Featured image: John Gabriel, OHS Chair, presenting the statement of support to Steven Sielaff, Associate Director of the US Oral History Association at the OHS annual conference.
This is a time of crisis in the United States. The Oral History Society, the leading heritage organisation for oral history in the United Kingdom, stands with our colleagues working in archives, libraries, museums, universities and cultural institutions across the United States of America who are experiencing attacks on their professions coming from the current administration. We echo the concerns raised within the United States by the Society of American Archivists (SAA), the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries and Museums (ATALM), the American Library Association (ALA) and other related organisations, and from organisations internationally, about :
- The widespread firing of archivists and cultural heritage workers across the United States, including the removal of the 11th Archivist of the United States (AOTUS), and the firing without cause of first African-American woman Librarian of Congress;
- The undermining of the independence of The Copyright Office for commercial and/or political gain;
- The large-scale destruction of government documents, including classified records, risking non-compliance with the Federal Records Act, which governs records from executive branch agencies;
- The extensive security breaches due to allowing non-government staff access to sensitive personal information;
- The massive funding cuts to the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the National Endowment for the Humanities, which fund oral history, museums, libraries and Indigenous cultural institutions;
- The renewed attack on the humanities in which oral history projects, as a consequence of their focus on marginalised voices, have been singled out by some policymakers as examples of ‘politicised’ or ‘anti-American” scholarship;
- The Federal funding cuts to the humanities;
- The curtailment of academic freedom including pressures on universities to align with a narrow and partisan view of US history, which marginalises the role of oral history in amplifying diverse experiences.
The actions of the current administration jeopardise the accountability, authenticity, integrity, and transparency of record-keeping and decision-making mandated by the Founding Fathers, and subsequent generations of Americans, and the federal government’s legal requirement to safeguard the records of the nation for the people of the United States.
We stand with and will continue to support all our oral history colleagues and all those working in academia, archives, libraries, museums and other cultural and civic institutions.
We support the missions and work of every dedicated institution, organisation and body, including the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), The Library of Congress, The Oral History Association, and the American Historical Association.
The Trustees and Members of the (UK) Oral History Society
June 2025
