[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 64 (Wednesday, May 11, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E859]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       HONORING SHARON K. FAWCETT

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. JOHN L. MICA

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 11, 2011

  Mr. MICA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Sharon K. 
Fawcett, the Assistant Archivist for Presidential Libraries, who is 
retiring after more than 34 years of outstanding public service to the 
National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).
  On February 28, 2011, the Committee on Transportation and 
Infrastructure held a joint hearing with the Committee on Oversight and 
Government Reform to highlight the importance of our presidential 
libraries to our nation's history. Following the hearing, I was pleased 
to host a luncheon and symposium to further discuss how we can ensure 
these national treasures can be preserved efficiently. Ms. Fawcett was 
instrumental in helping to make that day productive and successful and 
her insight at the symposium added a tremendous amount of knowledge to 
our discussion.
  Her love and commitment to the Presidential Library system developed 
at an early age: she was born in Abilene, Kansas in a house that is now 
part of the campus of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library. In 
1969, Ms. Fawcett started working at the Lyndon Baines Johnson 
Presidential Library. After raising her young children, she returned to 
the National Archives in Washington, DC, to be Chief of the Reference 
Service Branch and later the Director of User Services. In these jobs 
she was responsible for the overall planning, development, direction, 
coordination, staffing and control of all research rooms in both the 
National Archives building in downtown Washington, DC, and at Archives 
II, NARA's state-of-the-art facility in College Park, Maryland. She 
returned to the Office of Presidential Libraries in 1997.
  Ms. Fawcett has served as Assistant Archivist for Presidential 
Libraries for the past seven years and as Deputy Assistant Archivist 
for Presidential Libraries for seven years before that. In both roles 
she led the Library system in the development of award-winning 
educational programs, web sites, and exhibits. Under her leadership, 
the Libraries continued to open key Presidential materials--such as the 
Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon tape recordings--that help the public 
understand Presidents and Presidential decision-making. The multi-
library conferences on such topics as Vietnam and the Nuclear Age have 
become a mainstay of C-SPAN programming. She also developed innovative 
initiatives to start staffing early for a Presidential Library, and to 
add additional staffing for the newer Presidential Record Act Libraries 
to try to meet the growing demand for their records. When she returned 
to Presidential Libraries in 1997, there were no women serving as 
library directors and almost no representation by minorities in library 
positions. She pursued a goal of building a more representational work 
force in the libraries, hiring a more diverse and representative 
workforce.
  I congratulate Sharon K. Fawcett for her dedication in building 
strong and productive relationships with a variety of stakeholders that 
includes the White House, Congress, and Presidential Library 
foundations. I thank her for her service to the National Archives and 
to the Nation and I wish her a very happy and fulfilling retirement.

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