Hands off the libraries, archives and museums!
The words were written by a Lutheran pastor years before The Legal Genealogist was even born:
First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me.
— Martin Niemöller (1892–1984)1
It’s a powerful warning of the dangers of silence — of being complicit — of assuming that events in the larger world won’t affect us, individually, in the places where we live.
And I for one don’t want to fall into that trap. Of sitting on the sidelines, staying silent, hoping the swirling events of the larger world won’t impact me.
Because they do impact us — and they impact family history and genealogical research — and our ability to do that research freely, fully and with faithful adherence to the truth is under assault.
First, they came for the archivists, in the person of the Archivist of the United States.2
And now they’ve come for the librarians, in the person of the Librarian of Congress.3
In between there has been an unbridled and unprecedented assault on all libraries, archives and museums, through — among other attacks — cutting off funding to the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a tiny little already-underfunded federal agency that provides direct support to state and local libraries, archives and museums4 — the very repositories that are essential to each and every one of us in our genealogical research.
The attacks have also impacted the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), another small piece of the federal pie but one that provided enormous support for critically important efforts to preserve and provide digital access to key records such as newspapers.5
The fallout from this assault is horrific. Just as one single example, at the Library of Virginia, the cuts mean the loss of funds to digitize historical Virginia newspapers and WWII separation notices, both enormously valuable genealogical resources.6
Enough. Enough already yet.
The ethical codes by which we as genealogists live require us to support free, unfettered, full access to the unvarnished truth.
The custodians of the records that offer us that unvarnished truth are the archivists, the librarians and the museum curators.
When the archives and libraries and museums are under attack, The Legal Genealogist can no longer sit by on the sidelines. We as genealogists can’t afford to stay silent. Our community has to stand up and be heard.
Write your congresscritters. Send a post card to the White House. Attend the town hall meetings of those in a position to stop the carnage. Push the leaders of your genealogical associations to lead the charge to protect archives and libraries and museums. Let’s hear it from the National Genealogical Society and the Association of Professional Genealogists and more.
The reality is, they have begun to come for us, and we’d better speak up.
There is so very much at stake.
And silence guarantees it will only get worse.
Cite/link to this post: Judy G. Russell, “Enough already yet!,” The Legal Genealogist (https://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog : posted 9 May 2025).
SOURCES
- Martin Niemöller, “First they came…” , English translation, Holocaust Memorial Day Trust (https://hmd.org.uk/ : accessed 9 May 2025). ↩
- Ali Swenson and Gary Fields, “The National Archives is nonpartisan but has found itself targeted by Trump,” AP News, updated 26 Feb 2025 (https://apnews.com/ :accessed 9 May 2025). ↩
- Seung Min Kim, Zeke Miller and Lisa Mascaro, “President Trump fires Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden,” AP News, posted 8 May 2025 (https://apnews.com/ L accessed 9 May 2025). ↩
- See American Library Association, “FAQ: Executive Order Targeting IMLS,” updated 6 May 2025 (https://www.ala.org/ : accessed 9 May 2025). ↩
- See Kathryn Palmer, “‘Draconian’ Layoffs, Grant Terminations Come for the NEH,” Inside Higher Ed News, posted 14 April 2025 (https://www.insidehighered.com/news/ : accessed 9 May 2025). ↩
- Library of Virginia, “Library of Virginia Receives Notification of NEH Grants Termination,” Press Release issued 8 April 2025 (https://www.lva.virginia.gov/news/ : accessed 9 May 2025). ↩
I stand convicted my friend.
Me too, up until now. But no more. Firing the Librarian of Congress???? No. Enough.
Thank you Judy. Already making noise about this. Enough!
Thank you for this. My congresscritter will be hearing from me. Again. And Again.
Nicely put!
Spot on!
Thanks so much for posting this important message. Knowledge is power.
Well done, Judy.
As an Englishman, living in Australia I, like every single person I know, look aghast at to what is happening in your country.
https://www.lwv.org/newsroom/news-clips/newsweek-op-ed-trump-administration-not-just-erasing-history-theyre-rewriting
Read this powerful statement from the League of Women Voters.
The link in the article will let everyone find their senators and representatives with a link to contact by email, addresses to send letters (handwritten letters get a response), and leave phone messages.
I will continue to speak up. Kevin Kiley never listens.
Although I understand, and agree with, the intent of DOGE to trim unnecessary government expenditures, the impact of cutting funds from archives and libraries is a direct attack on the services that allow citizens to access the records they have funded with their taxes for many decades! If we cannot access those records for activities such as family history research, then the funds we provided to create and store those records have been wasted!! Restore funding that supports access to the records of our ancestors!
Judy, thank you for speaking out so eloquently. I hope genealogists are increasingly aware that nothing about all this can be dismissed as “just politics.”
President Trump letting her go doesn’t mean she won’t be replaced with someone else.
Shall we take bets right now on the new candidate being half as qualified? Or is that overestimating the current regime?
Thank you for writing this timely post. Not only should would be fighting for our archives, we should be fighting against the attempted erasure of accurate history-telling at the National Park Service and elsewhere; they have removed thousands of webpages and data. I have seen no investigative report by an auditor that concluded that any of the over 50,000 dedicated employees fired represented “fraud, waste, or abuse” so I hope people will stop believing that. Inspector Generals do audits, and all of them were fired.
As a Canadian, I wish I could do more than continue to share the news of attacks on the institutions of the USA and their leaders… Many, many Canadians stand behind you all in spirit…
This quote has been after my signature line in every email I’ve sent since November. If it gets only one person to think, then I have achieved my goal. The LVA is an amazing resource that I have been visiting since childhood. I am a proud native Virginian and can only imagine what our founding fathers would think. If we stand as one, we can stop this. VOTE!
If you’re in the fifth district, you know, John McGuire will not be doing anything regarding this issue.
Seventh, thank heavens. Rep. Eugene Vindman.