New Year Update for DC Archives: New Commission, DC Secretary, Building

Friends of the DC Archives

For Release: Friday, January 11, 2019

Contact: Bill Rice

New Year Update for DC Archives: 

New Commission, DC Secretary, Building

The District’s Archives was the beneficiary late last year of several legislative and executive actions that will help bring high-level attention, new leadership and a new Archives facility to the District.

“Thanks to Mayor Bowser and Councilmembers Bandon Todd and David Grosso, 2019 promises to be a good one for the DC Archives,” said Fynnette Eaton, head of the Friends of the DC Archives (FDCA), the group that advocates for a state-of-the-art Archives and records management system for the District.

The DC Council’s and Mayor Bowser’s actions were:

New Commission. Under the leadership of Ward 4 Councilmember Brandon Todd, with the support of at-large Councilmember David Grosso, the Council established a high-level 13 member, Council-confirmed commission to examine the city’s archives.

Through the efforts of interested citizens and FDCA the bill was strengthened to make sure the commission’s authority covers all DC archives, libraries and records management. These include the Council, Courts, and independent agencies, DCPS, UDC, etc…

New Secretary. The Mayor appointed Kim Bassett as the new Secretary of the District, whose agencies include the Archives. Ms. Bassett brings to her new position a deep background in politics, government relations and non-profit advocacy, including positions with DC Vote and The Stephen Case Foundation.

New Building. The Mayor and her Administration acted decisively for the Archives by selecting UDC’s Van Ness campus as the site for the long-anticipated new Archives building. Bassett’s background will be invaluable in her management of this major project and meet the overall challenge of bringing modern records management to DC agencies.

Eaton added: “This is going to be a busy year for us and the Archives. We look forward to working with Secretary. Bassett and the new commission, including making sure it receives adequate funding, and that the UDC site is suitably evaluated and developed, as we all work to make our Archives state-of-the-art.”