Finding Aids to Official Records of the Smithsonian Institution

Accession 00-138
Office of the Counselor to the Secretary,
Administrative Records, 1990-1997

This accession is restricted for 15 years from the latest date of records (1997). Restrictions will be lifted at the beginning of calendar year 2013. Access to restricted collections requires explicit permission from the transferring office or donor. Contact the SIA Reference Staff for further information (call 202-633-5870, or email OSIAREF@osia.si.edu).

These records document the administrative activities of Marc Pachter during his tenure as Deputy Assistant Secretary for External Affairs (1990-1994), Counselor to the Secretary for Electronic Communications and Special Projects (1994-1995), and Counselor to the Secretary (1995-2000), respectively.

The bulk of the records document activities associated with the formation and work of the Electronic Media Board formed in 1991 to address the issues of uniformity and efficiency in the review and production of Smithsonian electronic media outreach and education efforts. The Electronic Media Board was composed of the following members: Chair - Deputy Assistant Secretary for External Affairs (Pachter); the Director of the Office of Telecommunications; the Smithsonian Senior Business Officer; and representatives from the Office of General Counsel, Council of Bureau Directors, Council of Information and Education Directors, and the Institutional scholarly research community. The Electronic Media Board was disbanded in 1997.

The Board's mandate was as follows: 1) identify and eliminate duplication in existing media projects thus becoming more cost-effective and efficient with regard to the production of those projects; 2) identify legal and financial issues of importance to the Institution and to avoid unnecessary risks; 3) assess appropriateness of projects against Institutional goals and standards; and 4) ensure that procedures are in place for expert oversight by Smithsonian staff of program content, production, and use of the Smithsonian name.

In addition to the records of the Electronic Media Board, there are records relating to Pachter's interaction with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, The Smithsonian Associates, the Smithsonian World television program, and a major trip to Japan. Materials include agendas, minutes, notes, reference files, correspondence, memoranda, reports, development files, budget files, subject files, and related materials.

Box 1 of 7

• Corporate Naming Project: 1991 (Related to Regents' Guidelines for SI)
• 1997 - Correspondence
• 1996 - Correspondence
• 1995 - Correspondence (3 files)
• 1994 - Correspondence
• 1993 - Correspondence (3 files)
• 1992 - Correspondence
• 1991 - Correspondence (2 files)
• SI Online
• 1995-1997
• 1990-1994
• Increase and Diffusion
• Policy, Procedure, and Background

Box 2 of 7

• Digitization: America Online
• Intellectual Property Rights
• Licensing Policy Rights
• Media 'Names' and Contacts
• Past Projects
• Retreats
• Electronic/Multimedia Activity Summaries
• HDTV
• SI Media Book
• Strategy Papers/Plans
• White House Initiative (2 files)
• Japan (4 files)
• Gem Exhibition
• Tokyo National Museum
• Japan-US Friendship Commission
• Japan Trips
• Japan Trip: May, 1996
• Japanese Exhibitions at SI
• Japanese Gardens Film
• Japan: The Perry Collection
• Congress
• Royal Visits and Issues
• American Festival
• Toppan Printing Co., Ltd.
• International House
• Yomiuri Shimbum
• Edo - Tokyo Museum
• SI-Japanese Relations

Box 3 of 7

• Vin Fiz
• Watanabe
• Total Media
• Mitsui
• Beijing: A City Without Walls
• Tokyo Geijutsu Daigaku
• Corporations
• NMAA
• NMAH
• NMNH
• ICI
• Manjiro
• Computer Museum/M. Horiuchi
• Corporate Membership
• Kobe
• NHK
• Suntory
• Starnet International
• Ken Courtis/Deutsche Bank Capital
• Suntory
• Maximizing Revenue
• Hanako Matano (5 Files)
• OPA (Office of Public Affairs)
• CNN - Talk Back Live
• OIT - Lee Denny
• Arthur Denny

Box 4 of 7

• SI Web
• Revenue Generating Activities
• TSA Mergers
• TSA Director Search (3 Folders)
• Smithsonian World
• Smithsonian World - Distribution Market Shares
• Smithsonian World - Program: Doors of Perception
• Smithsonian World - Loss of Funding/Archiving
• Smithsonian National Board
• Woodrow Wilson Center
• Program: Art on Film
• Grant Tinker
• Anna Caraveli: UCLA
• Smithsonian Campus on the Air (5 Files)

Box 5 of 7

• Electronic Media Board
• Electronic Media Board meeting: December 21, 1994
• OTC: Proposed Program
• OTC: Public Forum Cable
• OTC - NMNH Television Series, Rich Sabreen Enterprises, 1994
• OTC: Laura Sneider's TV Series, Secular Cathedrals
• SI Press
• Tsmuaki Proposal, November, 1993
• EMB Conferences
• CD-ROM: Muse's Bold Explorers
• Electronic Issues: Arturo Gomez
• OTC: CD-ROMS
• EMB Projects: 1994
• EMB: 1993
• OTC: 1993
• EMB: 1992
• OTC Miscellaneous
• OTC Personnel
• Electronic Strategy Group
• Electronic Media Board, February 1995-February 1997
• Digitization Meetings 1995
• Creation of the Counselor to the Secretary
• STRI and Charleston, SC Digital Initiatives (September 11, 1995)
• Digitization - Peace Corps
• Digitize ???????

Box 6 of 7

• Digitizing Collections
• Digitization
• Digitize - Jane Clark Chermayeff
• Advance
• Apple Computer
• AT&T
• Autometric
• Bell Atlantic
• Corbis
• Discovery
• EDS
• Hughes
• Intel
• Luna Imaging
• Malamud
• MCI
• Microsoft
• Silicon Graphics
• Prodigy
• Sony
• Viacom
• Virtual Worlds
• Xerox
• Zib Bits
• Audit
• NASM
• Publications Council
• Senior Business Office
• Andrew Ferguson
• Global View/Ferguson
• Czarra/Global View/Ferguson
• EAJ International: March 1994
• Mrs. Newman's Trip to Japan: 1993 and 1994
• Japan, Visitors to SI
• Japan-American Festival Signing Ceremony (Photographs)
• Secretary Adams's Visit to Japan (and Speech): 1993 and 1994
• Japan: Notes and Memoranda
• Hirayama's Visit: May 1993
• Masaji Yasunaga and MYC
• Japan: Possible Sources of Funding
• Research/Scholar Exchanges between SI and Japan
• Japan-SI Press Publication: "Rural Japan: Radiance of the Ordinary"
• Marc Pachter's Trip to Japan: July, 1994
• Japan Trip Information and Reports
• Japan-American Festival: NASM
• Japan-American Festival: Museum Shops
• Hankyu Corp.
• Japan-American Festival

Box 7 of 7

• Saskawa Foundation
• American Festival: "10 Who Dared" Heroes
• American Festival Japan: 1994
• Japan American Festival, Miscellaneous
• Japan American Festival Proposal
• Japan-American Publicity
• Japan Articles
• Japan American Festival Meeting: June 30, 1993
• Japan American Festival: May 1993
• Japan American Festival: Jan-Feb, 1993, MICO (Contracts/Correspondence, etc.)
• Japan American Festival: TV Project -- Inventions
• NHK - Presidents Program
• Japan American Festival: NHK Japan Broadcasting Co.

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Revised: August 1, 2002