On January 30, National Council for the Social Studies Executive Director Susan Griffin joined Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and representatives of twelve other government agencies and organizations to sign the "Declaration of Learning," a statement that formally announces their partnership as members of the Inter-Agency Collaboration on Learning.

This initiative will give students, teachers, and life-long learners the opportunity to explore historic objects and access new learning resources digitally, helping ensure that tomorrow's leaders better understand the events, ideas, and movements that have shaped our country and the world. The group has selected "Diplomacy" as the first topic around which learning resources will be created. A new topic will be selected every two years.

Signed on the Treaty of Paris Desk at the Department of State, the declaration recognizes participating institutions for their commitment to use historic artifacts in their collections to create digital learning tools for students and educators.

"There is no doubting the power of these one-of-a-kind historic objects in bringing our future generations in touch with the importance of our past and its relevance to the future. The Declaration of Learning seeks to make those critical connections tangible in the classroom and I am so pleased that National Council for the Social Studies is taking part in such a partnership," said Griffin.

The signing ceremony also honored Secretary Clinton for her role in the completion of the "Patrons of Diplomacy" initiative, which established the first permanent endowment for the Diplomatic Reception Rooms and the funding to launch education programs to share the Rooms and their objects with people around the world.

Other institutions participating in the Inter-Agency Collaboration on Education include: American Library Association; Diplomatic Reception Rooms at the U.S. Department of State; Library of Congress; National Center for Literacy Education; National Council of Teachers of English; National Endowment for the Humanities; National Endowment for the Arts; Newseum; National Park Service; Smithsonian Institutions.

More Information

Video of Signing Ceremony
Text of Secretary Clinton's Remarks
Diplomatic Reception Rooms