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Colleen Joy Shogan

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Colleen Shogan
11th Archivist of the United States
Incumbent
Assumed office
May 17, 2023
PresidentJoe Biden
Preceded byDebra Steidel Wall (acting)
Personal details
Born (1975-09-30) September 30, 1975 (age 49)[citation needed]
Greater Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
EducationBoston College (BA)
Yale University (PhD)

Colleen Joy Shogan (born September 30, 1975) is an American author and academic serving as Archivist of the United States since May 17, 2023, succeeding Acting Archivist Debra Wall. Prior to her confirmation as Archivist, Shogan was the director of the David M. Rubenstein Center for White House History at the White House Historical Association.

Early life and education

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Born and raised in Greater Pittsburgh, Shogan was encouraged to read mysteries by her late mother, Patricia, and started with books from the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys series.[1] Shogan graduated from Norwin High School.[2]

She was a first-generation college student in her family and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Boston College and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in American politics from Yale University.[1][3]

Career

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After earning her PhD, Shogan worked as an associate professor of government and politics at George Mason University.[4] She is the author of Moral Rhetoric of American Presidents, a book on the rhetorical presidency. Shogan later joined the Library of Congress, where she served as assistant deputy for collections and deputy director of the Congressional Research Service. Shogan worked as the vice chair of the Women's Suffrage Centennial Commission and taught as an adjunct professor in the government department at Georgetown University.[5][6][7]

She is the author of eight murder mystery novels, featuring Washington congressional aide Kit Marshall,[8] with titles that include Stabbing in the Senate, Homicide in the House, and Larceny at the Library.[1] "They're puzzles, and I like to solve puzzles", she said in 2023 about her novels.[9]

National Archives and Records Administration

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On August 13, 2022, President Joe Biden nominated Shogan to be 11th Archivist of the United States.[6]

The U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee held two hearings to consider Shogan's nomination. The first hearing was held on September 21, 2022, and the panel were deadlocked on her nomination by a 7–7 party-line vote and did not advance Shogan's nomination.[10] Second hearing was held February 28, 2023.[11] On March 15, 2023, the committee advanced Shogan's nomination by an 8–4 vote.[12]

During the hearings, Shogan stated that she would not publish the Equal Rights Amendment as part of the United States Constitution, stating that the job of the archivist is to publish constitutional amendments following proper ratification, not to decide when an amendment is published,[13] in line with a Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel memo on the subject in January 2020.[14] Shogan's views were criticized by the ERA Coalition.[15] Shogan also pledged to reduce the backlog of "over 300,000 veterans’ records requests", calling it the "most important discrete problem" facing her,[16] and said she would be looking for ways to declassify older historical records.[17][16] She further promised transparency on records related to the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago,[18] committed to working with U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff on Civil Rights Cold Cases,[19] stated that she would "welcome all Americans to the National Archives" if confirmed,[20] and said she would serve in a "nonpartisan, apolitical capacity".[21] In her opening statement at the September 2022 hearing, she also pledged to find "creative ways" to make the National Archives more efficient, build upon existing public-private partnerships, and engage underrepresented groups in "meaningful ways".[22]

On May 4, 2023, the United States Senate invoked cloture on Shogan's nomination by a 53–44 vote.[23] On May 10, 2023, Shogan was confirmed as the 11th Archivist of the United States by a 52–45 vote,[24][25] with her term beginning the following week.[6] She was sworn in and began work on May 17, 2023, with her first briefing focused on addressing the "backlog of veterans’ records" and speaking with National Personnel Records Center leaders.[26] On January 24, 2024, the National Archives announced the elimination of the "pandemic-related backlog of veteran records" at the National Personnel Records Center.[27] Shogan is the first woman appointed as Archivist of the United States.[28]

Censorship allegations

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In October 2024, the Wall Street Journal reported that Shogan and her top advisers had censored numerous displays at the National Archives' museum in an effort to de-emphasize negative parts of U.S. history, according to documents, and current and former employees. According to the article, Shogan and her top aides, like Ellis Brachman, ordered the removal of images of Martin Luther King, Jr., Dolores Huerta, and Minnie Spotted-Wolf from the Discovery Center wing of the National Archives Museum, images by Dorothea Lange of Japanese-American concentration camps, cut information about the negative environmental effects of coal mining and the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese-Americans from various exhibits, and directed employees to find "success stories about white people". Shogan was alleged to ask why a museum exhibit on Western expansion was centered on Indigenous people, ordered records showing treaties in which Indigenous tribes ceded "their lands to the U.S. government", and directed that a patent for the contraceptive pill be replaced by a patent for the bump stock, and reportedly said that exhibits should not be pushing a "partisan agenda". It was also asserted that some senior officials that had resigned had blamed Shogan's leadership, with one long-time employee for the archives filing a whistleblower complaint, claiming that "Shogan abused her authority and engaged in censorship", and that she had done too much to "appease Republicans".[29] Brachman asserted, according to Current Affairs, that the story is inaccurate, claiming that "balance was missing in the early planning of some of the new galleries here, and we have had to make some difficult decisions during the planning process" and that some people did not "want to do the hard work to address the nuanced and many layered facts of American history."[30] Brachman also told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that "the story is not accurate."[31]

Historians and commentators responded to The Wall Street Journal's reporting. The president of Win Without War, Stephen Miles, argued that Shogan's reported action was, "preemptively self-censoring and hiding essential parts of any honest telling of American history", and called it a dereliction of the agency's mission. Author David Neiwert said that Shogan and her advisors need to be replaced, and that she is, "making a travesty of American history." Historian Harvey G. Cohen echoed the same sentiment, stating that the National Archives should be focused on "preserving and presenting the truth" and Timothy D. Snyder called Shogan's reported conduct, "anticipatory obedience". Former Obama administration official Brandon Friedman and Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Will Brunch accused Shogan and her advisors of, "obeying fascism in advance".[32] In an article in Current Affairs, Nathan J. Robinson argued that the National Archives Museum was backsliding into "a sanitized mythological retelling of American history", asserted that Shogan is "intensely worried about being accused of partisanship" and argued that the Archivist of the United States should be "committed to telling a truthful story that reflects what actually happened."[30] On November 1st, the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and Congressional Black Caucus chairs Judy Chu, Nanette Barragán, and Steven Horsford issued a statement which criticized NARA's reported actions, saying that the agency was "preemptively appeas[ing]...conservative interests" and aligning with far-right "book ban movements nationwide", and urged Shogan to restore these references and exhibits to ensure that "NARA and the National Archives Museum tell the full and most accurate story of our nation."[33]

On October 30, 2024, Shogan issued a response to the Wall Street Journal's reporting. She restated her "commitment to leading NARA without partisanship or ideology", asserted that federal employees are not there to "promote or share our personal interpretation of the records" but are there, in her view, to "preserve, protect, and share the records with all Americans". She also called the article "misinformed" and said she "strongly disagree[d]" with it, arguing that the article was based on "anonymous complaints about that work and my leadership of the agency" and stated that NARA will remain, in her view, "thoughtful in how we engage with our past and focused on fostering understanding and dialogue", and reprinted her statement which had been sent to the Wall Street Journal.[31]

Personal life

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Shogan is married to Rob Raffety, the internal communications director for Stand Together.[29]

Bibliography

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Fiction

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The Washington Whodunit series:

Book Year Notes
Stabbing in the Senate 2015 ISBN 9781603813310
Homicide in the House 2016 ISBN 9781603813334
Calamity at the Continental Club 2017 ISBN 9781603813358
K Street Killing 2018 ISBN 9781603816137
Gore in the Garden 2019 ISBN 9781603817233
Larceny at the Library 2020 ISBN 9781603818353
Dead as a Duck 2021 ISBN 9781942078326
Lethal Legacies 2022 ISBN 9781684920303

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Historian and mystery novelist is first woman to head Archives". Washington Post. May 13, 2023. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on June 30, 2023. Retrieved November 3, 2024.
  2. ^ "Colleen Shogan: Lessons in perseverance from the suffrage movement". TribLIVE. May 13, 2020. Archived from the original on April 7, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  3. ^ "Colleen Shogan (PhD '02, Political Science)". Office of Career Strategy. Yale University. June 8, 2020. Archived from the original on April 5, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  4. ^ "Colleen J Shogan". Georgetown360. Georgetown University. Archived from the original on July 5, 2023. Retrieved July 5, 2023.
  5. ^ "Colleen Shogan". White House Historical Association. Archived from the original on April 5, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023. Colleen teaches at Georgetown University in the Government Department and is a member of the History Education Advisory Board for America250
  6. ^ a b c "Shogan Confirmed by U.S. Senate as 11th Archivist of the United States" (Press release). Washington, D.C.: National Archives. National Archives Public and Media Communications Staff. May 10, 2023. Archived from the original on May 10, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  7. ^ "Colleen Shogan Named 11th Archivist of the United States and First Woman to Lead the Agency". National Archives Foundation. May 10, 2023. Archived from the original on March 4, 2024. Retrieved November 3, 2024. She taught at Georgetown University in the Government Department and moderated seminars for the Aspen Institute
  8. ^ "Gore in the Garden". ColleenShogan.com. Archived from the original on April 6, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  9. ^ Wilson, Tilda (July 4, 2023). "For the record: We visit Colleen Shogan, the first woman appointed U.S. Archivist". NPR. Archived from the original on January 14, 2024. Retrieved July 10, 2023.
  10. ^ Amiri, Farnoush (September 21, 2022). "GOP raises Mar-a-Lago search at Archives nominee's hearing". Associated Press. Archived from the original on May 10, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  11. ^ Bolton, Alexander (September 28, 2023). "Hawley confronts Biden's nominee to head National Archives over Twitter posts". The Hill. Archived from the original on April 7, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  12. ^ Looker, Rachel; Mansfield, Erin (March 15, 2023). "Key Senate panel advances Biden's pick for National Archivist after two heated hearings". USA Today. Archived from the original on April 6, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  13. ^ Munhoz, Diego Areas (May 10, 2023). "Biden Archivist Nominee Confirmed Following Tensions Over ERA". Bloomberg Law. Archived from the original on May 10, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  14. ^ United States Senate (September 21, 2022). Hearings Before the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs United States Senate (PDF) (Report). Government Publishing Office. pp. 18–19. Archived (PDF) from the original on February 14, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023. Who will decide the fate of the ERA is the Federal Judiciary and/or Congress.
  15. ^ "ERA Coalition statement on Colleen Shogan's remarks during her Senate nomination hearing" (Press release). Washington, D.C.: ERA Coalition. September 10, 2022. Archived from the original on January 30, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  16. ^ a b Friedman, Drew (September 23, 2022). "Biden's pick to lead NARA eyes veterans' request backlog, agency digitization deadline". Federal News Network. Archived from the original on November 12, 2022. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  17. ^ Buble, Courtney (February 28, 2023). "Archivist Nominee Pledges to Address a Backlog That Stands in the Way of Veterans Getting Benefits". Government Executive. Archived from the original on May 4, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  18. ^ Napsha, Joe (September 21, 2022). "Shogan promises transparency at hearing for National Archives leadership role". TribLive. Archived from the original on October 3, 2022. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  19. ^ U.S. Senate, "Hearings Before the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs United States Senate", 26
  20. ^ "Norwin grad Colleen Shogan, Biden's pick for U.S. archivist, questioned over social media posts". TribLive. Pennsylvania Capital-Star. March 1, 2023. Archived from the original on March 19, 2023.
  21. ^ U.S. Senate, "Hearings Before the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs United States Senate", 19
  22. ^ U.S. Senate, "Hearings Before the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs United States Senate", 11
  23. ^ "On the Cloture Motion (Motion to Invoke Cloture: Colleen Joy Shogan to be Archivist of the United States)". United States Senate. May 4, 2023. Archived from the original on September 26, 2024. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  24. ^ "On the Nomination (Confirmation: Colleen Joy Shogan, of Pennsylvania, to be Archivist of the United States)". United States Senate. May 10, 2023. Archived from the original on September 26, 2024. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  25. ^ Amiri, Farnoush (May 10, 2023). "National Archives leader confirmed amid turmoil over Trump probe". Associated Press. Archived from the original on May 10, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  26. ^ "Shogan Assumes Office as 11th Archivist of the United States" (Press release). Washington, D.C.: National Archives. National Archives Public and Media Communications Staff. May 17, 2023. Archived from the original on May 17, 2023. Retrieved May 18, 2023.
  27. ^ "NARA Eliminates Pandemic Backlog of Veteran Records Requests" (Press release). Washington, D.C.: National Archives. National Archives Public and Media Communications Staff. January 24, 2024. Archived from the original on January 24, 2024. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  28. ^ "For the record: We visit Colleen Shogan, the first woman appointed U.S. Archivist". NPR. July 4, 2023. Archived from the original on August 8, 2024. Retrieved November 3, 2024.
  29. ^ a b Restucia, Andrew; Ballhaus, Rebecca (October 29, 2024). "America's Top Archivist Puts a Rosy Spin on U.S. History—Pruning the Thorny Parts". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on November 1, 2024. Retrieved October 31, 2024.
  30. ^ a b Robinson, Nathan J. (October 31, 2024). "It's Going to Take a Constant Fight to Preserve the Historical Record". Current Affairs. Archived from the original on October 31, 2024. Retrieved November 2, 2024.
  31. ^ a b "A Holocaust exhibit — and Jewish staffer — are involved in a controversy over the National Archives". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. October 31, 2024. Archived from the original on November 7, 2024. Retrieved November 7, 2024.
  32. ^ Corbett, Jessica (October 31, 2024). "'Obeying Fascism in Advance,' National Archivist Sanitized US Museum". Common Dreams. Archived from the original on November 1, 2024.
  33. ^ "Tri-Caucus Chairs Express Outrage at Censorship of Exhibits at the National Archives Museum". Congressional Black Caucus. November 1, 2024. Archived from the original on November 7, 2024. Retrieved November 7, 2024.
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