To Preserve the Past
To Serve the Present
To Enhance the Future
National Equal Justice Library
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Washington College of Law 4801 Massachusetts Ave. N.W. Washington, D.C. 20016
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III. THE FUTURE OF THE NATIONAL EQUAL JUSTICE LIBRARY: THE NEED FOR CONTINUED FINANCIAL SUPPORT
As suggested above, the NEJL has made considerable progress on this ambitious agenda during the past year. The NEJL’s small staff has been blessed to have an unusually active board. For instance, Professor Marie Failinger assumed the leading role in coordinating the book and article awards including the development of selection criteria and choosing the independent selection committees. Meantime Justice Earl Johnson structured and implemented much of the campaign to assemble the “International Collection,” and in 1998 then board member Clinton Bamberger took charge of planning the Reginald Heber Smith Fellows Reunion. Several other board members have been active in approaching individuals and institutions to donate materials to the NEJL Archives or in conducting oral history interviews.
Despite the board’s contributions, however, the NEJL staff is essential to the NEJL’s present and future success. A substantial grant from the Mellon Foundation supplied most of the financial support to hire the Archivist and supporting staff and allowed the NEJL to open. Now the National Equal Justice Library seeks new operating funds to maintain our staff and continue the work required to complete formation of the National Equal Justice Library.
In addition, we seek special grants and donations for some of the specific functions mentioned above – the Oral History Program, the acquisition of additional materials for the International Collection, the development of sophisticated exhibits and an expanded NEJL website, for instance – all of which require additional resources beyond our core staff.
The Consortium for the National Equal Justice Library has been encouraged by the hundreds of donations it has received from individuals and law firms ranging from $100 to $2500 in amount. The Consortium calls these individual donors the “First Friends of the National Equal Justice Library.” A complete list of these “First Friends” can be found at “http://nejl.wcl.american.edu.”
The Consortium also greatly appreciates the major grants and contributions from foundations and other organizations it received in the past two years—
American Bar Association $57,000
Washington College of Law $50,000 [in kind]
Leonardt Foundation $30,000
Friends of James Doherty $25,000
National Legal Aid & Defender Association $20,000
CNEJL Board members $10,000
If the National Equal Justice Library is to live up to its potential, however, it will need continued and greater financial support from the legal community as well as foundations and others. Those who do answer this call will know their contributions are making possible an institution that is accomplishing all the things described in this report. Not just preserving history, but making history. Because those contributions are the lifeblood of the National Equal Justice Library, the Consortium is pleased to recognize them in the form of “named rooms,” “named collections,” and “endowed programs.” [These naming opportunities also are described at “http://nejl.wcl.american.edu. Or you can obtain the details from Robert Forman, the NEJL Archivist, at the address below.]
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Any questions about the National Equal Justice Library or this annual report may be addressed to the NEJL’s Archivist at the following:
Robert Forman, Archivist
National Equal Justice Library
Washington College of Law-American University
4801 Massachusetts Ave. N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20016
PHONE = (202) 274-4320
FAX = (202) 274-4365
e-mail = nejl@wcl.american.edu