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Index to reports published in the the Journals of the California Legislature 1905-1970
Here’s a heads-up and a hat tip: Juri Statford from UC Davis has just published an Index to Reports Published in the Appendices to the Journals of the California Legislature 1905-1970. Congratulations Juri. This is a significant piece of work and will help librarians and the public get better access to historic California reports.
The California Legislature published reports in the Appendices to the Journals from 1849 to 1970. The Appendices include reports produced by California executive agencies as well as the California Legislature. In a few instances, the reports include work by the United States federal government or the University of California.
This index provides references to over eighteen hundred reports published in the Appendices between 1905-1970. The reports cover a number of subjects including agriculture, state budget, banking, insurance, labor, education, social welfare, taxation, and water and natural resources.
Bibliographic access to earlier reports from 1849 to 1904 is provided by the Index of Economic Material in Documents of the States of the United States, California 1849-1905 by Adelaide R. Hasse. (editor’s note: the early CA and other state indexes are available in Hathitust)
Stratford, Juri. (2012). Index to Reports Published in the Appendices to the Journals of the California Legislature 1905-1970 University Library, University of California, Davis.
[posted with permission from Juri]
FRASER adds new Marriner S. Eccles Document collection on economic history and the Fed
The St Louis Fed’s FRASER (Federal Reserve Archive) has just announced the addition of the new Marriner S. Eccles Document collection. It looks to be especially relevant to economic historians and those interested in economics and the [[Great_Depression|Great Depression]].
FRASER, a digital library dedicated to preserving the nation’s economic history, recently added the Marriner S. Eccles Document Collection. The new collection provides access to nearly 10,000 documents from the archival collection housed by the University of Utah. Eccles served as Chairman (1934-48) and member (1948-51) of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. The collection provides research material about the Federal Reserve System, particularly during the 1930s and 1940s, as well as Eccles’s role in the monetary and fiscal systems of the United States during those years.
The documents can be browsed and searched by box, date, author, or keyword (the keyword field searches title, author, and description). Full-text searching is also available through a site-level advanced search, which can be narrowed to only items in the Eccles collection.
Other archival collections that have been made digitally available on FRASER include Papers from the Committee on the History of the Federal Reserve System (held by the Brookings Institution) and the William McChesney Martin Jr. Document Collection (held by the Missouri Historical Society).
FRASER has more than 640 publication titles, dated from 1789 to the present, that can be browsed by title, author, date, or topic. Full-text searching is also available.
Finding Current, but not original, documents on the web
An interesting perspective on the limitations a simple web search comes today from an Emeritus Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. He notes that “The contested history of Executive Order 11246 is an important aspect of the history of the modern women’s rights movement and of the presidency of Lyndon Johnson,” but that a simple search for it yields the revised, not the original, version of the order:
- The Perils of Internet Research: The Case of LBJ and Affirmative Action, By Samuel Walker, History News Network (5-28-12).
A standard Google search for “Executive Order 11246” yields multiple web sites, including those of the U.S. Department of Labor (which enforces the federal contractor provision), the National Archives, and Wikipedia. These sites post the current revised version of E. O. 11246. While it duly notes the many revisions over the years, only historians who are specialists on the subject and some employment law attorneys (but only those interested in history), will realize that it is not the original. Consequently, they will gain no hint of the contested initial history of affirmative action regarding sex discrimination or of LBJ’s record on women’s rights.
This is not an insignificant issue. Wikipedia is widely used by average Americans as a research tool. College undergraduates use it routinely, as do many graduate students. Only PhD or some MA students who are closely supervised by their faculty are likely to know they are missing some important history. Few people, moreover, are likely to question the National Archives as an authoritative source on American history. Executive Order 11246, finally, is hardly the only document where the original does not immediately appear through a Google search. Try finding the original text of the 1966 Freedom of Information Act, for example.
Experienced government information specialists will not be surprised by this and will recognize the need for sophisticated searching (and careful interpretation of search results) in general.
But this is also an example of the importance of our historical collections. Because government information is a record of the activities and attitudes and knowledge of a government at particular points in time, it retains historical value even when it is “out of date” — as in the above example. Different versions of laws, old censuses, series of annual reports, early maps, photographs: all these are important historical records which require the same attention and care we devote to the most current information.
Too often, however, I hear librarians focus on “currency” as a value to such an extent that they seem to deprecate the value of historical records. I feel this is the case when library administrators refer to our historical paper collections as “legacy” collections.
The word “legacy,” when used as an adjective, comes from computing and means superseded, no longer useful, difficult to use, and in need of replacement. In this way the use of “legacy” as an adjective as a description of our historical collections is both incorrect and demeaning. Those who call our historical collections “legacy collections” are diminishing the value of those collections. I don’t know if they do this intentionally or not, but I do know that this use carries an implication that cheapens the value of these collections. That can lead to bad decisions.
If we must use the term “legacy” to describe our historical collections, we should use it as a noun. The noun “legacy” means bequest, heritage, endowment, gift, and birthright. Our historical collections are a legacy from the past to us and to our children and must be treated with respect.
GPO Partners With University Of Iowa To Preserve Historic Collection
Press Release from GPO:
GPO PARTNERS WITH UNIVERSITY OF IOWA TO PRESERVE HISTORIC COLLECTION
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 5, 2011
No. 11-57WASHINGTON-The U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) is partnering with the University of Iowa Libraries to preserve and make available in digital format historic Government-issued posters from pre-World War II to the 1990s. The University of Iowa Libraries is providing public access to the collection of 1,500 posters promoting services, programs, and initiatives by Government agencies. The University of Iowa Libraries is part of GPO’s Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), which provides public access to published information of all three branches of the Government through partnerships with more than 1,220 libraries nationwide. GPO is providing back-up support for the digital poster collection; in the event that the University of Iowa Libraries cannot provide access, GPO will make the digital poster collection available on the agency’s Federal Digital System (FDsys), a one-stop site to authentic, published Government information.
Link to digital poster collection: http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/gpc/index.php
“GPO’s mission of keeping American informed is demonstrated through the agency’s partnerships with more than 1,200 libraries nationwide and our joint effort to make Government information available to the public,” said Public Printer Bill Boarman. “As GPO celebrates its 150th anniversary, we recognize the importance of history and preserving history for future generations and that is why GPO is thrilled to work with the University of Iowa Libraries to preserve and make available this historic collection.”
“GPO is excited to partner with the University of Iowa Libraries to preserve and protect the future of this historic collection,” said Superintendent of Documents Mary Alice Baish. “As we embrace the new digital age, GPO is seeking partnerships with libraries nationwide in order to safeguard historic collections and provide the American people with permanent public access to Government information.”
“I’m delighted that this previously hidden collection is now available to anyone with an Internet connection. These posters often represent a graphic documentation of priorities of a given presidential administration or reflect social culture at a discrete point in time,” said Marianne Mason, Federal Information Librarian University of Iowa Libraries. “Nearly all federal agencies, both past and present, have produced social marketing posters including the Works Project Administration, War Mobilization Office, EPA, Dept. of Interior and NASA. This visual collection has the potential to complement academic course work in public policy, history, communication studies, and health sciences and to enhance outreach activities to primary and secondary (K-12) students. The Government Printing Office has been a steadfast partner in preserving rich digital collections from many libraries and, happily, The University of Iowa has joined that partnership.”
Online Access To The Founding Fathers Papers
The National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) has signed a cooperative agreement with the University of Virginia and its Virginia Foundation for the Humanities to provide pre-publication access to 68,000 historical papers of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington that have not yet been published in authoritative documentary editions.
- Online Access To The Founding Fathers Papers, “Press Release,” The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (September 29, 2011).
David S. Ferriero, Archivist of the United States, notes, “These documentary editions provide a treasure trove of information about the founding of our nation. The historical documents contain fascinating details about the thoughts, deeds, and lives of these seminal figures. This agreement ensures that we leverage the latest technology and processes to ensure that all Americans can access and use these papers.”
- National Historical Publications and Records Commission
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