 Good afternoon, everybody. Thank you for being here. I'm Jay Besanko, Deputy Archivist of the United States and Welcome to something that's been in the works for an extended period of time But the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Digitization Center at the National Archives at College Park Some of our guests have been somewhat delayed, but we're honored to have the support of three distinguished members of the Maryland Congressional delegation Each of whom is a tireless champion of federal agencies and programs and also for federal employees Their support for the National Archives was instrumental in securing the federal appropriations that made this center possible So Senator Chris Van Hollen will Join us shortly, but he's been serving the people of Maryland in the United States Senate since 2017 and Among his multiple Senate committee assignments. He is the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on financial services and general government or as we like to say here the subcommittee that funds NARA We're lucky to call him our senator So I mentioned that our congressional guests today were instrumental in making this Digitization Center possible But without Congressman Steny Hoyer's service since 1981 there would not only be no Digitization Center But there would be no National Archives in College Park It was his leadership that made it possible for this magnificent building to open in 1994 a Facility that is still even after 30 days Thanks to you the world's largest state-of-the-art archival facility and research Center And of course this is all happening in the fourth congressional district of Maryland home to congressman Glenn Ivy We're proud to have him representing us and I look forward to seeing him later today. I Am now pleased to turn things over to the 11th archivist in the United States Dr. Colleen Shogan Last year Dr. Shogan became the first woman to be confirmed as the archivist Prior to that Dr. Shogan served as senior vice president and director of the David M. Rubenstein Center at the White House Historical Association And she previously worked in the United States Senate and as a senior executive at the Library of Congress Please join me in welcoming dr. Colleen Shogan to the podium Thanks so much Jay. I want to extend My welcome to members of our congressional delegation Particularly congressman Hoyer who responsible for this building these research facilities for the past 30 years every time I set foot in this building I am so proud of the work that we do here and the resources that make that possible So today, we're here to open though the new digitization center for College Park This is going to be and I think all of you would agree This is going to be a game changer for the National Archives with these new high-speed scanners We are going to be able to digitize more documents than ever before probably to the tune of about to start About 15 million records a year and then once we get started Anywhere upwards to 20 million to 30 million a year, which is just you know Once again, it's a game changer for the National Archives. This will mean that we will be Digitizing records 10 times faster than before. What does this mean actually in in Actuality and in real life So we'll take an example of a very popular set of records the US Marine Corps command chronologies Which would have taken us about 10 years to digitize under normal? Circumstances with this center We are going to be well under a year to be able to digitize all of those records from the Vietnam era Which will provide access to those who served in Vietnam to their families Into a whole host of Americans that are interested in that era and of course historians will be writing future Books and chronologies about that important era of American history That's just one example of the impact this facility is going to have our Mission at the National Archives of course is to preserve protect and share our nation's records And this will actually serve as all three functions here at the digitization center And of course using artificial intelligence in a responsible way and the machines behind me We will be able to unlock Just an enormous number of stories that are here at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland Of course in this facility, but in our 42 facilities all across the United States So before I hand this over to congressman Hoyer who's going to say a few words I do want to thank everyone who is here today Everyone for the National Archives staff who has worked so hard to be able to open this center today It takes a number of people to be able to do a project of This scale and of course all of our staff who are working here today I was able to meet some of you beforehand and learn about what you're working on Thank you so much for what you're doing your service to the National Archives But also to the nation and also my predecessor David Ferriero the 10th archivist to the United States Who put into motion the plans for the digitization center? I'm so glad we were able to make his dream and his idea for this center a reality So without further delay, I'm going to welcome congressman Hoyer to the podium and we can hear a few words From him without him once again this building in the center would not be a reality I don't know how many times she said I was going to speak briefly, but it was a number of times And I heard her say that And I will speak briefly because you're all standing up, and I don't know how long I've been been how I'm going to talk They will usually quickly say well Hoyer is usually the one that speaks at length But I'm very pleased to be here with all of you and I was Responsible not so much for this center, although it is attached to the archives that we did we'd created Many years ago some apparently some 30 years ago I was meeting with John toll who was the president of the University of Maryland at that time I'm a graduate of the University and very close to it and served on the Board of Regents for a while and A guy named John Berry who was working for me an extraordinarily talented federal employee Working for me Leamed over we were talking about a different subject said you know this would be a good place for the archives This place meaning where the archives was built because it belonged to the University of Maryland but it was not being used by the University of Maryland and So I Of course said that's a great idea and John toll thought it was a great idea The reason he thought it was a great idea because this is the best archival institution in the world Hear me It is the best most able archival Institution in the entire world one of the largest but also one of the best and this digitalization Capacity will make it even better One of the reasons we're making progress more quickly than was made a hundred years ago or 50 years ago or probably 25 years ago Is because we are able to draw on extraordinary amounts of information and experience And how do we do that because we digitized it and we had hit enter and it comes back And that's an oversimplification. I understand that but you all get what I mean I was a file clerk for CIA while I was a student here at the University of Maryland work 3 30 to 12 at night And what we did was we got little three by five cards From the analyst and it had a name on it Steny Hoyer And there may have been if I really a bad guy and there was CIA that got a lot of information on me There may have been a hundred cards and they would come down to The file room and there were a lot of us working in that file room all of which were in college We were all in college and working. We had to work our way through college 3 3 3 at 12 at night And we would take those cards and we would pull the files And I kid people I said I did a job that analysts now just do by hitting enter and we get it back but we get it back because of this capacity and It makes an extraordinary difference my colleague senator van Hollen is here Who's the chair of the subcommittee that oversees your budget by the way? Let me ask you how many I heard Some of you are have just been relatively recently hired to work in this Center raise your hand if you're a new hire So we have a good group of new people My presumption is that most of the rest of you have worked here at archives in some capacity Or another or at some other maybe federal facility and have been and because you have your skills you've been a Lurid away from wherever you were working to come here to make this one of the best centers in the world At doing what you do with an extraordinary capacity I've been in Congress longer than probably 80 percent of you have been born. I Was allowed to Congress in 1981 and There was a publishing house Not too far from here on East West Highway and I went in and the Computer was approximately the size of this room behind me But they were using this has more capacity than that room had and you are making sure this Can get even more information More easily more easily in that I can write in something that may be not really on point, but this Is smart enough to tell me what I want to know and that's what you do You will Expand the ability of literally Millions of researchers around the world because of what you will enable To happen Storing of the information That's a clumsy term for what you do so much more Complicated and Scientific term for what you do But then pushing enter and getting that information back or pretty pushing search more accurately So I'm pleased to be here But for those of you who are new and those of you who are not I've been able over the years to get a lot of money for buildings It was a quarter of a billion dollars for this not not this part of it, but the original Building that quarter of a billion dollars Would be a waste of money If we're not we're not for the people who work in that 250 billion dollar Million dollar building not billion You make the difference The American public does not understand the quality and commitment of the folks it has working for them And unfortunately too often Bureaucrat or federal employees used not as a descriptor, but as an epithet And so I want to thank each and every one of you in this room Because without you it would be a waste of money to have spent on this facility this technology It would have simply been a building With not much purpose and not much product So I thank each and every one of you doctor I thank you for the many ways in which you have contributed to the quality of Government because you've been in a number of facilities Again because all of you are standing I'm gonna I'm gonna really stop with that But I want to mention the two my two colleagues who are here. I represented where you stand for 40 years and We drew a map that the Washington Post didn't think was so pretty I thought it was wonderful You understand it did exactly what we wanted to do it like a lot of Democrats I'm a Democrat. This is not a partisan speech, but that's what it did And I represented this area for 40 years But the state legislature in its great wisdom wanted a pretty map and so I agreed to say okay make a pretty map and I was blessed by that Sort of giving up of territory to get a wonderful new colleague His name is Glenn Ivey. He just walked into the room He's gonna be speaking to you in a little bit. He now represents you and you can be thankful that you have somebody who has focus intellect and vision To understand a what you're doing understand how important what you're doing is and to make sure that you have the resources Now I happen to be hopefully next year. Hopefully again, this is not a political speech just me hoping I'll be to be chair of your subcommittee next year And the director and I were just talking about how much resources we need to make sure you can do what you Are charged to do and need to do Glenn Ivey I know Because I've known Glenn for a very long time He his wife by the way as chairman of the county council in Prince George's County So the eye and his son is a member of the House of Delegates. So be nice to the IVs. They have a lot of power I try to be nice to the IVs And then there's the senator Van Hollen You guys are pretty well situated in terms of the because although I'm the ranking member of your subcommittee Chris Van Hollen senator Van Hollen is the chair of your subcommittee and If it had not been for senator Van Hollen In this most recent Appropriation process, we would not have gotten to the level of funding for very necessary federal agencies Some of which are small some of which are big like the IRS and some sort of medium like you Had we not had the chairmanship of the Senate committee, which the Democrats controlled the Republicans had a budget that they wanted to give you Fiscal year 22 levels of funding And and we got fiscal year 23 for some and a little more for others but senator Van Hollen has been a giant in the in the support of This agency in particular this enterprise But also generally throughout the federal government, but more than that is an extraordinary member of the United States Senate of great great caring for people and great focus on Accomplishing things for the American people and for our state of Maryland so Chris. Thank you very much and Glenn Thank you very much and madam director. Thank you. But as I said at the beginning Thank all of you because the fact that you get up come to this enterprise or Log in to this enterprise It makes an extraordinary difference and Hundreds of millions billions of people One could extrapolate are benefited by the fact that you make critical information available to literally Millions and millions of people that turn that information Into better lives for those buildings of which I spoke. God bless you. Thank you very much Now I don't want you to think I just sort of You know Came and ran I'm gonna do that But I need to explain to you We are late starting because we had a bill that we had to pass the foreign intelligence surveillance act a critical bill to the security of the United States of America and frankly The majority party put it on a number of times and did not get the votes to pass it It passed Thank heaven 212 to 212 now that was not the final that was 260 to some odd for the final bill But the amendment that would have undermined its effectiveness failed 212 to 212 on a tie vote the proposition fails But that's how important it was to stay on the job and that's where congressman Ivy and I were and now because of The lateness here. I'm late to the next so I'm gonna run but I Would prefer to have the ability to stay and to shake each one of your hands and thank you for what you do every day God bless you. Thank you congressman Hoyer and if everybody could just sort of part just a little bit to make his his exit as Efficient as possible that'd be wonderful We can so we're gonna Yeah All right, so if everybody could just sort of reset themselves Senator Van Hollen, thank you for being here today and the podium is all yours. All right. Well, we cut the ribbon So congratulations on opening the space Officially, I know many of you are already hard at work Archivist Shogun, it's great to be with you and the entire team here at the National Archives from Washington and of course here in Maryland and Let me just first say a few words about congressman Hoyer I know he had to to leave Well, first of all, I didn't know he used to be looking through the CIA files. I Was gonna tell him I've seen the CIA file on congressman Hoyer So it's you know, but it he has been a remarkable advocate, of course For the archives for a very long period of time. I came in a little bit late But I did hear him mention the name John Berry who was a staff member for congressman Hoyer a long time ago And if I'm right about the history here It was around 1988 That congressman Hoyer together with then Senators Sarbanes and Mikulski Secured the original funding for the entire Building here, so he's not here, but if we could just give him another round of applause And as he's mentioned we're very blessed now to have Glenn Ivy Representing the area that we're in and I've worked very closely with Congressman Ivy we worked together to bring the FBI Headquarters to Prince George's County We've worked together on NASA Goddard, which is part of this congressional district and a great part of the state of Maryland We worked together on many things so including of course what we're here to talk about today So to Glenn thank you very much to your team and as you heard from congressman Hoyer Yes, the Ivy family has the whole political market cornered from council Local state to federal so you want to get something done in government in Maryland? The IVs are they're great public servants, so Let me just say I am I am proud to have been part of this most recent Effort I do chair the Senate appropriation subcommittee that funds and supports the archives and we have Succeeded over the last three years and securing about 90 million dollars to help with this new chapter that did digitization effort Both in terms of the the space here as well as the overall Initiative and I'm pleased we also secured in for fiscal year 24 another 30 million Dollars for this ongoing effort, so those are the the dollars But what is important of course is is your mission what those dollars are used to accomplish and I have to say that When I think of the archives and all of you who work at the archives I really do believe you have really exciting and interesting Roles to play in our in our country in our society and really globally. I mean you are Literally there the the repository of our history the good the bad and the ugly It's an amazing treasure It's amazing gift to the American people and in fact to the entire World and it is important that we be able to share that with as many people as Possible as you know for for decades and decades in order to be able to access The records of the archives you had to come and you know participate in a sitting room or come physically To an area in this in this region In order to be able to sort of ask for a document and have a chance to take a look at it What you're doing here by putting these records online Is bringing American history and all the other information you have In real time to people across the country and in fact people across the world can access it That is a huge huge gift I mean these are records that belong to the American people and it's important that we share them With the American people. So if I'm right, I think by fiscal year 26 We're aiming to get about 500 million Documents records online Think about the the number of people that will be able to now Participate in reviewing the records that you have here History and I know that overall I think you've got what 13 billion records So obviously we got a little ways to go To get even more records online But that will just add even add to our our ability to collectively understand our history and of course It's important to understand our history for its own sake so that we know what our National story is But it's also important to know our history to be able to help chart our future and sort of shine a light on The good of the past the bad of the past and and how we can make ourselves an even Stronger country and a more perfect union So thank you all for being part of this this treasure that is the National Archives and thank all of you for doing this work To make sure that the American people now Can share in their own story and access their own story? More quickly and more easily and more officially it is as I said a great gift And it's a gift that all of you through your work here are really giving to this country and to The world so it's wonderful to be here. Glad we cut the ribbon but I do look forward to going online myself and Being able to research records that are going to be the result of of your good work Both in terms of putting them online and being the custodians Of our history. So now let me turn it Shall can I introduce glenn ivy? So as I said glenn ivy has hit the ground running as a member of congress He's no stranger to the hill. He'd worked In on policy issues for a very long time But now it's great to have him as a partner in actual law making And as you heard one of the reasons were delayed as they just finished in the house The passage of the legislation On fiza 702 program, which is actually, you know, it is a It's one of those areas where, you know, you have to have a debate And I was just telling congressman ivy. I'm glad that they only kept a two-year They kept this at a two-year sunset. I think it's important that when you're dealing with Surveillance programs, which yes can be happy important to our national security But it is also very important that the congress keep oversight over that on behalf of the american People and in my view not just turn that over sort of indefinitely To One branch of government or one part of one branch of government So it's part of the checks and balances in our system And i'm really glad to have glenn ivy In the house of representatives and as a maryland partner. So glenn please give him a Thank you senator. I appreciate it. It has been a crazy day the fiza vote This may be the first time i've been in congress where i actually voted the same way as Marjorie taylor green On anything maybe other than win to break for lunch. So You know, I want to be conscious of the fact a you all are standing and you know, I got here late So, I don't know when stenny started, but I don't want to go too long besides that, you know I'm filing two great speakers. There's an old saying in politics. Everything's been said, but everybody hasn't said it yet So I want to be conscious of that and this is a little bit like being the game after the super bowl since we've already cut the ribbon But I did want to take a moment and just thank you for the great work that you do My mother was a librarian My mother-in-law was a librarian And they had a strong commitment to what that meant And it's important. I think too for the reasons chris mentioned a moment ago, but the history of the united states I think we're the greatest country in the world and and maybe ever and This it's important for us to practice and make sure it's available to everybody around I'm not an archivist. I'm not really good at researching records, but a few years ago I took a stab at trying to trace my family history and My kids still don't want me to do the DNA testing. So I haven't done that yet Which makes me worried that maybe one of them has gotten into something that maybe he or she shouldn't have. I don't know but But you know, I started dabbling with it and I did online research and the like and and I got a chance to To go on my family's originally from north carolina and I got fairly far along but Um Around 1870 going to 1860 they made a jump from human records to property records to trace my Relatives on my mother and father's side and so I had to stop there because that was such a heavy I wasn't mentally ready to make that transition yet But the fact is that when I do get myself together and we're ready to do that the record is there And I think working the other direction The transition we've made from where the united states then Was then to where it is now. I think is beyond significant It's it's really incredible in a lot of ways And I think it's critical that people like you and an institution like this is making sure that we track that history because This is a history that's going to make a difference I think already does inspires people around the world, but I think will for generations to come So thank you for the work that you do Keep it going keep it up. I think it makes a huge difference not just for us now But but for those coming in the future Keep up the great work and thanks for letting me be part of it. Have a great day Thank you congressman ivy we're Proud to be part of the the fourth congressional district of maryland What the two of you missed me sort of say at the beginning is is the deep appreciation that we have as a agency and As federal employees for your advocacy for federal departments and agencies in their programs, but also for federal employees. So thank you Thank you all for being here today to celebrate this milestone with us We're now going to offer tours of the digitization center. We have staff Positioned at locations throughout the space. We're ready to demonstrate the new equipment and the processes Um, and then we will also offer tours in the conservation lab in the research rooms And there's a really special document display across the hall if you are interested in any of these There's sarah sarah keep waving your hand work your way to the back and sarah will um Get you with one of our tour guides and there will also be refreshments available in the atrium area outside, but no food and drink in here, please Um, but again, thank you to all the nara staff that made this happen. Thank you to all of our, you know, 65 We'll soon be 80 new employees. Um, all all coming to work in the in the At the national archives at college park and again, thanks for all being here today