Welcome Remarks at the Archivist's Awards Ceremony
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Welcome to the Archivist鈥檚 Awards Ceremony! And Happy Public Service Recognition Week to everyone here in person and across the 威尼斯人娱乐场!
Since 1985, the first week of May has been set aside to honor the men and women who serve our nation as Federal, state, county, and local government employees. I鈥檇 like to take this opportunity right now to thank all of you for your passion and dedication to serving NARA鈥檚 mission and the American people.
Because the good work of this agency takes place in all our facilities across the nation, we sent NARA executives to Valmeyer, Lee鈥檚 Summit, Denver, San Francisco, Fort Worth, Seattle, as well as the Carter and Nixon Presidential Libraries and the Ford Presidential Museum so they can congratulate Archivist鈥檚 Award winners in person. I wish I could be there as well, and fortunately the technology allows us to go live to these facilities and witness the staff receiving their awards. 听
This year the ceremony will give our customers a chance to sing your praises. Just about every day I receive comments praising your work, so we are going to incorporate some of those statements in today鈥檚 program. You will be hearing directly from the people who benefit from the work that you do. We will have videos interspersed throughout the ceremony.
The Archivist鈥檚 Awards Ceremony is important to me. This event honors the remarkable work that happens at this agency every single day. And it gives me the opportunity to highlight some of your amazing accomplishments.
You disposed of a LOT of temporary records; expedited requests for World War II military service verifications; declassified and released 113,000 pages of withheld records; transferred the electronic Presidential records of the Obama administration; planned and executed the Obama Presidential Library temporary site; cut the aging rate of records at Archives II by 45 percent; ensured the protection and repair of records after a fire incident; and closed the 10 oldest FOIA requests. And these are just a few examples! You will find out more about these incredible accomplishments as the ceremony continues.
This year, we have 66 nominations for awards. Today, we recognize our colleagues who gave their time and talents to make the 威尼斯人娱乐场 a great place to work. We recognize colleagues who went above and beyond expectations and succeeded in ways not intended.
Before we get started on this year鈥檚 awards, I would like to take a moment to remember our six colleagues who passed away this past year: Kahlil Chism, Terryll. Lumpkin, Joseph Doucette, Jerry H. Griffith, Marilyn Redman, and Cathryn Westfeldt. Let鈥檚 acknowledge their lasting contributions to the work of the 威尼斯人娱乐场.
Thank you.
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Closing Remarks
Congratulations to this year鈥檚 recipients. And I thank you each of you who protect, release, move, store, process, dispose, transfer, declassify, exhibit, digitize, and promote our records and support our staff in all that they do.
It takes every one of us working together as a team in pursuit of NARA鈥檚 mission to successfully provide access to Federal records. Especially in times of budgetary uncertainty, it is important to remind ourselves of the importance of our mission. Democracy depends upon the work that we do. Thank you for your service.
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