The History News Network has the latest on the nomination of Allen Weinstein to be Archivist of the United States.
On the eve of Monday’s Senate committee vote recommending his nomination as Archivist of the United States, Allen Weinstein’s reputation and character were called into question by people who lured him two decades ago to run a high-profile institute in California. In 1984 Weinstein was appointed to revive the fortunes of the Robert Maynard Hutchins Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions at the University of California at Santa Barbara. Eight months later he left in a cloud of doubts about his management abilities, according to a press account at the time.
…The largest organization for which Weinstein has been responsible had an annual budget of between $6 to $8 million and a staff of several dozen, he told HNN. The National Archives has a budget of more than $300 million and a staff of some 3,000 scattered across the country. Weinstein is confident he can successfully manage the Archives. He told senators in his response to written questions, “it is important to recognize that the Archivist of the United States does not ‘manage alone,’ to paraphrase the popular book title, but [i]s the head of a talented and experienced leadership team…. I do not view the administrative responsibilities as Archivist as more daunting than the ‘small business’ model from which I have drawn most of my experience.”