In her fiscal year 2026 budget proposal, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has proposed essentially defunding the move of the District of Columbia Archives from its base downtown to the main campus of the University of the District of Columbia in Northwest and some residents are not happy about it.
“When I was thinking about the additional $50 million in capital investment, I had to compete with other things,” said Bowser, referring to plans that have now changed for a new archives building at the University of the District of Columbia (UDC).
The mayor now plans to use the funding and space that would have initially gone to the new archives building on UDC’s campus for student housing instead.
Bowser’s archives proposal is being considered by the D.C. Council, with the legislature scheduled to hold its first reading and vote on the fiscal year 2026 budget on July 11.
When Trudy Huskamp Peterson, a former acting archivist of the U.S. and the chair of the D.C. Archives Advisory Group heard about the mayor’s $50 million cut of the agency’s plan for a new building, she was incensed.
“The way a city treats its archives shows how it values the public’s right to know what the government did, as shown by its records, and how well it understands the importance of history to its citizens, and because Washington is a national capitol, to all citizens of the United States,” Peterson, 80, told The Informer.
What Are the D.C. Archives?
The District Archives, under the Office of the Secretary, contains historical and permanent records of the District government such as birth and death records, wills, land records and marriage records.
Historic records on file include the original wills of Alexander Graham Bell, Francis Scott Key, James Madison, Dolly Madison and Frederick Douglass, and the birth certificate for Duke Ellington, according to the agency’s website.
The archives are headquartered in Northwest at Naylor Court and there are many materials housed at the National Archive and Records Administration in Suitland, Maryland, as well as other locations in smaller numbers. The effort to get a permanent, modern building has been in the works by activists for about two decades, with the vision of all District public archival materials existing under one roof and a desire to have it on the UDC campus, the city’s only public university.
The plans for the new archives would also have the materials of the university and the Felix E. Grant Jazz Archives. Bowser’s plans would have the bulk of the archives located at the Charles Sumner School in Northwest and a state-of-the-art warehouse.
Kimberly Bender, president of the DC Archives Foundation, a nonprofit that fundraises for the archives, echoed the concerns of Peterson.
“This decision puts the most important collection of D.C. history at significant risk,” Bender said.
Bender questioned other funding priorities of Bowser, specifically the proposal to build a Washington Commanders stadium at public expense.
“To fund a half-billion-dollar stadium and at the same time eliminate this project as being too expensive is a sad reflection of our city’s values,” she said.
Bender shot down Bowser’s proposal for the District’s public archives, saying “an archive is not a warehouse.”
“It preserves irreplaceable historical paper documents, and thus has specialized security, HVAC, and public access needs,” she said.
The D.C. Council Weighs In
Bender points out that for much of the District’s 235-year history, its archives were considered federal property, and it did not become under city jurisdiction until 1986. Building a new, modern archive facility on the UDC campus would have “left a sterling legacy for Mayor Muriel Bowser and the D.C. Council,” she said.
The Informer obtained a report from the Committee on Executive Administration and Labor—chaired by D.C. Councilmember Anita Bonds (D-At Large) — regarding the council’s recommendation to Bowser’s archives proposal.
The committee advises that the Office of the Secretary request a feasibility study be conducted at the Sumner School or “any location proposed as an alternative to the UDC site.”
Additionally, the committee report does not recommend further investment in the Naylor Court facility “unless the Department of General Services intends to improve the facility for other uses or for permanent use as an archives’ facility.
“As the project moves forward, the committee recommends that the Office of the Secretary continue to engage stakeholders by providing updates on construction, timeline for records transfers, and any information on budget changes or adjustments,” the report said.
In a June 5 letter to Bonds and D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) and Council members Matthew Frumin (D-Ward 3) and Christina Henderson (I-At Large), Ward 3 resident Barbara Bates, a historian, urged the funding of the UDC site.
“Its placement at the University of D.C. Van Ness campus makes it more accessible to all as it is conveniently located near a subway and a bus stop,” Bates said. “It is also available to students encouraging their interest in conducting projects on D.C. history. This is D.C. history, and it benefits us all.”
