Chris Schulz Published

National Archivist Visit Highlights Importance Of History To Maintaining Democracy

National Archivist Colleen Shogan, right, speaks with Lisa DeFrank-Cole at West Virginia University Oct. 2, 2024.
Chris Schulz/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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On the 6th floor of the Downtown Library on West Virginia University’s Morgantown campus, the West Virginia and Regional History Center preserves and provides access to the records that document history and culture in the Mountain State.

There are books, of course, but also photographs, newspapers and genealogies. 

“The records that we have hold the stories of the people of West Virginia, and they reflect the people that live here,” said Lori Hostuttler, director of the West Virginia and Regional History Center at WVU Libraries. “Through access and preserving those they really help us to examine the past so that we can be proactive in the present and plan for the future.” 

Hostuttler said the records cover all aspects of history and culture in the state, and that for every national event that is taught in history classes, West Virginians participated.

“Something that I say to folks a lot of the times is that there’s really no national history without local history,” she said.

Which is why Hostuttler said it was an honor to have Colleen Shogan, the archivist of the United States, visit WVU’s campus last week.

Shogan has many personal connections to the state, including several family members who are WVU alumni, but she came to view the university’s extensive regional and national record collections, as well as to meet with students and give a public talk. 

She said WVU is an example of the National Archives’ more than 13 billion physical records not being restricted to a few buildings in Washington, D.C.

“The records are really the property of the American people, so my job is to figure out ways in which we can provide as much access as possible of those records to as many Americans as want to see them and want to interact with them,” Shogan said.

The archivist is the head and chief administrator of the National Archives and Records Administration. Although Shogan is the 11th person to hold the position, she is the first woman to do so. 

“In some ways I kind of wonder what took so long,” she said to laughter. “I’m happy I’m here, for sure, and I’m very honored by it. But it’s almost kind of crazy to me that it took so long.” 

Analysis from the AFL-CIO and the Society of American Archivists shows that women represent more than 80 percent of librarians and more than 70 percent of archivists in the United States. Shogan said women – and women of color – are increasingly in leadership roles across the country.

“When I travel around, I see that that demographic of leadership is changing,” she said. “That’s really heartening to me, because that matters when you have people that are working in this field, and they can see that there’s a pathway for advancement.”

U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Dr. Colleen Shogan, Archivist of the United States, visit West Virginia University (WVU) in Morgantown, W.Va. on Wednesday, October 2, 2024.

Courtesy of Sen. Shelley Moore Capito

Shogan plans to display the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution – recognizing womens’ right to vote – in the National Archives’ rotunda, as well as the Emancipation Proclamation alongside other founding documents such as the Constitution and Bill of Rights. 

A big focus of her talk at WVU was on the importance of archives and records to the nation’s democracy. Shogan said the National Archives exist so that all Americans have access to understanding something about our past. 

“But we also like to say at the National Archives, we do it to preserve democracy, because records provide accountability and they provide transparency about decisions that have been made by federal agencies, by your government, by presidents, by members of Congress, by Supreme Court justices or judges,” she said. “Those are all records and without accountability, without transparency, you cannot have a strong democracy that is a fundamental component, a key component, of any democracy. So we like to say at the National Archives, we are not just a nice thing to have to appreciate history. We are a necessity.”

After the talk, Shogan told WVPB that in an increasingly polarized country, access not only to archives and records but also public servants is crucial to combat misinformation and distrust.

“If you’re going to be a public servant, you can’t just be in the corner and not be willing to interact with the public, answer questions from the media. You need to be out there explaining some of these challenging decisions that we have to make when you’re in a position like I am running a federal agency like the National Archives,” she said. “So I welcome that dialog. I welcome that exchange. And we also take a lot of pride at the National Archives, doing our work in a nonpartisan fashion. Our goal is to share the records with as many Americans as possible, and then allow Americans to make their own judgments and their own choices and decisions based upon those records.”

Political science graduate student Chloe Hernandez said it’s personally motivating to see a woman in such a prominent position.

“Most of my professors are men. Most of the people I work with in D.C. are men,” she said. “Seeing another woman is just so inspiring, because it kind of puts a different perspective in that we are all capable of doing this, and the sky’s the limit. Just work hard and you’ll achieve your goals.”

Hernandez said the message of access for all also resonated with her, and she is now motivated to look up her father’s military records. 

“More students should take time to look at the National Archives,” she said. “Not in the sense of like, ‘Oh, it’s the school field trip,’ but more so just learning about our history and specific history for each person.”

The National Archives are gearing up for the country’s 250th anniversary in 2026. That includes more travel around the country by Shogan and more importantly, more access to the nation’s founding documents for all Americans.