Marco Rubio is now minding the “store” of documents

On Feb. 7, 2025, President 45/47 summarily fired Colleen Shogan, Director of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). She joins the company of thousands of other federal workers who have been fired without cause.

In such a case, NARA has a deputy archivist, and he was expected to fulfill Shogan’s duties, but that person recently retired. A staffer at NARA believes that the deputy and other senior archives staff were forced out.

Archivist groups and historians were understandably upset by the news of Shogan’s firing and issued formal statements about the importance of archives in our country. The Society of Southwest Archivists said that “freedom to access our documentary heritage is key to open discussion in a nation that has enshrined those ideals in its founding documents.”

The American Historical Association said it best: “Democracy rests on the rule of law. And the history of the United States rests on unfettered access to the archival record.”

So, where does this leave the current leadership of NARA? According to the Associated Press on Feb. 26, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been named Acting Archivist in Shogan’s place. The staff webpage of NARA confirms this.

Those who are left at NARA are concerned about who will next be at the helm. The hallmark of good leadership at NARA has always been nonpartisanship, but with 45/47’s penchant for loyalty, it is doubtful that nonpartisanship will be a criterion for appointment.

The AP article describes the danger of a poor choice: “The risk is that an archivist whose primary loyalty is to Trump could be biased, leaving behind a skewed picture of history for future generations.”

NARA calls itself “the nation's record keeper. . . Those valuable records are preserved and are available to you, whether you want to see if they contain clues about your family’s history, need to prove a veteran’s military service, or are researching a historical topic that interests you.”

The point of NARA is to safeguard the truth, to enable governmental transparency, and to hold power accountable. Do any of these functions sound like they comport with the current administration’s way of doing business? What if 45/47 directs Mr. Rubio to dispose of records that show illegal deeds?

What are future generations likely to learn about the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol if 45/47’s national archivist is told to say it was “a day of love?” Will that person be directed to paint the current overhauling of agencies as one that made citizens’ lives better? How’s that working out so far?

Of course, the re-president wanted to fire Shogan. Maybe he’ll want to clear space within NARA for a mini casino. Wouldn’t that be quite the addition on the National Mall?

In related news

45/47 recently requested that the original Declaration of Independence be placed in the Oval Office. This document resides in the rotunda of the National Archives, alongside the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. A million visitors file past these documents every year, a testament to the power they continue to hold in the American imagination. They define us. They belong to us. They remind us of what it means to be “we the people.”

The Declaration has resided at NARA since 1952 and is now in an argon gas-filled case.  When I attended the Modern Archives Institute at NARA in 2014, we got to see the inner workings of NARA. Of course, we also saw the Declaration, which is in a fragile state. The lighting in the rotunda is now kept low because regular light levels were fading the ink.

To ask that a delicate object be moved will cost the taxpayers. Placing it in the Oval Office assures that it will not be treated with due care and will cause further degradation. This idea was another vanity project that struck fear into White House aides, and they were able to dissuade the president from his scheme. A historical copy will be used in 45/47’s office instead.

Crisis averted. If only that were the largest issue we had to worry about.

Joan Zwagerman writes from Storm Lake.