OAH Condemns Violations of Presidential Records Act

The OAH has joined fourteen organizations in condemning former President Donald J. Trump and his administration's reported extensive and repeated violations of the Presidential Records Act (PRA) of 1978. The American Historical Association authored and issued the statement on February 9, 2022, noting that  “Historians, journalists, and other researchers depend on these records to educate the public and inform future administrations....These acts of destruction and noncompliance with the Presidential Records Act demonstrate blatant contempt for both the rule of law and the principles of transparency and accountability that constitute the bedrock of our nation’s democracy.”

Read the full pdf of the statement here.

Signatories to the AHA statement include (as of 2/9/2022):

• American Society for Environmental History
• American Society of Church History
• American Studies Association
• Association of Research Libraries
• Association of University Presses
• Forum on Early-Modern Empires and Global Interactions
• National Coalition for History
• National Council on Public History
• Organization of American Historians
• Radical History Review
• Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media
• Society of Civil War Historians
• Social Welfare History Group
• Urban History Association