To our friends and partners,
I wanted to take a moment to let you know that we see you. We see the challenges you face with mounting political pressure, efforts to restrict access to information, and the growing fight over stories being removed, restricted, or reframed to fit a more convenient narrative. Access to historical records has never mattered more. Libraries, archives, and educators are on the front lines, fighting against efforts to erase, rewrite, or whitewash history. What’s at stake isn’t just the past—it’s the ability of future generations to learn from it, understand it, and ensure the full truth is never lost.
The stories of those who fought for justice, equality, and progress, along with the lived experiences of marginalized communities—once preserved in historical records—are under attack. Conversations about whose histories are preserved, how they are told, and who gets to tell them have never been more urgent. Across the country, decisions are being made—often under political and ideological pressure—about which stories should be shared and which are better off forgotten.
For too long, history has been shaped by those in power, often leaving out the voices of marginalized communities. Libraries, archives, and historical institutions play a crucial role in ensuring that history reflects the full truth — not just the parts that are comfortable or convenient.
This is why your community’s primary sources—newspapers, letters, photographs, official records, and firsthand accounts—are essential to understanding history as it truly happened. These unfiltered materials provide direct insight into past events, free from later reinterpretation or bias. Without them, history risks becoming a curated narrative rather than an honest record.
Your archives do far more than record dates and events—they capture the lived experiences of real people, preserving the full, unfiltered reality of history:
- They contain documents that record the brutality of slavery, the voices of the oppressed and the oppressors, and the long fight for and against abolition and justice.
- They reveal the human cost of wars, from the battlefields to the home front, exposing not only the acts of heroism and duty, but also destruction, displacement, and political maneuvering that shape conflicts.
- They hold accounts of corruption, scandals, abuses of power, and the struggles of ordinary people against exploitation.
- They tell the story of women’s rights—not just the victories for suffrage, workplace equality, and reproductive freedom, but also the moments when those rights were challenged, stripped away, or eroded.
- They document the fights for labor rights, fair wages, and safe working conditions, recording both the victories won and the backlashes that followed.
- They capture the struggles of immigrants seeking new beginnings, the policies that welcomed or excluded them, and the cultural contributions that have shaped our societies.
- They provide firsthand accounts of civil rights movements, the voices of those who marched, protested and demanded change, as well as the forces that resisted progress.
- They safeguard Indigenous histories, including treaties, land disputes, and the resilience of Native communities in the face of forced removal, cultural erasure, and systemic injustice.
- They chronicle the evolution of education, from efforts to desegregate schools to debates over what should be taught in classrooms.
- They record the history of public health crises, from pandemics to environmental disasters, revealing both the failures and triumphs in protecting communities.
- They preserve the fight for LGBTQ+ rights, the milestones of progress, the battles still being fought, and the efforts to erase these histories.
- They document the impact of social movements, from anti-war activism to climate justice, showing how collective action has shaped policy and public discourse.
These records are reminders that history is cyclical, that progress is never guaranteed, and that the choices we make today are shaped by the struggles and sacrifices of those who came before us. Your collections preserve the voices of those who bore witness to change, fought for justice, and documented both the struggles and triumphs that shaped our communities. They are the evidence that holds history accountable.
These materials in your archives do more than help us remember; they help us learn, question, and grow. They show us how oppression is justified, how movements for justice are built, and how power is wielded—sometimes for progress, sometimes for control.
They remind us that history is not just something that happened—it is something that is happening right now.
The importance of open access to historical records cannot be overstated. When accessibility to local history is threatened, communities lose more than just documents—they lose the full context of their past. Limiting access does not just rewrite history; it weakens public understanding, hinders civic engagement, and erodes critical thinking. The more history is controlled, the more fragile our collective memory becomes.
We know that in today’s political climate, some have turned the acronym DEI into a divisive dog whistle. However, diversity, equity, and inclusion are not political concepts—they are fundamental values that strengthen communities. When archives preserve diverse stories, ensure fair access to the past, and invite everyone to see themselves in history, they don’t just document a community—they help it grow, connect, and thrive.
For those of you on the front lines—As these conversations grow more urgent, so does our collective responsibility. Libraries, archives, historians, and advocates must continue to defend open access to historical records and primary sources, invest in local digitization, and ensure that history remains available to all—without censorship, without restriction, without exceptions.
But know that you are not alone. We stand with you. We believe in the critical role you play. The work you do matters—maybe now more than ever.
We also want you to know that our team is ready to support your efforts. After all, we built Advantage Archives on the belief that local history should be freely accessible—no paywalls, no subscriptions, no barriers that separate a community from its past. We believe that local history should stay local, that communities should have full access to the stories that define them, and that historical truth should never be a casualty of political agendas.
With unrestricted access to historical records, we can fully understand how we got here and where we are headed by carefully studying where we have been.
With deep gratitude and unwavering solidarity,
Jeffrey Kiley
Founder – Advantage Archives
Ensuring Our Past Has Future
