The Elephant In The Room (or The Importance Of Private Archives)

Well I’m sure many of you have been paying attention to politics in America recently, it’s been fairly difficult to get away from even if you wanted to. Normally I try to have DC be a supportive place without talking specifically about political issues, but this issue I think is very important to what I do and what you’re here for. The next few years we really have no idea how safe our public archives are.

I know a few people who work for public institutions and the general feeling is that we just don’t know what’s going to happen, but the status quo will most likely not remain. If we were to guess based on the massive layoffs and other sweeping financial decisions happening then it’s possible that nearly all federal funding for arts, archives, and other services will be gone.

This means that private archives like Dollar Country are going to be very important. The problem with a private archive is that archiving takes a ton of work and a ton of time, which is why so many archives are based on public institutions. Archives are for the public good, it’s important to preserve and provide access to our history, which is why so many are funded by public institutions or through federal funds.

In 2024 Dollar Country applied for and was granted 501(3)(c) non-profit status by the government in hopes that it would be able to attain grant money from private and public places. Not having the option of federal arts and archive grants in the future is a bummer, but thankfully the DC archive isn’t at risk of losing all funding because it is funded by 100+ individuals who choose to donate.

I consider myself very lucky to have that support for DC, most people don’t have that, and that’s because I’ve spent a ton of time putting in work and grinding it out to get here. So I’m writing this to say a big giant thank you to the folks who have donated and those who continue to do so, and that I know that we may be seeing some wacky things in the next few years that might include job losses and other types of financial trouble. DC has no intention of stopping, and the records I have archived are not even half of what I envision for the future. DC has been amassing records for years knowing that they would go up in price and become harder to get, so there are thousands of records yet to be filed, digitized, and shared! Without funding I’m not sure what will happen to all of these records, but I’ll worry about that if we get there.

I hope those of you that already donate are able to continue to support Dollar Country in the coming years because you all understand that it’s important to be archiving this culture. That being said, I understand if things get tight and you lose income, too.

If anyone out there would like to donate you can join the patreon or donate one time via paypal, cashapp, or venmo (info at the bottom). If you want to donate bigger amounts or know anyone who might want to donate more then please pass along my information or let them know where to find me. All donations are now tax deductible being that DC is a non-profit organization.

As always, the best way to help Dollar Country (besides donating) is to tell someone else about Dollar Country.

Thanks,
Franklin

Donation Information:
Venmo: @dollarcountry
Cashapp: $dollarcountry

Paypal: you can send a donation to host@dollarcountry.org

or use this donation page: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=LULUWNS7G4FD6