Office of the Secretary, Smithsonian Institution
name: label: Collection Creator
content: Selig, Ruth
setName: label: See more items in
content: Ruth O. Selig papers
label: See more items in
content: Ruth O. Selig papers / Series 4: Administration
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: National Anthropological Archives
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NAA.2024-02, Subseries 4.5
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Following Larry Small's abrupt 2007 resignation as Secretary, the Regents named Cristián Samper Acting Secretary.  Recently retired from federal service, Selig returned as a full-time trust employee, serving as Samper's confidential assistant throughout his tenure as Acting Secretary.  Folder materials reflect these changes and also include written documents Selig drafted in consultation with Acting Secretary Samper, including announcements, messages, emails, memoranda, reports, Regents papers, and informal remarks.  Materials also include drafts of two Secretary's Columns published monthly in the Smithsonian Magazine and the SI employee newsletter, The Torch. Notes from the daily morning meetings Acting Secretary Samper held with his new senior leadership team detail the ongoing issues facing the Smithsonian, along with multiple decisions regarding Smithsonian personnel, policies, and procedures. During Samper's tenure as Acting Secretary, the Institut fur Deutsche Ostarbeit Project entered its Final Phase (2009-2012) as documented in the materials. When G. Wayne Clough was selected as the next Secretary, printed emails between Selig and Clough document the process by which Clough asked Selig to continue drafting pieces for the Secretary's Torch and SI Magazine columns, as well as other writing projects, including his installation speech, several drafts of which can be found in these records.