As part of my focus on information literacy, sharing a link to another
opinion piece in which the author makes a questionable assertion.  In a
recent column about Presidential Libraries, author Severin M. Beliveau
states, "Don't look for objective treatment of Watergate at the Nixon
Library."  He also states of "presidential libraries" that donors, not the
people, control the content of the "libraries."
http://www.pressherald.com/2017/06/18/maine-voices-presidential-libraries-are-a-waste-of-money/

It is possible that Mr. Beliveau has not visited the NARA administered
Nixon Presidential Library and Museum since the National Archives-curated
Watergate exhibit opened in March 2011.  This replaced a Watergate exhibit
curated in the 1990s by a private foundation prior to the establishment in
2007 of a Federal Nixon Presidential Library and Museum.

The curator of the 2011 Watergate exhibit was NARA official Tim Naftali.
He relied in part on presidential records which my team was the first to
process and review for disclosure (I was team leader).

This is the exhibit that Tim Naftali described in the quote about me that I
shared here when I resubscribed to this Listserv this spring.
https://lists.ufl.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind1705A&L=RECMGMT-L&P=R1941 Tim and I
are pictured in an official National Archives photo with AOTUS David S.
Ferriero soon after the Watergate exhibit opened
https://www.flickr.com/photos/archivesnews/5891277548/in/photostream/

As to donor control, that statement by Mr. Beliveau may just be a
conflation of the archives and museum components of what actually are
called presidential libraries and museums.  Under the public-private
partnership that has existed in recent years, National Archives employees
screen records for disclosure under the Presidential Records Act.  These
are positions of public trust.

Donor money does not affect archival review; Federal employees work with
modern day presidential records within a statutory framework.  Private
donations do support some (not all) of the public programs and exhibits in
the museum components.  However, NARA paid entirely out of its own funds
for the Naftali-curated Watergate exhibit.

That an objective Watergate exhibit would replace the one curated by
private officials in the 1990s was agreed on during George W. Bush-era
negotiations on Capitol Hill for passage of legislation enabling
establishment of a Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in California.

While the issues surrounding the 2011 Watergate exhibit received
considerable news coverage when it opened, it is possible Mr. Beliveau is
unaware of them.  He may reflect prior criticism by some scholars of the
privately curated 1990s exhibit. (One of the people commenting under his op
ed states that he seems unfamiliar with the present Watergate exhibit.)

As for the impact of donations, many writers seem to use "presidential
libraries" as a shorthand term for what actually are two separate
functions, archives and museums.

Many info lit opportunities out there on some pretty arcane issues.  Glad
to share my perspective here in records and archives areas in which I work
or have once worked.

Maarja
@ArchivesMaarja
Blog;  https://archivalexplorations.wordpress.com/
Washington, DC

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