In Defense of Personnel at Nixon Library

On Aug. 8, Daniel C. Tsang wrote to inform your readers of errors in the way items in the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace were labeled. “The National Archives would not have committed these faux pas,” he concluded.

In fact, since we have not yet hired our curator and recognized that we needed the assistance of a professional to complete the gift displays, we contracted with a curatorial specialist--from the National Archives and selected by the National Archives--to oversee all labeling and display of gifts and artifacts. That individual worked long hours to complete the job, and we are grateful both to her and to her employers.

But the only substantive error Mr. Tsang pointed to was, in fact, made by the National Archives. He is certainly entitled to his harsh opinions about our exhibits, but they should not have impelled him to make correspondingly harsh and misinformed judgments about the library’s staff.

I am proud of what they have accomplished to open the nation’s first non-taxpayer-funded presidential library and birthplace.

HUGH HEWITT

Executive director

Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace