3 1 sultants. Persons so employed shall receive compensation 2 at a rate to be fixed by the Commission, but not in excess 3 of $75 per diem, including travel time. While away from 4 his home or regular place of business in the performance 5 of services for the Commission, any such person may be 6 allowed travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of sub7 sistence, as authorized by section 5703 (b) of title 5, United 8 States Code, for persons in the Government service employed 9 intermittently. 10 SEC. 3. The Commission shall conduct a study of all 11 proposals to create a better understanding and knowledge of 12 Negro history and culture and shall make such recommenda13 tions to the President and to the Congress with respect to 14 legislative enactments which it deems appropriate to carry 15 out such proposals. Such study shall include consideration 16 of the following: 17 (1) The steps necessary for research, collection, and 18 the preservation of historical materials heretofore uncollected 19 dealing with Negro history and culture. 20 (2) The steps necessary to compile and catalog 21 existing materials. 22 (3) Examination of the possibilities of the establishment 23 of a Museum of Negro History and Culture or a Center of 24 Negro History and Culture. 4 1 (4) Consideration where such a museum or center 2 should be located, whether it should be independent or a 3 part of an existing establishment, and how it should be 4 financed. 5 (5) Consideration of possible methods of disseminating 6 such data so that the information can be best integrated into 7 the mainstream of American education and life. 8 SEC. 4. The Commission shall submit a comprehensive 9 report of its findings and recommendations to the President 10 and to the Congress not later than twelve months after the 11 date of enactment of this Act. The Commission shall cease to 12 exist thirty days after such report is submitted. Hon. LISTER HILL, THE LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS, Chairman, Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, DEAR SENATOR HILL: This is in answer to your recent request for the Library's views on S. 2979, a bill to provide for the establishment of a Commission on Negro History and Culture. The Library of Congress, as you know, is the repository of one of the nation's most significant collections of books and manuscripts relating to Negro history and culture. I favor the establishment of such a Commission to study means to further insure that this important segment of our Nation's history is preserved for posterity as well as to emphasize the importance of Negro history and culture on the American scene. If your Committee desires additional information, please let me know. I am enclosing a report prepared by the Library's Manuscript Division on S. 2979. Sincerely yours, Enclosure. L. QUINCY MUMFORD, A REPORT ON S. 2979, TO ESTABLISH A COMMISSION ON NEGRO HISTORY AND CULTURE [Prepared by the Staff of the Manuscript Division, Library of Congress] The subject of Negro history is not being neglected at present by libraries and other research institutions. On the contrary, a considerable effort is going into the collection of research materials for the study of Negro life. These materials are the objects of active scholarly interest, from which a number of specialized studies may be expected, leading inevitably toward sound general history. At the Library of Congress, for example, the records of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People are among the most actively studied manuscript materials in its custody. The collection of such materials and their preparation for use are highly professional activities. Existing institutions capable of performing these activities should be strengthened. Such a course of action is preferable to the establishment of new institutions. Although a considerable amount of collection and research in the area of Negro history and culture is underway, the establishment of a Commission on Negro History and Culture, as proposed in S. 2979, may serve to highlight problems and dramatize possible remedies. The following commentary takes up each of the responsibilities to be assigned to the proposed Commission: (1) The steps necessary for research, collection, and the preservation of historical materials heretofore uncollected dealing with Negro history and culture. Comment. The existence of major collections for Negro history at Howard University, the New York Public Library, the Library of Congress, and elsewhere indicates progress. There are, nevertheless, inherent problems in the collection of materials. The Library of Congress, for example, along with other research institutions, seeks manuscript materials of individuals and organizations that are of permanent historical significance. But libraries cannot, of course, command the total cooperation that would insure that all such materials will be deposited in the proper repository. Collecting manuscripts in the private sector (as opposed to state and federal records that are generally controlled by statutory provision) depends on such variables as the good will and sense of history of those in legal possession of the materials. A Commission, as provided in the Bill, might encourage private owners to place their collections in public or private institutions capable of properly administering them. Once in a suitable repository, these collections will eventually fulfill their proper historical function. (2) The steps necessary to compile and catalog existing materials. Comment. As pointed out by one of the panelists at the Conference on Negro History and Culture held in the Rayburn House Office Building on February 15, several hundred repositories have collections important for Negro history. Every reasonable effort is at present being made to encourage these repositories to catalog and otherwise describe these collections in order that they may be entered in the Library of Congress' National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC), 5 volumes to date, containing descriptions of 18,417 manuscript collections in 616 repositories. Approximately 2,000 entries are accumulated each year, and a new volume is added. All the descriptions of collections appearing in this book catalog are thoroughly indexed with respect to names and subjects, as well as by repository. In spite of this impressive record, there is much that remains to be done before this national inventory of manuscript collections can be said to be current. If a Commission is established, as proposed in S. 2979, one useful service it might perform is to encourage full and reliable reports to NUCMC. The preparation of specialized guides and bibliographies pertaining to existing materials should also be forwarded. The National Archives has been gathering data for publication concerning manuscript collections for the study of Africa. (3) Examination of the possibilities of the establishment of a Museum of Negro History and Culture or a Center of Negro History and Culture. (4) Consideration where such a museum or center should be located, whether it should be independent or a part of an existing establishment, and how it should be financed. Comment.-3 and 4. The introductory remarks indicate that existing institutions with a proven capability of performing highly professional activities should be strengthened. (5) Consideration of possible methods of disseminating such data so that the information can be best integrated into the mainstream of American education and life. Comment.-Because of their unique character, and because they have, or should have, a unity and integrity of their own, manuscript collections can never be disseminated, nor should they ever be dispersed. Although they are often used in exhibits, the main purpose of historical manuscripts is to provide the raw material for informed, professional historical research. The need for a wide dissemination of materials for this purpose can readily be served by means of photocopying. The Presidential Papers Program in the Library of Congress, at the present time, has completed the filming of 17 of its 23 collections of the papers of the Presidents, and work on the remaining collections is well advanced. Distribution of these films through sale and interlibrary loan has been nationwide, and, in fact, worldwide. The effects of this program are certainly beginning to be reflected in the histories being written today. If established, a Commission, therefore may wish to find means of supporting a broad program of filming and distributing microfilm copies of the more significant collections having a bearing on Negro history and culture. Senator PELL. We have quite a list of witnesses who, I believe, represent most of the spectrum of thought and opinion on this subject and its importance. It is my hope that this hearing record will become a useful document to further kindle the interest of our Nation in a lost portion of its rich heritage. I announced this hearing with a statement which spoke about the work of the Foundation on the Arts and Humanities and ask that at this point a copy of my statement, given on the floor of the Senate a few days ago, be inserted in the record at this point. (The statement referred to follows:) [From the Congressional Record, July 19, 1968] SPECIAL SUBCOMMITTEE ON ARTS AND HUMANITIES-NOTICE OF HEARINGS Mr. PELL. Mr. President, I wish to announce that the Special Subcommittee on Arts and Humanities of the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare will hold hearings on S. 2979, introduced by the Senator from Pennsylvania [Mr. Scott], the Senator from Massachusetts [Mr. Brooke], the Senator from New Jersey [Mr. Case], and the Senator from New York [Mr. Javits]. The bill would establish a Presidential Commission on Negro History and Culture which will study the means by which all Americans can come to a better understanding of the contribution of the Negro to American life; in addition, it would recommend ways for Federal and private agencies to encourage and support creation of new knowledge and dissemination of existing knowledge of Negro history and culture. I believe that the purpose of the proposed legislation is wholly laudable and long overdue. As Prof. C. Eric Lincoln of Union Theological Seminary has noted: "People who are proud of their history are proud of themselves. They feel that they belong. Negroes have not been included in American history." The result of this exclusion from history is that Negro high school students can ask such questions as "Why doesn't the Negro have a country to call his own?" Textbooks, teachers, newspapers, and the popular media have not made the American Negro aware that this is their country to which they have made important historical and cultural contributions. Indeed, the extent of this lack of knowledge is demonstrated by the fact that the Xerox Co. has undertaken to dramatize our ignorance of the Negro in America's past by sponsoring a series of seven national programs by CBS News on "The Negro in America.” But it is not just to give Negroes pride that the country needs a better understanding of Negro history and culture. There are too many white Americans, young and old, who have the notion that they and their white forebears made this country. Well, Mr. President, they had some help-help which some find it comfortable to forget and easy to ignore. Until white Americans have a better understanding of the factual, unequivocal, demonstrated and undeniable contribution to American life of American citizens who happen to be black, the country will continue to be enchained by racial tension. I have already requested a number of Federal agencies to report on their existing activities which disseminate knowledge of Negro history and culture and to indicate ways in which such activities could be expanded. It is gratifying to note that there are already fine programs now being conducted. And I am especially proud of the record already made by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Although a relatively new agency, the Endowment, whose budget this body cut to a token level 2 weeks ago, has been helping to create better understanding between white and Negro citizens for 2 years. In fiscal 1967 and 1968 the Endowment spent just under $1 million in grants aimed at the disadvantaged, primarily the Negro, of which approximately $300,000 was spent directly upon dissemination of new and existing knowledge about Negro history and culture. With endowment support, seven colleges and universities will hold workshops for college faculty from all over the Nation on the materials available for courses on Negro history, literature, and culture. With endowment support, another university is offering further education in Negro history to high school teachers, and another is offering longer term instruction for college faculty in the teaching of courses in Negro culture. Another college, with endowment support, is completing a slide collection in African art which will be a useful resource in the broad subject of the Negro heritage. With endowment support an association of 12 colleges will identify teaching resources for courses in Negro culture. Also with endowment support, an educational television station will disseminate a series of programs on the Negro's search for identity through art. Cooperation between a major State university and the newspapers in that State, one objective of which is to provide expert knowledge on Negro culture, is the purpose of a recent endowment grant. The endowment has also helped expand a Museum of African Art and History less than four blocks from this Chamber; as a result of the endowment grant, 10 times the amount of the grant was contributed to the museum by private foundations and others. Other endowment grants have gone for research into Negro history and culture—to create new knowledge of the Negro past and present. These activities of the endowment have not been aimed at creating a false, speedy poultice for our racial problems; they have been aimed at exercising with responsibility the mandate the Congress gave it to support the creation of new and dissemination of existing knowledge about the humanities in the national interest. I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record an article recently published in the New York Times about some of the endowment's grants. It is the subcommittee's intent to conduct hearings on S. 2979 next Tuesday, July 23, 1968, in the Labor and Public Welfare Committee hearing room. There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows: "A $70,000 GRANT FOR NEGRO STUDY-WORKSHOPS TO BE CONDUCTED IN SUMMER AT SEVEN COLLEGES "(By Nan Robertson) "WASHINGTON, July 16.-In response to rapidly growing interest in Negro history and culture, the National Endowment for the Humanities is awarding $70,000 to seven colleges for summer workshops on the topic. "Participants will be teachers from colleges and universities across the Nation. "The institutions chosen for the grants are particularly well equipped by faculty expertise and source materials on Negro history and culture to offer the workshops, according to the endowment group. |