NHPRC Adopts New Directives, Awards Grants.

The article reports on the new course set by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) for funding the national archival system and adopted a new strategic plan calling for leadership in public policy, distribution of the most important traditional documents in U.S. history, and creating a national network for state and local documentary preservation and use, as of August 2004. The commission also recommended to the archivist of the U.S. grants for projects in 27 states and District of Columbia. The recommendations included funding for documentary editing projects that focus on the papers and records of Americans including Frederick Douglass and Thomas Edison. The commission funded two electronic records projects to create records management systems for Maine state agencies and archival collections at Tufts and Yale universities. Funding for the Maine GeoArchives project supports collaboration among the state archives and other state agencies that are creating the Maine Library of Geographic Information to develop GeoArchives. The Tuft grant funds testing the capabilities of the Flexible Extensible Digital Object and Repository Architecture software to serve as an electronic records preservation system at the Digital Collections and Archives of Tufts University and the Manuscripts and Archives section of the Yale University Library.