How Much Destruction of History is OK with You?

By Jan Hillegas

Appointed members of the State Records Committee (SRC) and the Local Government Records Committee (LGRC) regulate “retention periods” for Mississippi’s public records. Some agency records are “scheduled” for permanent preservation in agencies’ offices or the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Some are approved for “disposal” after specified time periods.

Pressures for “disposal” come from clerks and other record-keepers who want shelf space for current and future records. Many courthouses and agency offices are crowded, and supervisors and legislators haven’t provided sufficient space to serve past, present and future needs and interests.

For years, I’ve sent faxes to the history and other departments of Mississippi colleges to notify them of upcoming meetings of the SRC and LGRC and what records are proposed for non-permanent “scheduling.”

Only once or twice has anyone joined me in making objections or suggestions about the proposed schedules. In the past, the committees have sometimes discussed my concerns and made a change or two.

Meetings of the State Records Committee are supposed to have five members – five people to decide which records of Mississippi’s government agencies will survive for use in historical research, long-term studies, lawsuits, or any other purpose.

Mississippians and record users from anywhere lost out at the July 20 SRC meeting, and I wasn’t able to do a thing about it.

In the “public comment” period, I told the three SRC members present that I was concerned with the vagueness of some of the instructions for disposal of records: “purge when needed,” “until updated” (for self-studies), “administrative need.” None of them even suggested discussing clear standards instead of those invitations to abuse or poor judgment. The three were not concerned that there is no definition for “non-substantive material.”

Most of the records approved July 20 for disposal, instead of preservation, were records of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH) itself. Of the three State Records Committee members present and approving all the schedules as suggested by the MDAH staff, one member – also the Chair – is the Director of MDAH.

Governor Barbour has never made an appointment for his slot. The State Auditor’s representative had notified the committee at the last meeting that he couldn’t attend July 20, but the meeting was held knowing only three members at most could be present.

Among the MDAH holdings approved for disposal were records of the SRC’s counterpart office and committee: Local Government Records. In vain I said to the SRC that those of us who worked years to get the LGRC (thinking we were promoting preservation and research) didn’t do that work so that the LGR Office’s own records could be thrown away. The SRC also approved getting rid of evidence of past approved destruction of State records.

Visitor registers at the Old Capitol Museum and the Governor’s Mansion will be “history” after 5 and 2 years, respectively. Decades-old information about licensees of the Banking and Consumer Finance Department will be gone. Etcetera. And this is just from one meeting.

Several years ago, the Mississippi House’s Judiciary A Committee voted to look at the State’s public records scheduling laws and policies. That vote is the last I ever heard of it.

Is anyone who cares reading this? Or when, one of these years, we somehow get an alert and active citizenry that is not cowed by elected and appointed officials who become gatekeepers and despoilers of our supposed democracy, will there be any public records left for the use of our students, researchers, history buffs?

Jan Hillegas researches Mississippi family histories, documents historical events, indexes records, and in other ways works to make our present and our children’s future better. She may be reached at newmsian at hotmail dot com or P.O. Box 3234, Jackson, MS 39207.