I hope you heard my big sigh of relief and that of many others. In 2016 a decision was made that this regional location of the U.S. National Archives was expendable. Federal records that are needed and used weekly were to be moved to NARA locations a distance away. I had blogged previously about that impending horrific action. Many people protested and among those who voiced loud opinions of the planned idiocy were Northwestern U.S. Native American tribes and law firms. Even though the NARA (National Archives and Records Administartion) touts digitization efforts and those of its partners, millions upon millions of original records are in archival boxes in the various NARA locations. These are records needed for many reasons, personal, historical, community, and legal. The Seattle Times carried the good news on April 8th. In part:

“The impending sale of the National Archives at Seattle has been stopped by the Biden administration. What looked like a done deal 14 months ago is no more.

On Thursday, the Office of Management and Budget, which administers the federal budget and had approved the sale of the 10-acre Sand Point facility during the Trump administration, reversed course.

“Tribal consultation is a priority for this Administration … the process that led to the decision to approve the sale … is contrary to this Administration’s tribal-consultation policy, and I am accordingly withdrawing OMB’s approval of the sale of that facility,” Shalanda D. Young, the agency’s acting director, wrote in a letter.”

The full article by Erik Lacitis is here.

 

© 2021, Paula Stuart-Warren. All rights reserved.