Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Brian Martin
February 21, 1997
(301) 279-9697

History Associates Incorporated

On February 10-12, 1997, History Associates Incorporated convened a special conference on "Documenting the Digital Age." Cosponsored by the National Science Foundation, MCI Communications Corporation, and Microsoft, the conference brought together (by invitation only) key figures from the academic, archival, corporate, government, legal, and technology communities to examine practical methods for preserving the history and records of the Internet as well as to explore the ways organizations protect, preserve, and use electronic records generally. Although there has been and will continue to be substantial discussion on these topics in various forums, this diverse group of leading professionals from private and public institutions considered different priorities and partnerships for moving forward with this important work. James Gardner served as HAI's project director for the conference. HAI's president, Philip Cantelon, and deputy director for Information Resources Management, Birgit Ireland, chaired sessions. SHFG members Michael Miller and Kenneth Thibodeau from the National Archives also contributed to the dialogue. The conference was videotaped, and the papers, comments, and a conference report are available on the conference Web page (http://dtda.mci.com).

In mid-December 1996, the Treasury Department contracted with History Associates to conduct research and prepare a study of the department's role in the identification, seizure, and disposition of assets appropriated by the Nazi German government or transferred by victims of Nazism to neutral countries. A team of nine HAI researchers headed by executive vice president Ruth Dudgeon reviewed materials at the National Archives in College Park and the Roosevelt and Truman Presidential Libraries. Logistical support and reference advice from various NARA officials greatly facilitated HAI's research. As part of an interagency response to the growing public interest in the ultimate fate of gold and other assets which the Nazis looted from conquered nations and oppressed individuals, HAI had only a month and half to complete this project. At the end of January 1997, HAI met Treasury's tight deadline, delivering a 50-page narrative history and a lengthy chronology detailing the department's participation in United States efforts to track and recover looted assets between the late 1930s and the 1950s. HAI also prepared a box-level inventory describing approximately 2,000 cubic feet of records reviewed by the team. The Treasury Department anticipates releasing HAI's work in conjunction with the research and analysis compiled by other government agencies.