The AHA has released a statement condemning “the dismantling of federal departments and agencies through the indiscriminate termination of federal employees and elimination of programs, including historical offices.” “Closing federal history offices, rolling back protections granted by the Freedom of Information Act, firing archivists, and dismantling departments responsible for education, the humanities, arts, and sciences will render it impossible for Americans to learn about and from the past,” the statement reads. “A scorched-earth approach to the federal bureaucracy will leave our nation without the records and accumulated knowledge to make well-informed decisions.”

March 24, 2025

American Historical Association Condemns Indiscriminate Cuts to the Federal Government

Federal agencies—and the historians who staff them—preserve, record, and interpret the history of the United States, serving the public and supporting the work of policymakers. The American Historical Association (AHA) condemns the dismantling of federal departments and agencies through the indiscriminate termination of federal employees and elimination of programs, including historical offices.

Nearly every unit of the federal government depends on the work of historians who provide resources essential to research and education. They document, analyze, and share histories of war, military service, diplomacy, and nearly every aspect of domestic policy. However, they are now on the front lines of an unprecedented assault that threatens to undermine the basic functions of government, from national security to the national park system, the environment to economic development, transportation and housing to education—nearly every aspect of civic life, from the highly visible to the quietly essential.

The list of agencies affected by sweeping executive orders and cuts applied by the Department of Government Efficiency continues to grow. The National Archives and Records Administration, including the National Historical Records and Publications Commission; the Institute of Museum and Library Services; the National Park Service; and the Department of Defense: these and many other vital agencies employ and support the work of historians and interpret history for the public. Our nation’s museums and libraries provide a constructive gateway for the public to engage with the past—yet the Institute for Museum and Library Services is now targeted for dismantling.

Consider for example the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). Archivists and historians work with the three branches of government and their agencies to identify, preserve, and ensure the accessibility of materials subject to the Federal Records Act and Presidential Records Act. That work ensures current and future access to our nation’s records for purposes including historical research and genealogy, consultation by federal agencies and policymakers, and records requests from military veterans and their families applying for crucial benefits. Members of NARA’s senior staff, who possess decades of institutional knowledge, have been terminated or forced to resign—along with dozens of recently hired employees—while budget uncertainty has required canceling an application cycle for projects that ensure online public discovery of historical records.

The intended demise of the Department of Education provides another alarming example. Established by Congress, this agency works to ensure equal access to learning opportunities, collects and shares essential data on the nation’s schools, distributes financial aid, and provides critical funding, guidelines, and research. Shuttering its National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) will eliminate data collection and research that guide educational policy and are essential to future scholarship in the history of education. Educators, policymakers, and parents rely on NCES data to measure student learning, track changes over time, and find places for improvement in public education. Students in fields that require deep knowledge of global challenges—including history, business, and national security—benefit from the Title VI programs and Fulbright-Hays grants now under threat.

Closing federal history offices, rolling back protections granted by the Freedom of Information Act, firing archivists, and dismantling departments responsible for education, the humanities, arts, and sciences will render it impossible for Americans to learn about and from the past. Historians and researchers from all fields will lack the data—from the military, the US Census, and innumerable other sources—essential to providing a full picture of US history. Shuttering history and archival offices will foreclose the benefits of learning from the past to help inform the future.

Good policy requires good history. We recognize that the AHA’s singular focus on history describes only a portion of the chaos that ensues when those entrusted with our nation’s institutions assume a mandate to move fast and break things. Chartered by Congress in 1889 “to sustain and enhance the work of historians,” the American Historical Association recognizes that haphazard disruptions to federal services impede historical research, undercut historic preservation, and interfere with history education. A scorched-earth approach to the federal bureaucracy will leave our nation without the records and accumulated knowledge to make well-informed decisions. That historical foundation is essential to the nation’s health and prosperity.