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Congressional Papers



We have been talking with our local congressional representative about the
possibility of depositing his papers in our archives.  He wants us to
consult archivists from other repositories that have congressional papers
and ask what advice they would give him.

Would any of you who have papers of U.S. senators or members of the House
of Representatives (especially recent ones) be willing to share your
wisdom?  He was wondering:

(1) To what extent do members of congress or their archivists try to
document service on committees that is not well represented in their
office files?  He knows that his office files do not reflect his
contributions on committees.

(2) How long should various typical series of files be closed to
researchers?  We want to follow his wishes (but at the same time
discourage excessive restrictions), but he needs advice as to what others
have done to make his own decisions.

(3) Which typical series of files are likely to have lasting value for
historians and other scholars and which do not really need to be
preserved?

We are not particularly shy about offering advice in matters of judgment
ourselves, but it makes sense for him to want some other opinions as well.
Nor do we want to limit those who respond to these three questions.
Please tell us whatever your experience suggests.

Thanks for your help.

 Wm. Kevin Cawley
 Archivist and Curator of Manuscripts
 Archives of the University of Notre Dame
 wcawley@nd.edu

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