[NJARC] FW: budget cuts and RCA's legacy

Tue, 5 Feb 2002 17:01:28 -0500

-----Original Message-----
From: Alex Magoun [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2002 4:15 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: budget cuts and RCA's legacy

Dear friend of the David Sarnoff Library,

    At this moment, Governor McGreevey is on the verge of eliminating
New Jersey's operating support program for history organizations.  These
grants make possible the operations of the David Sarnoff Library and
many other organizations from Cape May to Morristown.
    Even if you are not a resident of the state, your expression of
concern for the continued support of an internationally important
archive and museum can help.  If you agree with the value of this
program and in particular the effort to preserve and use RCA's history
for the benefit of the current and future citizenry of New Jersey and
the nation, please contact the governor's office and your local
legislators immediately.
    You can call Governor McGreevey at 609-292-6000 or fax him at
609-943-9944;
    Call Secretary of State Regena Thomas at 609-984-1900, ext. 3, or
fax her at 609-777-1764.
    if you are a resident of the state, you can locate your
representatives' phone numbers, emails, or faxes at
http://12.107.80.70/members/legsearch.asp.
    You are welcome to draw on the letter below or add your own reasons
for retaining funding to maintain RCA's history in this state.  I would
be happy to add more details of the Library's activities using last
year's grant on request.
    Thank you for your support,
    Sincerely,
Alex Magoun

To: Governor James E. McGreevey
Fax #: 943-9944

Dear Governor McGreevey:

        I urge you to reconsider the elimination of the state's grants
program to New Jersey's historical organizations.  At this very moment,
the State is threatening to seize the $4 million pool of FY02 operating
support funds administered by the New Jersey Historical Commission in
the Department of State, for which history organizations are now writing
grant applications. We understand your need to make cuts in these
difficult times, but a 100% zeroing out of this state-wide grant program

is a cruel and counter-productive punishment for New Jersey's past, and
therefore its future. Please halt the efforts to seize this funding.
       Tourism is the state's second largest industry at $30 billion, of
which the state's cultural heritage tourism is a neglected lever to use
in building revenues.  Nonetheless, the latest data indicate that
overnight visitors to New Jersey spent $24 million during trips to
museums and historic sites, suggesting that the state is gaining a 600%
return on its grants program.  Another 12 million tourists made day
trips, further boosting local economies.   Cutting the investment in
operating support
serves only to rob New Jersey of an effective means of combating the
recession.
        For the David Sarnoff Library in West Windsor township, the
operating support grants have enabled the rescue, preservation, and
promotion of the state's largest collection of papers, photos, and
artifacts related to RCA.  "The most trusted name in electronics" was
one of the state's largest employers in the 1970s, with over 30,000 men
and women working at labs, factories, and other facilities from Deptford
to Somerville, Princeton to Harrison.  RCA's accomplishments here
include the invention or development of monochrome and color television,
electron microscopy, radar, the transistors used universally in
electronic devices, Apollo moon cameras, weather satellites, and
liquid-crystal displays.
        Thanks to this program's grants, the Library's staff has been
able to respond to 180 inquiries in the past six months (a 50% increase
in one year) and give tours, presentations, and interviews to over 800
people, including students, scouts, high-tech investors, and
international media representatives.  As a result, New Jersey has
received its just publicity as the birthplace of modern communications
and electronics, as the "Innovation Garden State" before marketers made
up the name.  In addition, the Library offers a unique opportunity to
increase technological and historical literacy among the state's
citizens and tourists through its museum and on-line exhibits about the
process and accomplishments of technological innovation.
        Without this funding the Library loses the hard-won development
of relationships between the Sarnoff family, the state, Sarnoff
Corporation, private grantmaking institutions, and former RCA employees,
all of who are interested in seeing a historic legacy put to productive
use for future generations.
        Governor McGreevey, you have repeatedly stated that you are a
friend and advocate of New Jersey History. Now, I  ask you to come to
back those statements where it counts: in the budget.

       Sincerely yours,
--
Alexander B. Magoun, Ph.D.
Director
David Sarnoff Library
201 Washington Road CN5300
Princeton, NJ 08543-5300

[email protected]
609-734-2636
fax: 609-734-2339
www.sarnoff.com