Full text of my letter to all members of the AZ Senate Committee on Government and the Environment, November 2, 2013: Dear Senator Griffin: I write this day to urge your support for reauthorization of AHS. I have carefully reviewed the Auditor General’s findings and Director Woolsey’s response. My perspective is informed by my twenty-five years of service at Arizona State University Libraries, including my work as University Archivist and administrator for Archives and Special Collections since 1996. I also continue to serve Arizona as a member of the Arizona Historical Records Advisory Board (AHRAB) since 2001. The following are my personal opinions and are not the positions of Arizona State University or AHRAB. The Auditor General’s recommendation 1.3 for a fundraising action plan does not account for the larger context of libraries, archives and museums in Arizona. In the last several years we have witnessed the failure of several significant operations as government appropriations have been reduced and fundraising and grant writing efforts have fallen far short of the requisite investment to ensure continued acquisition, preservation and access for the materials of Arizona’s great heritage. These closures have resulted in significant burdens to the remaining institutions. The Arizona Historical Foundation founded by Barry Goldwater failed in 2012 after over fifty years of concentrated fundraising efforts. The Arizona Historical Society Library at Papago Park, my department at ASU and the Arizona State Library stepped up to ensure continued preservation and access for those collection. My department received no additional support for preserving over 2,000 feet of additional archives, including the Goldwater papers. Meanwhile, the Goldwater family continues to work towards their goal of raising $30 million dollars for a Goldwater Library and Archives facility in the city of Mesa, but that goal does not account for perhaps $2 million in annual operating costs. We have not heard news of successes in that effort that has been underway for over a year. The closure of the Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum and the utter failure of the associated fundraising for the intended Arizona Experience Museum significantly added to the burden on the AHS budget. Even with Governor Brewer’s support this effort only raised 10% of the intended goal. This was our Centennial year, which should have been the critical moment to shore up public support and generate revenue for this work. This year relocation of the Frank Lloyd Wright Archives from Taliesin West to Columbia University in New York was also attributed to difficulties in fundraising. In the recent past the Phoenix Museum of History’s collections were adopted by the Arizona Science Center and remain inaccessible other than a few objects placed in existing exhibits. The Arizona Room at the Mesa Public Library was closed and I understand there is very limited access to those materials. Put simply, the archival and museum infrastructure of Arizona is collapsing from lack of public and private investment. AHS will have substantial difficulty competing with the many other institutions attempting to raise money for bricks, mortar, operations, exhibits and special projects. In my work for AHRAB I annually review grant proposals for a pool of about $20,000 in regrant funds provided by a federal agency and the State Library. I was shocked to see applications from AHS for basic archival boxes and folders. AHS’ proposal is competing with applications from tiny local historical societies and museums from around Arizona. These organizations requested AHRAB assistance valued at over $60,000 in the 2013 cohort of proposals. In general AHS has difficulty making competitive grant proposals because it cannot provide sufficient cost share in terms of the value of staff time. The Auditor General’s recommendation 1.2 to reduce operating costs is not realistic. AHS has suffered a 41.9% reduction in General Fund Revenues from 2011-2013 (Report, Table 1). Director Woolsey correctly states that it is difficult and in fact damaging to raise money for museum operations. At ASU I have had sporadic and wholly insufficient success in raising money for collections cataloging and preservation despite my direct appeals to the donors of those collections. Museum and archives collections management is a cumulative endeavor. Generations of Arizona families count upon AHS to preserve and make accessible representations of their epic stories for study by students, faculty, genealogists and the public. Over the decades they have entrusted this state agency with the relics of their personal and professional lives, believing that Arizona would protect and present these materials to many future generations. These collections grow, and the work of preservation never ceases. From 2009-2011 I acquired and directed two LSTA grants that enabled AHS and several other institutions to encode and present descriptions of some archival collections in the statewide database Arizona Archives Online azarchivesonline.org. AHS is unable to continue updating and posting new descriptions of their materials for lack of staff time and technical expertise. This should be a key component of their collections management plan since the platform construction is completed and the maintenance is now handled through minimal membership dues paid to the non-profit Arizona Archives Alliance. AHS is invisible in terms of sharing the huge and growing burden for preservation of Arizona’s born digital heritage materials. Recommendation 1.8 suggests the possible elimination of regional chapters. I have witnessed the air conditioning failures at the Papago Park Museum, which damage the collections and impact the ability to rent the facility for public events. The Library/ Archives operation at Papago Park is an important partner with ASU Libraries in providing access to collections for study by our students. Regional chapters enable AHS to be an effective local player in smaller communities when they bring professional expertise and resources and enable the materials to be preserved nearby, but materials from the Yuma operation had to be relocated to Tucson because of insufficient and appropriate collections space and poor environmental conditions. The Arizona Historical Society is an essential component of Arizona’s historical preservation infrastructure. They have insufficient public and private support to complete basic collections management functions. Not only should the organization be continued, it needs an additional investment of appropriated dollars to reach a critical mass that will enable it to be successful in expanding external support. I urge your continued and expanded support of the Arizona Historical Society. Sincerely, Robert P. Spindler
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 04:37:58 +0000