SAA Statement on State and Territorial Archives and Records Repositories

September 16, 2025—Budgetary threats to state and territorial archives, records management centers, and historical records repositories are increasing across the United States. These cuts risk long-term harm to our states' archives, libraries, and historical societies. Government institutions are entrusted by the people with the management of the records of their governments and communities, and the tax-paying public has an expectation that state records will be appropriately acquired, transferred, managed, made accessible, and disposed of. Without adequate funding, state and territorial institutions will not be able to carry out these core duties and will fall short of serving the people.

Recent examples of cuts to state historical records repositories include the termination of 17 employees of the State Archives of Missouri, the termination of five of the six staff in the Indiana Historical Bureau, and the planned closure of the State Historical Research Center facility in Iowa City, Iowa, which necessitates a hurried transfer of a substantial amount of holdings to other nongovernmental organizations.

Government agencies, including archives and historical agencies, exist to serve the people of their state. Taxpayers have invested in their state's institutions, and the public rightly expects that state operations will be carried out in a transparent manner. Core to government transparency is a robust records management apparatus and the infrastructure necessary to make records available to the public. Changes to the management of records and decisions to dispose of or transfer records for which the state is no longer the appropriate steward must be communicated clearly and in due time to the public. 

At this time, when historical agencies are charged with preserving vast quantities of physical records, managing exponentially increasing amounts of electronic records, providing increasingly complex security to ensure a trustworthy record, and serving a public with greater expectations for access to digital content, we must substantially reinvest in our public archives, libraries, and historical institutions. The lead up to the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 2026 presents our governments with once-in-a-generation opportunities to stand up in support of the historical record. The Society of American Archivists urges our elected leaders and public servants to increase appropriations for state and territorial archives and historical agencies and meet their statutory mandates to appropriately steward and provide access to governmental records.