Goals

Here are some of our specific goals for the research center and the website:

• Create an inviting, user-friendly physical environment at the Center’s existing office space
• Further develop the functionality of the Hidden History Center’s stunning new website, adding additional content that highlights little-known, unknown, hidden and forgotten history
• Devise a master index by which to catalog the Center’s collection
• Obtain professional input to create a Collections Policy
• Completely inventory the political books in the Center’s collection
• Finish the inventory of the Ralph McGehee Library
• Implement a system for cataloging archive documents
• Digitize documents in the Center’s archive and organize them electronically
• Create a mechanism on the Center’s website that will allow visitors to search for and read digitized copies of the documents in the Center’s archive
• Create an online newsletter that will offer intriguing articles, news, and tidbits about the Center
• Use social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and Twitter, to increase the Center’s visibility and to allow like-minded supporters of the Center to communicate with each other
• Actively seek volunteers and interns who are willing to help with the Center’s projects
• Continue to develop the Center’s Internship Program, in cooperation with York College and other colleges and universities
• Create and implement a fundraising plan, with the help of professional fundraisers, to secure the Center’s financial future
• Create a publicity campaign designed to make the public, community groups and other non-profit organizations aware of the Hidden History Center
• Network with other non-profits who advocate for similar issues and provide them a forum for presenting their ideas

It is our aim that visitors who explore the Hidden History Center and its associated website will:

• Have a better understanding of the broad powers of the U.S. government and how it controls and manipulates citizens
• Know more about the American permanent war economy and the dominance of the military intelligence complex in U.S. society
• Better comprehend the extent of the U.S. Intelligence Surveillance State, its “Beyond 1984” secret powers and its covert operations
• Have a new awareness of how political assassinations have been used as mechanisms for overthrowing governments and bringing about political and social changes
• Become more cognizant of the U.S. Corporate Empire State, the nature of capitalism, and the power that corporations wield in American society
• Understand more about the Native American genocide upon which settler colonialism was based, as well as the Indigenous Resistance
• Know more about prior and present-day movements for social change in America, including GI resistance and movements for civil rights, human rights and peace
• Become more aware of struggles for equality by women, immigrants, Native Americans and people of color
• Learn about the radically different future that will be created by technological change, and the impacts of technology on evolution, including nuclear energy and climate change
• Understand more about alternatives to the present-day situation, such as participatory democracy, intentional communities and other alternate political, social and economic structures
• Ideally, be motivated to work toward positive social change and become involved in influencing the policies and activities of the U.S. government