Great news! As a Coalition Partner, the SGA has received the following update from Kaye Minchew and Ken Thomas, Co-Chairs of the Coalition to Preserve the Georgia Archives. The bill to transfer the administration of the Georgia Archives to the Board of Regents was passed by both houses of the Georgia legislature unanimously and goes to the Governor’s desk for signature. The State Budget, after the conference committee met, included $300,000 more for the Georgia Archives than the Governor originally proposed in January. Many thanks to all those who have worked so hard since September to keep the Georgia Archives open and to get money back in the budget.

The SGA requests that you call the Senators and Representatives on the budget conference committee and request they PLEASE fully fund the $450,000 the Chancellor requested for the Georgia Archives. Do this by Wednesday. Names and numbers are in the full story. Get ready to call NOW. We are in the home stretch of our advocacy efforts for the Georgia Archives during the 2013 General Assembly Session. This is the final push.

The SGA requests that you call your Representative NOW requesting his/her support of HB 287, which will be voted on Tuesday, February 26th, 2013. Call NOW.

SGA President Tammy Herron requests that SGA members and friends call their Senator/Representative NOW to request their help in restoring the Georgia Archives to its ability to be open to the public for regular business hours and to have sufficient staff to provide the basic full range of services that a state archival institution should provide. Thanks for doing this NOW. Call, don’t write.

Despite an announcement that the Georgia State Archives would close in November, an October 18th press release notes, “Gov. Nathan Deal and Secretary of State Brian Kemp announced today that the state will restore $125,000 to Kemp’s budget,” which will keep the Archives open. The SGA was one of many organizations and individuals that publicly advocated that this important research institution not be closed. The Georgia State Archives will maintain its current access hours.

SGA President Catherine Long has sent a letter to Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp and others regarding our grave concern over the planned closing of the Georgia Archives on 1 November 2012.

Finish your research at the Georgia Archives before November 1st, 2012.That’s because the Archives will close to the public on that day, and staffing may be too reduced for you to get a special appointment to access the Archives. Note that as of the date of this post, this information is not noted on the Archives’ website.

From mid-2010 to early 2011, Georgia’s Historic Preservation Division sought public input on what HPD should emphasize in their programs over the coming five years. The current State Historic Preservation Plan will be replaced by a new plan by the end of 2011. In general, archaeological resources take a back seat to historical resources, especially standing buildings and historic districts.

Virginia Shadron, Chair, Friends of Georgia Archives & History, reports that the Fiscal Year 2012 budget that passed the Georgia House of Representatives on March 11th includes budget reductions that probably will result in the State Archives closing its doors to the public. Shadron’s comments are made in an open letter online here. The House Bill must now be considered by Senators. Archaeologists use records stored at the Georgia Archives regularly in their research. Most materials are not online, so visiting the Archives is the only way to obtain the unique information stored there.

The SGA has joined The Coalition to Preserve the Georgia Archives and needs you to help support the Archives. Get ready to DIAL NOW. Calls to members of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and/or the Senate Appropriations Higher Education Subcommittee are especially important. On Monday, 11 March 2013, the House Appropriations Committee passed the 2014 state [...]

The SGA is a member of the Coalition to Preserve the Georgia Archives and has received the following information from the Georgia Historical Records Advisory Board (GHRAB) regarding HB 287, a bill to transfer the Georgia Archives from the Secretary of State’s Office to the Board of Regents, University System of Georgia. Great News! HB [...]

What bills currently up before Federal Senate and House decision-makers deal with archaeological resources? While the text of bills is available online from THOMAS, a government website named after Thomas Jefferson, OpenCongress is a different website that offers significantly enhanced bill-tracking information. While the only version of OpenCongress is for the Federal government, versions for each state are under development. Read the full story to find out how you can check on bills related to, for example, “historical and cultural resources.”

The 1906 Antiquities Act offers the President of the United States of America the authority to set aside lands the government owns as national monuments. The Act was intended to allow the President to preserve “antiquities” including “historical and prehistoric structures.” These resources were to be preserved for scientific and educational research. Some people object that this Act has been used with the intent to preserve natural areas rather than merely “antiquities.” In April 2010, representatives of over sixty organizations, including the 7000-plus member Society for American Archaeology, sent a letter to President Barack Obama expressing concern over attempts to limit this Act.

Follow the GaPA blog to read up on the latest news about legislative sessions, budget proposals, etc. GaPA stands for Georgians for Preservation Action. GaPA coordinates historic preservation advocacy efforts within our state. The SGA leadership has often worked with GaPA, since our organizational goals overlap.

The Society for American Archaeology, a national organization with over 7000 members, is concerned about Senate Bill 409, which would swap some federal lands for other property. The SAA is concerned about the loss of protections to archaeological sites on the lands that will pass out of federal ownership.

Many academic archaeological research projects are funded at least in part by the National Science Foundation. President Obama has made it an administration priority to as part of his Plan for Science and Innovation to double funding to key research agencies over the next decade. The House of Representatives in turn has proposed a reduction in the President’s proposed increase for FY 2010 for NSF.

The Federal Omnibus Appropriations Act, which funds departments, agencies, and programs not funded through the regular appropriations process for FY2009, includes funding for some archaeological and historical programs and endeavors. The major allocations, listed in the full story, total nearly $500 million.

Georgians for Preservation Action report that the archaeology allocation in the final state budget includes the $100,000 that was in the Senate version, plus two positions that had been cut. This compares to a previous budget of over $279,000. HPD now has to decide which missions can still be accomplished on this severely reduced budget.

The Society for American Archaeology, a national organization, sent a letter of concern about major cuts to the state’s archaeology program to Georgia’s Republican and Democratic leaders during budget negotiations at the end of March.

The Senate Appropriations committee has only $50,000 total in the archaeology budget, not even enough to fund a single position. This means Federal and state projects will be delayed in the Historic Preservation Office, and that DNR will have to hire consultants in order to comply with State and Federal laws. Click [More] below to read the details.

Resources at Risk: Defending Georgia’s Hidden Heritage is a special issue of Early Georgia, published in May 2001. The goals of this issue were 1) to expand public perception of what archaeology is and what archaeologists do; 2) to call attention to the urgent need for the preservation and stewardship of archaeological resources, or at [...]