CNPSR Letter to NPS Director Bomar about NPS History Collection in Jeopardy at Harpers Ferry Center

SENT VIA FAX AND EMAIL

August 21, 2008

Mary A. Bomar, Director
Department of the Interior
National Park Service
1849 C Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20240

Dear Director Bomar:

I write to express the grave concern of the membership of the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees with the recently-released report of the Office of the Inspector General - U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of the Inspector General – History Collection in Jeopardy at Harpers Ferry Center, July 2008 [Report Y-EU-NPS-0004-2008]. As you may recall, the Coalition brought the matter of the unacceptable condition in which this history collection was being maintained to your attention more than a year ago. We were promised by you personally (letter dated March 12, 2007) that the Service took seriously its responsibility for the collection and that the situation would be remedied. Based on the OIG report, it would appear that no progress has been made on this matter. In fact, the situation appears to have gotten worse.

Insiders tell us that the situation with the huge NPS photo collection has truly deteriorated. Now it is becoming disorganized, many unsupervised people have access to the files, resulting in the likelihood that 25+ years of sorting and organizing by the retired curator will be lost (as well, most likely, some of the prime photos). Moreover, we understand that the NPS Archives and Library has been left wide open and unattended during substantial periods of time. We had understood that the Anthony Library collection had been moved to Willow Springs, but evidently that is not the case and now the Anthony Library manuscripts are infested with silverfish, rodents, and possibly other pests. There are questions about the well-being of the art collection.

I need not remind you of the importance of this archive authorized in 1969 by then NPS Director George B. Hartzog, Jr. and the importance of preserving for future generations the administrative records of the nation’s principal and most popular conservation agency to the highest professional standards. This is nothing short of a legacy issue for the National Park Service and its 7th Director whose administrative papers are among those held in the Harpers Ferry collection.

However, the condition of the Harpers Ferry Center collection is emblematic of a larger agency-wide shortcoming – the absence of a clear, high-level directive to take seriously the preservation and protection of the Service’s own history. It is ironic that this agency - one of whose primary missions is preserving the nation’s heritage - places so low a priority on its own legacy.

As additional evidence:

1. Only one third of the 391 units of the System have completed Administrative Histories; many are woefully outdated.
2. Individual park and center administrative and history archives (like the Harpers Ferry Center) are poorly organized, maintained, and do not comport with Service, professional, and statutory (Federal Manager’s Financial Integrity Act) requirements, standards, and policies.
3. Park and center administrative archives are largely inaccessible to scholars, students, and the general public.
4. In NPS Headquarters, the position of Bureau Historian has been vacant for two years and without an acting designee (although I understand that efforts are finally underway to fill the position).
5. In NPS Headquarters, the position of NPS Chief Historian remained unfilled for more than two years with an ever-changing succession of acting designees before permanently filling the position this year.
6. Again at Headquarters, staffing and budget for the office of the Chief Historian and Bureau Historian are at their lowest levels in memory with vacancies unfilled or eliminated and financial support for key initiatives eliminated or substantially curtailed.

Given the gravity of the OIG report, I presume that you are now making plans to remedy the problems at Harpers Ferry Center with the greatest possible speed. However, I recommend in the strongest possible terms that you take the report as an opportunity to launch a larger Service-wide effort to ensure that the historic administrative record of the nation’s most beloved federal agency is preserved and made widely accessible for this and future generations. To view the situation at Harpers Ferry Center as a problem in want of “fixing” is to miss the larger picture and to ignore an important opportunity for the National Park Service and its future.

The Coalition of National Park Service Retirees stands ready to assist you in this effort as an active partner. Many of our members were instrumental in establishing many of these programs, collections, and archives and are recognized leaders in this field. This is an important opportunity that should not be missed. This is a centennial challenge at its most basic.

I hope you will take maximum advantage of our offer to assist you. I look forward to hearing back from you in detail soon.

Sincerely,

J. W. “Bill” Wade
Chair, Executive Council