The Papers of Jefferson Davis project needs your support to be able to continue its work. Here are several ways that you can help:
- Tell us of any Davis documents that you find. We have made every effort that we can to identify all known Davis documents, as well as those to or from his wife Varina, but we still regularly find out about materials that are in private hands, or being sold at auction. We do not have the funds to purchase documents, but we do attempt to gain permission to publish. The records that we have of ownership of Davis materials have also proved invaluable in catching and convicting several document thieves.
- Make a tax-deductible contribution to the project. Even with government grants, our budget is very limited. Recent government cutbacks threaten the future of the project, especially for the volumes covering the postwar period. All contributors are listed in the acknowledgments section of our volumes. Checks should be made payable to the Jefferson Davis Association and sent to us at Rice University, MS-43, 6100 Main Street, Houston, Texas 77005-1892. If you have any questions, please email us.
- Buy our books. If not for yourself, order them for the local or school library. Or raise money through a community organization to fund the purchase. The best way to interest students of any age in history is to expose them to original documents. Our volumes allow the readers to know Davis through his own words.
- Support the NEH and NHPRC. Cuts to the budget of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) have meant the elimination of grants to a number of important historical projects. Our other major source of operating funds, the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), is a tiny agency that supports literally hundreds of projects from a total budget of only $5 million. It is easy for such agencies to get lost in the federal shuffle, so let your senators and congressmen know of your interest in the NEH and NHPRC, both of which help maintain projects such as the Davis Papers.
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