STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE JIM TURNER

GMIT HEARING: H.R. 5157, the Freedmen's Bureau Records Preservation Act of 2000

10/18/00

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to begin by welcoming my colleagues, Rep. Millender-McDonald and Rep. Watts, to this hearing and thanking them for introducing, H.R. 5157, the Freedmen's Bureau Records Preservation Act of 2000. Additionally, I would like to welcome the National Archives and compliment them on the outstanding work they have presented to this Subcommittee over the session.

Established after the Civil War by an act of Congress, the Freedmen's Bureau was created to supervise abandoned and confiscated property, but more importantly, to provide relief to freedmen and refugees. These records contain a wide range of useful information on the African-American experience after the Civil War and are a vital source of information for historians, genealogists, and individuals seeking to trace their family heritage. They are among the most important primary resources documenting the African-American experience. However, time has taken its toll on these historical treasures and many of these documents are deteriorating and require immediate attention.

H.R. 5157 is an important step toward achieving our goal of preserving these records for future generations by instructing the Archives, who currently serve as the stewards of these papers, to use current restoration and indexing technology so that they will be available and easily accessible to all who wish to use them. Additionally, I understand that there is a funding issue which this Subcommittee will address. Again, I commend Rep. Millender-McDonald and Rep. Watts for their leadership on this bill and commend the Chairman for calling this hearing.

10/18/00 WED 15:48 [TX/RX NO 7656]

Mr. HORN. I have one question. The Archives has a pilot project with a school, the University of Florida, to preserve and index a few of the Freedmen's Bureau records. That is one possibility of sub possibilities. The other is the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, which is part of the Archives and makes grants.

Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD. Right.

Mr. HORN. What do you feel would be the best approach from the research you've done on this? Would it go directly to the Archives? Would it go to a private sector, public sector pilot project, as apparently the University of Florida is, or work through the National Historical Publications and Records Commission?

Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD. Thank you for that question. As I have pondered this, I would like to see extended pilot programs in a lot of the HBCUs, or at least some of them where the States that I have listed have, I guess, the wherewithal to provide this pilot program. And given that there are States that currently have access to this, we should extend those pilot programs. I cannot but think of the history in the years that I talked with my grandmother and others and they said if you don't know your history, you are damned to repeat it, and if you don't know where you have come from you don't know where you are going, and I think our younger generation need to get some insight as to the historical perspective that these records can afford.

Mr. HORN. You are absolutely right on that. I go into 50 to 100 classrooms a year and I am a little disappointed sometimes about the lack of knowledge of history of the United States.

Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD. Absolutely.

Mr. HORN. We are glad that you will stay with us. Mr. Kanjorski has joined us as the ranking member, and we will call up panel two. President Swygert of Howard University is accompanied by Dr. Thomas C. Battle, the Director of the Howard University Mooreland-Spingarn Research Center and Dr. Elizabeth Clarke Lewis, Director of the Public History Project, Howard University. We have a rule in the committees of Government Reform that we swear all witnesses except Members of Congress.

[Witnesses sworn.]

Mr. HORN. The clerk will note that three of you have affirmed. We will begin with President Swygert. We are delighted to have you here. You run a very distinguished university.

STATEMENTS OF H. PATRICK SWYGERT, PRESIDENT, HOWARD UNIVERSITY, ACCOMPANIED BY DR. THOMAS C. BATTLE, DIRECTOR, THE HOWARD UNIVERSITY MOORELANDSPINGARN RESEARCH CENTER; AND DR. ELIZABETH CLARKE LEWIS, DIRECTOR OF THE PUBLIC HISTORY PROJECT, HOWARD UNIVERSITY

Mr. SWYGERT. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for this opportunity to testify on behalf of this incredibly important piece of legislation. Mr. Chairman, as you noted, I am accompanied today by Dr. Elizabeth Clarke Lewis and Dr. Thomas Battle, who is director of the Mooreland-Spingarn Research Center, the largest collection of African American materials outside of the Library of Congress. I am

also accompanied by Ms. Donna Brock, who is the assistant vice president of University Communications.

Mr. Chairman, I would like to take this opportunity to especially acknowledge and thank the gentleman to your left, Mr. Russell George, who is a great son of Howard University. We very much appreciate his enthusiasm for this piece of important legislation and his alma mater.

Mr. HORN. We appreciate that. We keep Russell George very busy. You have taught him how to think well and how to get moving. When this came up, we didn't have to take 2 seconds to know this is what we wanted to do.

Mr. SWYGERT. Thank you very much.

If I may, I would like to extend on behalf of the entire Howard University family our special thanks to Representative Juanita Millender-McDonald, and our thanks as well to Representative J.C. Watts. Congressman Watts has been a frequent visitor to our campus. We very much appreciate his initiative as well.

Mr. Chairman, when I was invited to appear here today, I felt privileged to know that I would be a key spokesperson on behalf of the University's student body, alumni, faculty, and extended family on an issue that deeply touches the hearts of all of us, as well as the hearts of those generations of individuals whose lives have been so significantly impacted by the Freedmen's Bureau. Indeed, its historical and emotional aspects are significant.

As you know, Mr. Chairman, in 1866, Howard University was named after General Oliver Otis Howard, who was the Commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau. Since its inception, Howard University's historical relationship with the U.S. Congress has traversed 134 years; and we continue to enjoy this relationship, a relationship that began and grew out of the Freedmen's Bureau. So, in some larger sense, Mr. Chairman, you are seeing a product, live and in person, of the continuing and enduring legacy of the Freedmen's Bureau itself.

Mr. Chairman, I would like to accomplish three things. I would like to first speak to the immediacy, the impact of the records themselves as it relates to the African American community and its definition of self. Second, as you have already heard and will continue to hear as this continues, these are primary documents that are irreplaceable.

Third, Mr. Chairman, I am here to assure you that African Americans and all Americans celebrate and cheer this effort. As to the definition of self and as to the definition of people, as the Congresswoman has already indicated, if you don't know where you've come from, you certainly will not be able to figure out where you are headed. These documents, Mr. Chairman, help with that issue and more. They give proof positive of the vitality, of the energy, of the hopes, and prayers, and aspirations of people who have recently been enslaved. They continue to speak with relevance and passion to issues of today.

It is, therefore, a matter of both great emotional concern to us, historical importance and, most importantly perhaps as well, Mr. Chairman, they confirm and reaffirm that persons who were only recently freed were persons who were freed and continued to maintain a whole human spirit.

The second issue I would like to share with you, Mr. Chairman, is based upon my experience as a Howard University history student. Like Mr. George, I too am a graduate of Howard University, and an alumnus of the undergraduate school and the School of Law. It was my privilege to be a history major at Howard University, and in that capacity we were taught a number of principles. A number of principles were shared with us.

One of the first principles of course was to distinguish secondary from primary sources. And primary sources, as you know, Mr. Chairman, tend to be closer to the historical truth than not. When one surveys the documents that are found within the collection known as the Freedmen's Bureau Collection, one sees primary sources in the form of letters and testimonials and first person narratives that ring true. They rang true more than 100 years ago and they continue to ring true today. These documents are irreplaceable. But, there is an urgency, Mr. Chairman, an urgency that we get about the very serious business of preservation of these documents.

Mr. Chairman, I said a moment ago that the African American community, and indeed all Americans, will celebrate and are cheering this effort. I mean that in all sincerity. This is about African American history and American history. I think sometimes, Mr. Chairman, our focus is too narrow and our definition too narrow as well. This is American history. It is a history that we can all look back upon and celebrate because it tells us where we have been as a people, as a nation, and where we have come from, and we have come a mighty long way. I think there is cause to celebrate and I think it will be celebrated and cheered by us all.

Before I conclude my formal remarks, and I have submitted my remarks for the record, I would like to speak to one issue in particular in terms of the way and the manner in which the records continue to be maintained and handled. The records have been safeguarded by the National Archives and Records Administration and generally made available to the American people. However, Mr. Chairman, I am concerned that people who want access to these records encounter undue difficulties in getting to the information that they seek. The records are too complex if one seeks to identify names and locations of people. The guides for accessing the levels of records and the variety of information embedded in the records need improvement to become more user friendly.

The Congresswoman spoke to this issue in the context of the Internet. I see three areas of improvement. First, put all available inventories on-line in the NARA Web site. Currently there are four inventories that describe these records, an inventory for the headquarters of Washington and three volumes for the field offices which cover the former Confederate and border States. I have been informed that the latter three volumes can only be found with the main NARA office in Washington, DC, although some efforts have been made to send them to the regional archives offices.

Second, the microfilming needs to be continued with a selective process in place. Currently records that pertain to education for some States and records of the assistant commissioner for a few States are microfilmed. I have been informed that the Freedmen's Bureau records are voluminous, and some of the more bureaucratic

records may not need microfilming. However, these records which contain information on people and events should receive high priority.

Last, there needs to be a comprehensive name and subject index for the entire record group. There are many small indices that pertain to individual record series, and these are helpful. For example, in the headquarters records of Washington, DC, there are several indices and registers of letters, but in the field offices there are too few indices to assist people in their research process. Reports often come with no indices, and the volume of records precludes any systematic searches. I believe comprehensive index systems for each State where Bureau officials operate can provide directions for individuals to search names and subject.

Again, Mr. Chairman, I speak with enthusiasm for this legislation. I celebrate with you. I applaud you and your colleagues for this initiative, and if I may respond in part to the last question posed to the Congresswoman, I think the HBCU community has the capacity today, certainly Howard University has the capacity to participate in appropriate pilot programs with appropriate oversight and assessment, and we would be prepared to do so with enthusiasm.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[The prepared statement of Mr. Swygert follows:]