Our Statement on the Mayor’s Cancellation of the New DC State Archives Building on the Cusp of Groundbreaking
Mayor Bowser’s proposed 2026 budget completely eliminates the new DC State Archives building that for the last five years has been planned for the University of the District of Columbia (UDC), despite it being funded in the capital budget. This last minute decision was made without any input from experts or residents, and erases a decade of work by DC agencies, community groups, and archives users. The District has already spent tens of millions of dollars on the project, which is not able to be recovered.
“This decision puts the most important collection of DC history at significant risk,” said Kimberly Bender, President of the DC Archives Foundation, the non-profit organization that provides philanthropic support to the DC Archives. “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.”
The Mayor’s proposed alternative site for the DC Archives is not based on any cost-benefit analysis and is unfeasible. She proposes to split the archive, with a front office at Charles Sumner School, and a “state of the art warehouse.” However, an archive is not a warehouse; it preserves irreplaceable historical paper documents, and thus has specialized security, HVAC, and public access needs. The proposal to displace the Sumner School is likewise impractical. For the last 40 years it has operated as a museum and archive for DC’s education history. The museum is itself running out of space and lacks basic facilities, such as a loading dock—a critical requirement for an institution that would transfer priceless and legally confidential documents on a daily basis. This plan essentially locks up the DC Archives away from public use. The $28M the Mayor proposes for the two facilities is well below the cost of a single comparable archive annex, and it would double the operational costs if it could be somehow made to work.
The Mayor’s action comes at a time when the DC State Archives building project at UDC is well underway: the demolition of the site has begun, architectural plans are completed, an MOU with UDC has been signed, zoning and permits have been approved, and a general contractor has been hired. Any new structure on that site will have to start this process again from scratch at enormous cost, in addition to the money wasted by pulling the plug now.
The District’s long political disenfranchisement has hampered the ability of the DC Archives to take care of the community’s records. Despite the District’s 235 years of existence, the DC Archives agency was not established until 1986, immediately before the city fell into a financial crisis. The government temporarily located its repository in a converted historic stable. It remains in this deteriorating building. Only in the last three years has the Archives had the expert leadership needed to move it forward, with the hiring of the new State Archivist, Dr. Lopez Matthews. Still, due to the effects of Covid-19 and Congressional intervention, staffing levels remain well below what is required for an archive with a centuries-long backlog. The new DC State Archives building project at UDC would have solved many of these long-standing problems and left a sterling legacy for Mayor Muriel Bowser and the DC Council.
“Since this news was announced, we have heard loud and clear from our community that the Mayor’s proposal is not acceptable. The DC Archives Foundation will continue to work tirelessly to ensure the District’s history gets the facility it deserves,” Ms. Bender said.
WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP?
Email CEAL@dccouncil.gov (Council committee on the DC Archives)
Email Lindsey.Parker@dc.gov (Mayor Bowser’s Chief of Staff)