
consternation within the documentary edition community: in keeping with 
the goals of the NEH Digital Humanities Initiative, the Scholarly 
Editions Program now requires that applicants employ digital technology 
in the preparation, management, and online publication of all critical 
and documentary editions. Also projects that include TEI (Text Encoding 
Initiative) conformant transcription and offer free online access are 
encouraged and will be given preference. Guidelines may be found at: 
http://www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/editions.html .

Item #3 -- Best High School History Essays Announced: Each year, the 
Gilder Lehrman Institute joins with The Concord Review to co-sponsor 
the Gilder Lehrman Prize in American History. The prize recognizes 
exceptional American history essays submitted to The Concord Review, 
the only journal to publish exemplary historical writing by high school 
students. In 2006 jurors for the Gilder Lehrman Prize in American 
History were Steven Mintz (University of Houston, Texas), Sharona Kay 
(Boca Raton Community High School, Florida), and Anthony Napoli 
(Salesian High School, New York, and the Gilder Lehrman Institute), who 
deliberated with James Basker (President of the Gilder Lehrman 
Institute) to determine the winners. For more on the program and to 
read the winning essays, go to: 
http://www.gilderlehrman.org/teachers/student6.html .

Item #4 – NPS Historians’ Directory Published Online: The 2006-2007 
National Park Service Historians Directory, an electronic edition that 
includes the contact information relating to more than 275 historians 
and other National Park Service staff who work in parks and communities 
across the United States and its territories. To download and save the 
latest copy (PDF; 1.54 MB) from the Park History website, go to: 
http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/NPShistorians06.pdf .

5. ARTICLES OF INTEREST
One posting this week: No posting this week.

************************************************************************ 

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