#aotus

Gray-bellied Night Monkey (Aotus lemurinus), family Aotidae, Colombia

A group of Spix's night monkeys (Aotus vociferans) in Sucumbíos, Ecuador

Dr. Colleen Shogan takes the oath of office, assuming the role of Archivist of the United States today. She is the 11th Archivist and the first woman to permanently hold this position.

Shogan will maintain two official presences on social media. Follow her at @aotus11_shogan on Instagram and Twitter.

Shogan Confirmed by U.S. Senate as 11th Archivist of the United States

Press Release: Wednesday, May 10, 2023

The United States Senate voted today to confirm Dr. Colleen Shogan as the 11th Archivist of the United States.

Nominated by President Biden on August 3, 2022, Shogan will begin her tenure as the head of the National Archives and Records Administration next week. She will be the first woman to hold the position permanently, succeeding David S. Ferriero, who retired in April 2022.

Most recently, Shogan served as Senior Vice President and Director of the David M. Rubenstein Center at the White House Historical Association. She previously worked in the United States Senate and as a senior executive at the Library of Congress. Shogan was the Vice Chair of the Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commission and the Chair of the Board of Directors at the Women’s Suffrage National Monument Foundation.

A native of the Pittsburgh area, Shogan holds a BA in Political Science from Boston College and a Ph.D. in American Politics from Yale University, where she was a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellow. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the Order of the Cross and Crown, and the Literary Society of Washington, DC.

Press Release: https://www.archives.gov/press/press-releases/2023/nr23-31

Today NARA is releasing the entirety of our digital preservation framework for public comment. This digital preservation framework consists of our approach to determining risks faced by electronic files, and our plans for preserving different types of file formats. The public is encouraged to join the discussion, September 16 through November 1, 2019, on GitHub.

Read the full post on the AOTUS blog.

Three-Striped owl monkeys (Aotus trivirgatus) in Zoo Zagreb, Croatia

"Children at Dinner Table, Christmas," Pine Ridge Reservation SD, 1935, NARA ID 12464694.

Mandatory Xmas Cheer: Toxic Positivity circa 1933 By Miriam Kleiman, Public Affairs

Office of Indian Affairs "The Mission Indian," newsletter, 12/1933, NARA ID 176414689.

The government's efforts to forcibly assimilate Native Americans included mandatory Christmas activities, as outlined by John W. Dady, Superintendent of the Mission Indian Agency. To help children achieve the "full measure of happiness and merriment" Dady advised:

MANDATORY GRATITUDE to:

"Our wonderful President who is doing his best to bring back... prosperity and good will."

"Our sympathetic, thoughtful and courageous Commissioner of Indian Affairs who is doing his part to make the Indian people happy."

And to those on the reservations for the "commendable spirit of co-operation... in our efforts to make you happy, contented and successful."

XMAS MERRIMENT ON RESERVATIONS to include:

A community Christmas tree "on every Reservation"

A "committee of women" to handle decorations and gifts

"Singing groups" to sing Christmas carols "thus expressing in song and music, our joy and happiness at the Holy and Merry festival of Christmas."

Christmas at Rosebud Reservation Indian Hospital (SD), 1945, NARA ID 41089564

"Bringing in the Christmas Tree", NARA ID 35295411.

Mission Indian newsletter 12/1937, NARA ID 176415060.

John W. Dady, "Dady has entered the California Mission Indian work with intentions to carry out the 'new deal' promised for Native Americans by John Collier." LA Times, 8/3/1933.

Such instruction was part of a "reeducation"/assimilation campaign that included the forced, systematic removal of Native children from their families starting in 1879. A 1969 Senate report underscored the results. Indian Education: A National Tragedy, a National Challenge (AKA "the Kennedy Report", Special Subcommittee on Indian Education).

The National Archives holds hundreds of thousands of records relating to Native Americans, including every treaty, records from the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Indian Census Rolls. Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero has stressed the importance of making these records widely available in order to "raise and increase awareness of Native American history." See his ongoing blog series that "acknowledges the ancestral lands on which the National Archives’ buildings are situated across the country." The Archivist explained why this is a priority:

I grew up in Massachusetts, a state with lots of Native American heritage, and used to walk the edge of a local lake collecting arrowheads. So it was from childhood on that I had an interest in those that were here first. Of all the things we have custody of and are responsible for—even the Charters of Freedom—I believe the treaties with the Indian nations are the most valuable documents in terms of reading the original language and the government promises, and realizing what was never delivered. I have had opportunities, as members of tribal elders or tribal lawyers have come to visit, to join them in the vault as they experience the same things...

Now, many more descendants of the original peoples can examine the names and seals and read the words set down by their ancestors so long ago. But more than that, the treaties are still relevant today as tribal leaders and lawyers continue to use them to assert their rights in court, such as in cases over land and water rights. With such increased access to these records, we plan to continue and increase our educational outreach to Native American communities, and to raise and increase awareness of Native American history.

See also:

Native American Treaties Now Online for the First Time

Online: Photos from the Bureau of Indian Affairs

Administrative Records Related to American Indian Schools

Student Case Files from Non-Reservation Boarding Schools

Navigating Record Group 75: BIA Schools

The Power of American Indian Boarding School Records, Pieces of History

Supreme Court Justice Breyer at the National Archives for Formal Swearing In Ceremony of Archivist David S. Ferriero, 1/13/2010. NARA ID 210375521

Justice Breyer Swears in Archivist David S. Ferriero 1/13/2010, NARA ID 210375533

President Obama with SCOTUS Breyer and Family 3/2/2011, NARA ID 176545928.

SCOTUS Justice Breyer to Retire

Swearing-In of David S. Ferriero as Archivist

See the Archivist's remarks at this event

The Supreme Court and the Peril of Politics, 12/9/2021. National Archives YouTube Channel. SCOTUS Breyer discusses his book, The Authority of the Court and the Peril of Politics.