For a state that in a few years will celebrate the 400th anniversary of its first permanent settlement, Odiorne Point in 1623, New Hampshire is pretty cavalier about its history.
In fact, more might be known, as least through the archives, about the administrations of some of its early governors than is on file about the two-year term (2003-2005) of Gov. Craig Benson. That’s because the box in the state archives on South Fruit Street labeled “Benson” contains no records or papers from the former governor, who is remembered most for telling state employees to bring their brains with them when they come to work.
Some administrations, notably those of New Hampshire’s first governor, Meshech Weare, and Meldrim Thomson Jr. (1973-1979) submitted box loads of correspondence and other information. Until 2010, when a weak law went into effect, governors weren’t required to provide posterity with any official information. Now, it’s up to them to decide what to submit. That’s fine for personal papers, but official information like proclamations and executive orders are public record and should be on file.
States vary widely when it comes to policies and laws designed to preserve gubernatorial papers, but New Hampshire, one of the original 13 colonies after all, does a lot less than most. There is, for example, no official record of all the executive orders issued by its governors. For the sake of history, understanding and civic education, lawmakers should establish a policy to be followed by the current governor and all who come after him.
Ordering governors to leave behind documents prepared on the public dime should be an easy decision. Not so easy because the cost would be giving the state archives the equipment it needs to store the official email messages of its governors and to digitize the most important documents in the archives so researchers all around the world can study them.
New Hampshire has played an outsized role in American history and it continues to do so as the first-in-the-nation primary state. That history, or at least potentially important parts of it, will be lost unless the lax public records policies are changed.