Sens. John W. Warner (R-Va.) and Jim Webb (D-Va.) introduced legislation this week to establish a new competitive grant program to encourage the preservation of and public access to historical documents and records of past presidents.

“The Presidential Historical Records Presentation Act of 2008,” S. 3477, was crafted in consultation and collaboration with officials from the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library and the National Archives and Records Administration. U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte (VA-06) introduced companion legislation in the House of Representatives.

Warner and Webb, along with Goodlatte, also introduced a bill earlier in the 110th Congress that would provide a grant from the National Archives to expand facilities at the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library in Staunton, Virginia, President Wilson’s birthplace.

The legislation introduced this week is an additional measure to address the needs not only of the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library, but also to ensure that similar centers housing presidential documents have the necessary resources for proper maintenance.

“Facilities such as the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library are critical to preserving our nation’s history, and we should be encouraging more organizations to engage in these kinds of important endeavors,” says Warner. “Present and future generations can look upon examples of leaders from the past and learn from their accomplishments, their tribulations and their mistakes.”

“I am pleased to work with Sen. Warner, the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library, and the National Archives to create a competitive program that supports centers that responsibly archive and maintain historic presidential documents,” says Webb.

Webb continues: “This bill will help the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library Foundation, and other non-profit entities like it, preserve and make available to the public the historical records and documents of American Presidents. Our country will be better off for having an improved, more complete understanding of American Presidents and their legacies.

“This project has the potential of benefiting not only the Staunton community, but the entire Commonwealth by strengthening an important cultural asset in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. More importantly, it will preserve valuable historical information for the use and enjoyment of Americans for generations to come.”