ASSOCIATION OF CENTERS FOR THE STUDY OF CONGRESS

Websites


Websites About Congress
Websites Related to Congress
Directories to Congressional Archives
ACSC Member Sites
Related Organizations


Congressional Websites

Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress
This site gives online access to the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress, with entries for all who have served in the House or the Senate, as well as updated versions of the House and Senate guides to research collections and bibliographies of Senators. The
House Legislative Resource Center maintains the site and is preparing bibliographies of House members.

Congressional Timeline (The Dirksen Congressional Center)

Center for Legislative Archives, National Archives and Records Administration
The National Archives is the official repository of the records of House and Senate committees. If you are interested in learning how to access the records of Congress, this site is the place to begin. Particularly valuable are the online guides to the committee records of the House and Senate, which provide excellent summaries of the history and purpose of each congressional committee. This site also has links to other sites of interest to students, historians, archivists, and political scientists.

Congressional Pictorial Directory
Provides brief biographical sketches of each member of the current Congress and a picture of each member of the House and Senate. The Congressional Pictorial Directory requires the use of the Acrobat Reader in order to view the pictures. Conveniently, the GPO site provides an easy way to download the Acrobat Reader at no charge for use with any file in the Adobe Acrobat PDF format.

The Congressional Record via GPO Access
The Congressional Record is a fascinating official daily record of the floor proceedings of the House and Senate. It reports on all floor debates, including material submitted by the members in support of their positions on various bills and issues of the day. The Congressional Record can be accessed from several places on the Internet including the Library of Congress's THOMAS site. The U. S. Government Printing Office (GPO) is the publisher of The Congressional Record, and offers an online searchable database of it for 1995, 1996, and 1997. You may search a topic or search for the floor speeches of individual members of the House or Senate. User-friendly.

Congressional Research Service Reports The Law Librarians' Society of Washington, D.C., Inc. (LLSDC) makes available on its Legislative Source Book Web site a new Web page entitled "Selected Congressional Research Service Reports on Congress and Its Procedures" which includes some 36 alphabetically arranged CRS reports, most of which have never before been made available on the Web. The site also links to most all other CRS Reports on the Internet as well as proposed current and past federal legislation that requires CRS reports to be made available on the Internet. The bulk of the reports on the new site were optically scanned into PDF documents from paper copies.

Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives
At this site, you can obtain copies of bills and other House documents, find historical information about the House, and learn about the services provided by the Office of the Clerk. The Clerk maintains, for example, a brief biography of every former Member which includes a bibliography and photographs or illustrations.

Speaker.gov
Hosted by the current Speaker of the House of Representatives, this site has information about the history, duties, and selection of the Speaker.

U. S. House of Representatives
Just as the House and Senate are different, although closely related, institutions, the Web sites of the House and Senate also differ. The House site focuses on current events and activities of the House, including schedules for floor activity and for House committees. The House site provides links to the House leaders' offices, the Library of Congress, C-SPAN, and other related locations. You can learn how to write to your representative, and if you do not know who your representative is, that person can be found by supplying your zip code. The House site also supplies information of interest to visitors to the Capitol, including an online tour of the Capitol building. For the precedents that guide rulings on floor debate and procedures, consult the online version of Hind's Precedents of the House of Representatives of the United States.

U.S. Senate
The Senate site contains many features similar to those offered on the House site, including floor schedules and committee information, but the focus is obviously on the Senate and its members. In many ways the Senate site is richer and more rewarding than its House counterpart; it contains more history and background on the Senate, and more information of use to students and teachers. One valuable feature of the Senate site is Learning About the Senate, which is a marvelous brief introduction to the Senate and its history. Included are a list of publications, a glossary of terms, virtual tours, background on the Senate Historical Office, and an introduction to the art and historical collections from the Office of Senate Curator. This site is updated regularly with the latest information and new features about the Senate and its history.

Websites About Congress

Center on Congress
The Center on Congress website offers materials for students, teachers, and the general public online, including interactive learning modules on such topics as “How a Member Decides to Vote,” “The Dynamic Legislative Process,” and “The Many Roles of a Member of Congress”; an  online video on “How Congress Works -- An Insider’s View” produced with the Close-Up Foundation and featuring former members of congress and key congressional staffers;, radio spots, newspaper columns, and online versions of Center publications.  Projects in progress include Teaching with Primary Sources, a collaborative project with the Library of Congress to
engage students in learning about Congress, representative democracy, and citizen participation, and Virtual Democracy, a multiplayer online role-play game to help young people learn about representative democracy.

Congressional Committee Meetings Index
The Meetings Index is a searchable database of the committee meeting descriptions found in the Congressional Record's Daily Digest sections. From its search page you may query a database of 57,000 Senate and House committee meeting records that begins with the 99th Congress (1985-86) and continues to the present. New records will be added to the Meetings Index monthly.

Congressional Mega Sites
This Library of Congress Internet Resource Page is a clearinghouse of other sites related to Congress, including the House and Senate Web pages; GPO Access, the U. S. Government Printing Office Home Page with resources on Congressional publications; The Congressional Record; and the Congressional (Pictorial) Directory, which has photographs of all current members of Congress. Also on this site are links to House and Senate Web pages.

Congressional Sources on the Internet  This site contains links to some of the best Web sites on Congress. A notable feature of interest to researchers is its listing of collections of congressional papers held at various archival repositories across the country. This list features the private and personal papers of former House and Senate members listed alphabetically by the name of the institution holding the papers.

CongressLink
CongressLink provides information about the U.S. Congress -- how it works, its members and leaders, and the public policies it produces. The site also hosts lesson plans and reference and historical materials related to congressional topics. The Dirksen Congressional Center, a non-profit, nonpartisan research and educational organization, designed the site as a service for teachers of American government, history, and civics.

First Federal Congress Project
One of the most interesting features of this site is an online exhibit that covers fourteen topics related to the work and accomplishments of the first Congress. The site will eventually have an online teacher's guide but even in its present form it provides a wide array of original sources, engravings, portraits, etc., all of which are placed in historical context. This exhibit will help users understand the critical role played by the First Federal Congress in providing stability for the new government and completing the work of the Constitutional Convention.

Government Printing Office
This site offers a wealth of information about Congress, including the following subparts:

Congressional Bills. All published versions of bills from the 108th (2003-2004), 107th (2001-2002), 106th (1999-2000), 105th (1997-1998), 104th (1995-1996) and 103rd (1993-1994) are available. The 107th Congress database is updated by 6 a.m.daily when bills are published and approved for release.

Congressional Directory. Presents short biographies of each member of the Senate and House, listed by state or district, and additional data, such as committee memberships, terms of service, administrative staff, and room and telephone numbers. It also lists officials of the courts, military establishment, and other Federal departments and agencies, including DC government officials, governors of states and territories, foreign diplomats, and members of the media.

Congressional Hearings. A limited number are available, but there is a search feature.

Congressional Record. The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. It is published daily when Congress is in session. Helpful Hints provide instructions for searching the Congressional Record database, 1995-current. The index to the Congressional Record is at http://www.access.gpo.gov/gpoaccess/aces/aaces190.html

Congressional Reports. Contains House, Senate, and executive reports, 104th Congress to present.

History of Bills. Lists legislative actions on bills that are reported in the Congressional Record, 1983-present.

Public Laws. Contains laws signed by the President, 1995-present.

"A Kid's Guide to the United States Congress"

Websites Relating to Congress

C-SPAN Online
Viewers of C-SPAN's cable TV coverage of the proceedings of the House and Senate and public affairs programming know the quality and impartiality of coverage for which C-SPAN has earned a much deserved reputation. C-SPAN Online continues this fine tradition. C-SPAN Online provides online lesson plans, special features, a glossary of congressional terms, frequently asked questions about the Capitol, the activities of the C-SPAN School Bus, and C-SPAN in the Classroom. C-SPAN Lesson Plans provide teachers with interesting and useful classroom tools. This site, already among the very best on the Internet, is getting better all the time.

The Hill
Capitol Hill is the most important small town in the world, whose 100 Senators, 435 House Members and 40,000 aides affect the lives of individuals and businesses throughout the world. The Hill's targeted circulation includes these influential 40,535 residents plus the executive branch, cabinet departments, the news media, trade associations, public-interest groups and lobbyists. The Hill reports and analyzes the actions of Congress as it struggles to reconcile the needs of those it represents with the legitimate needs of the administration, lobbyists and the news media. We explain the pressures confronting policy-makers, and the many ways - often unpredictable - that decisions are made. But Capitol Hill is more than the focal point of the legislative branch of government. It is also a community not unlike a small city, and The Hill reports on its culture, social life, crime, employment, traffic, education, discrimination, shopping, dining, travel and recreation.

The Library of Congress
All students and teachers should be familiar with this site. While the Library of Congress location does not focus on Congress the way THOMAS (see below) does, it offers students of history and government interesting places. The American Memory project is bringing online important congressional records and publications. "A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation" is a web site designed to make these records more accessible to students, scholars, and interested citizens, and it will bring together the records and acts of Congress from the Journals of the Continental Congress through The Congressional Globe, which ceased publication in 1873. Documents dated 1774-1805 are currently available. Additional materials will be added to the site every few months. Educators also will find useful resources on The Learning Page, including a teaching unit, In Congress Assembled, and information on presidents and presidential inaugurations. The Library of Congress Home Page also provides research tools, including the incomparable catalog of the Library of Congress, and links to other Library of Congress Internet resources. Special collections include material on the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention; Votes for Women, 1848-1921; and African American Perspectives, 1818-1907. Photographic collections include Civil War Photographs, Portraits of Presidents and First Ladies, and Washington as It Was, 1923-1959.

Roll Call On Line
Roll Call covers the inside stories on events in Congress and on Capitol Hill, ranging from the best of in-depth reporting to rumors and gossip. The newspaper is widely read by everyone on Capitol Hill and by those who closely follow the workings of Congress. Roll Call Online Home Page provides some of the features and the flavor of the newspaper and includes late breaking news, contests and quizzes, and profiles of freshmen members of Congress. If you want to know what Capitol Hill is like from its own neighborhood newspaper, this site is a good place to begin.

THOMAS
Named in honor of Thomas Jefferson, this site is the best single source of online information about Congress. THOMAS, a service of the U. S. Congress, is maintained by the Library of Congress. It offers a wide range of materials, including current activities of the House and Senate, access to major bills under consideration or recently enacted into law, the text of the daily Congressional Record for the past five years, information on House and Senate committees, legislative workload statistics back to the 91st Congress, historical documents such as the Constitution and the Federalist Papers, information on the legislative process in the House and Senate, and links to other government sites related to Congress, the executive branch, the judicial branch, and state and local government. Users of CongressLink will find that we refer often to the resources on THOMAS.

U.S. Congressional Bibliographies  
This site may be mis-named. It consists of comprehensive lists of hearings, prints, and publications printed by the Senate, 1983 to present. For the House, it lists committee meetings recorded in the Congressional Record's Daily Digest, 1985 to present. The site also has compiled productivity measures of various sorts.

U. S. Legislative Branch
is another very useful service of the Library of Congress. It provides information on each member of the current Congress, including e-mail addresses, voting records, congressional committees, House and Senate rules, history and facts about Congress, and visitor information. One link,Grolier Online, provides a good overview of what Congress does and how the legislative process works. Other information About the U. S. Congress is derived from the official U. S. Government Manual.

University of Michigan Documents Center
The
University of Michigan site was developed as a guide for class assignments. In addition to general information about the legislative process, it includes a section on “Choosing a Topic” and on sources, including reports from the Congressional Research Service which have not been officially released to the public.

American Political Science Association Congressional Fellowship Program
Until the reforms of the mid-1970s, Congress was a closed book to the public and to the press. APSA foresaw that early- to mid-career political scientists or journalists, placed on congressional staffs for 10 months, would be in a unique position to transmit their experiences to a broader audience. When they returned to their jobs, their research and reporting would benefit from new insights and the American public would be better informed.

The American Political Science Association inaugurated its first class of Congressional Fellows in 1953. Over the following decades, the idea of teaching the political process through practical experience became increasingly attractive to other professional groups as well. In response to this interest, the Program has expanded to include domestic and foreign policy specialists from the federal government, health policy professionals, various academics, and a limited number of scholars from the international community.

Now in its fifth decade, the Congressional Fellowship Program has achieved a reputation for excellence among those concerned with the quality of government and the ways in which democracies function. It has served as a model for fellowship programs in all three branches of the federal government, White House and Supreme Court Fellowship Programs and has been adapted for use in parliamentary settings abroad.

Among the ranks of the Program's more than 2,200 alumni are professors, reporters, editors, executives, lawyers, politicians, Hill staffers, parliamentarians, lobbyists, doctors, nurses, sociologists, anthropologists, Native American tribal leaders, federal domestic and foreign policy specialists, international scholars, and ambassadors - even a vice president.

To obtain a copy of A CONGRESS OF FELLOWS: Fifty Years of the APSA Congressional Fellowship Program, 1953-2003, written by Director Jeffrey R. Biggs, please contact fellowship staff.

Directories to Congressional Archives

Congressional Collections at Archival Institutions

The history of the U.S. Congress is documented in the official records of Congress, the private and personal papers of members of Congress, and many other sources. Official records and some personal papers are located in the National Archives at the Center for Legislative Archives, but most personal papers are geographically dispersed in repositories around the country. This site provides a searchable database of those collections.

ACSC Member Sites

Arizona Historical Foundation
The Arizona Historical Foundation was founded in 1959 by Senator Barry Goldwater. The Foundation is a 501(c) (3) organization housed within the Hayden Library at
Arizona State University. They are a private, non-profit repository of historical documents and primary source materials. As a heritage institution and part of the collecting community in Arizona, their goal is to selectively collect, preserve and make available historically relevant material to current and future generations of researchers. The Arizona Historical Fondation's holdings include over 130 manuscript collections, 12,000 photographs and ephemera, books, artifacts, film, videos, maps, oral histories, political cartoons, microfilm and several distinctive card catalogs. While some material dates back to the 1860s, the bulk of the collections document 20th and 21st century life in Arizona.

Bates College: The Edmund S. Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library
The Edmund S. Muskie Archives documents the late senator's exemplary career in public service, from his first election to the Maine House of Representatives in 1946 to his appointment as U.S. secretary of state in 1980 by President Jimmy Carter. The Muskie Archives is especially strong in documentary evidence on the political history of
Maine and the nation from World War II to the early 1990s.

Baylor University - Collections of Political Materials
The Baylor Collections of Political Materials is part of Baylor University Libraries, functioning as a research facility which collects congressional records and personal papers related to the political history of
Central Texas. It was established in 1979 in honor of Congressman W.R. Poage, Baylor alumnus and retired public official whose career spanned over fifty years.

Carl Albert Congressional Research and Studies Center
The
Albert Center performs four primary functions. First, it offers unique academic programs in congressional studies at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, including a Congressional Fellowship for graduate students and an Undergraduate Fellowship. Second, the Center promotes original scholarship by faculty and students into various aspects of politics and the Congress. Third, it serves as an important resource on the history of Congress, primarily through its Congressional Archives, a collection of twentieth century congressional papers. Finally, the Center fosters a wider understanding and appreciation of the Congress through a public outreach program, which includes lecture series, exhibits, and publications.

Center for American History
The Center for American History is one of the nation's premier historical research institutions. People come to the Center to study the outstanding collections that
University of Texas has assembled since its founding in 1883. The Center's Congressional History Collection acquires, preserves, and makes available for research archival materials for studies in congressional history, with a special focus on the Texas Congressional delegation. This collection component contains papers relating to the careers of more than fifty-five former members of Congress. The Center also manages two museums documenting congressional careers.

Center for Legislative Studies
Established in 1997, the Center for Legislative Studies is housed within the Department of Political Science at Bridgewater State College. It operates within the context of a dynamic educational environment that encourages research, teaching, and community service.

Center on Congress
The central mission of The Center on Congress is to help improve the public's understanding of Congress and to improve civic engagement, especially among our young people, as a way to strengthen our basic institutions of government. The Center is non-partisan and its goal is purely educational undefined to explain the work and role of Congress. Information on Congress is presented in a variety of ways, including newspaper op-eds, radio commentaries, website articles and brochures, teaching materials, conferences, books, television spots, and videos and interactive learning programs for students.   Areas covered by the Center include public perceptions of Congress, the role of Congress in our large, diverse country, the main public criticisms of Congress, and the impact of Congress on people's everyday lives. The Center encourages a balanced, realistic view of Congress: one that see its flaws but still recognizes its central role in our system of government; one that leads to a desire to make things better rather than to cynicism. At the core of the Center's work is the belief that our nation's great experiment of representative democracy has served us well for more than two hundred years, but it fundamentally rests on an informed electorate that understands our system of government and participates in our civic life.

Congressional and Political Research Center -- Mississippi State University Libraries
This site includes information on Congressional operations and politics through biographical sketches, oral histories and access to collections of personal papers, including those of U. S. Senator John C. Stennis and several U. S. Representatives, including G. V. "Sonny" Montgomery, David Bowen, Chip Pickering, Mike Espy, and Charles Griffin. These and other collections of personal papers and oral histories reflect public service at national, state, and local levels. Numerous links provide further access to cooperative outreach projects with the John C. Stennis Institute of Government and the
John C. Stennis Center for Public Service and to various other congressional centers, as well as local, state, and federal government information.

The Dirksen Congressional Center
The Center is a non-partisan, non-profit educational organization named for the late U.S. Senator from
Illinois and Minority Leader Everett M. Dirksen (1896-1969). Six sites make up the Web suite. The Dirksen Congressional Center site provides information about the range of services and programs offered by The Center and includes online historical materials drawn from The Center's archival collections. CongressLink is directed to teachers of American Government and civics. It is multi-featured, offering original content (including lesson plans and historical materials) and up-to-the-minute information about Congress. AboutGovernment features links to hundreds of Web sites dealing with the federal government and national politics generally, and Congress in particular. Congress for Kids links students of all ages to Internet-based, interactive activities that "teach" about Congress, the federal government, and civic duty. Congress in the Classroom® Online is an online workshop that provides content about Congress presented by experts, content to use and adapt in classrooms. Communicator keeps subscribers up-to-date on developments with the other five sites, provides guidance for using the sites, and reports on Dirksen Center news.

Elmer E. Rasmuson Library, Alaska & Polar Regions Collection
The Alaska and
Polar Regions(APR) Department acquires, preserves and provides access to materials that document the past and present of Alaska and the polar regions, both Arctic and Antarctic. Geographically the Arctic includes northern Canada, Greenland, northern Scandinavia, Iceland, and northern Russia (Siberia and the Russian Far East).

Hawaii Congressional Papers Collections
The goal of the Hawaii Congressional Papers Collection is to collect, preserve and make available for the citizens of Hawaii and the worldwide scholarly community the papers of Hawaii delegates to the U.S. Congress from the time of statehood in 1959 to the present.

John Joseph Moakley Archive and Institute on Public Policy and Political History
The John Joseph Moakley Archive and Institute is dedicated to the preservation, study, interpretation and celebration of the late congressman's legacy of service and political and public policy leadership.

The Modern Political Papers Collection at Indiana University
The Indiana University Modern Political Papers Collection consists of the congressional papers of senators and members of the House of Representatives from
Indiana serving from post-World War II to the present. Its primary focus is on senatorial collections and the papers of representatives from south central Indiana.  Major collections are the senatorial papers of Birch Bayh and the Lee Hamilton Congressional Papers. Collection development is supplemented by exhibitions, publications, and an oral history program with former staff members.

South Carolina Political Collections
South Carolina Political Collections is a division of the University of South Carolina Libraries. Established in 1991, it collects, preserves, and encourages research in private papers documenting South Carolinians and their government at the national and state levels in the post-World War II era. An active collecting program targets the records of members of South Carolina's congressional delegation, leaders in the General Assembly, the state's political parties, and other persons and organizations playing substantive roles in, or affecting, government. Holdings include manuscripts, audio-visual records, and electronic media. On ongoing oral history program supplements the collected documentary record. Interview subjects include legislators, staff, and family members.

Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies
Serving as a center for research and study, Russell Library at the University of Georgia Libraries develops and presents public programming and educational materials that facilitate and encourage research, raise public awareness of the Library and its collections and services, and provide learning opportunities for the communities it serves.The breadth and depth of Russell Library’s collections provide an interconnected framework of perspectives and experiences for understanding the increasingly diverse people, events, and ideas shaping modern Georgia’s political landscape. A searchable database of online finding aids to all open collections is on the Russell Library web site.

The Robert C. Byrd Center for Legislative Studies
A private, nonpartisan and nonprofit educational organization administered by the Congressional Education Foundation with facilities on the campus of Shepherd University in
Shepherdstown, West Virginia. The mission of the Center is to help foster a better understanding of the United States Congress, the Constitution and representative democracy both historically and in a contemporary setting. The Center has an archival section that contains the papers of U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd and other political collections.

Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
This site contains reports and related documents on seminars held at the
Woodrow Wilson International Center for scholars on aspects of the policy process in Congress. Each seminar brings together current or former members or staff from the Congress from each party, a congressional scholar who prepares a paper on the subject, and a journalist who covers The Hill. In addition, the Congress Project director prepares an introductory essay to put the seminar in historic context.

Center for Legislative Archives, National Archives and Records Administration
Repository for the official records of the U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senate, legislative branch agencies and commissions.

Robert J. Lagosmarino Library, California State University Channel Islands
The Archives will acquire primary or secondary source special collection materials pertaining to the history of Ventura County or the State of California. This includes personalities, events, and topics of interest. The Robert J. Lagomarsino Collection documents Mr. Lagomarsino’s service as a California State Senator (1961-1974) under governors Brown and Reagan and as a United States Representative (1974-1992) under presidents Nixon, Ford, Carter, Bush, and Reagan. The collection, approximately 400 linear feet, also details the Lagomarsino family history, documenting Ventura County’s early beginnings in the State. The collection includes artifacts, documents, memorabilia, oral histories, original furniture, photographs, and special collection items.

Thomas J. Dodd Research Center (University of Connecticut)
The Dodd Research Center collects material with statewide significance; papers of members of Congressional delegation; limited local or civic organizations records only as they complement other collecting areas. Finding aids to all open collections are available in the Collections section of the Dodd Research Center web site.

Wendell H. Ford Public Policy Research Center
Wendell H. Ford Public Policy Research Center supports research and programming dealing with issues relating to public policy, politics, and Congress. The Center provides University of Kentucky faculty, involved in teaching and research in these areas, the opportunity to work closely with the Ford Center on specific or general topics. The Ford Center develops public and educational programming and exhibits on public policy, politics, and Congress. These exhibits are made available on the University of Kentucky campus as well as other institutions and agencies throughout Kentucky. Some exhibits will become permanent exhibits on the Ford Center website.

John C. Stennis Center for Public Service Leadership
The Stennis Center for Public Service is a federal, legislative branch agency created by Congress in 1988 to promote and strengthen public service leadership in America. The Stennis Center is headquartered in Starkville, Mississippi, adjacent to Mississippi State University and has an office on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Programs of the Stennis Center are funded through an endowment plus private contributions from foundations and corporations.

Special Collections Department, University of Delaware Library
The collecting policy of the Library is to document broadly the history of Delaware and Delawareans, including primary sources related to the history of politics and government. The Library collects papers of current and former members of Congress; Delaware individuals who represent leadership in diplomatic or political arenas, domestic or foreign, at the local, state, and national levels; and papers of institutions, organizations, or groups concerned with public policy or civic affairs.

Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics (University of Kansas)
Collections primarily generated in the House and Senate offices of Sen. Bob Dole, 1960-1996. Also includes a significant collection of art, artifacts, audio/visual materials and oral histories. Of interest may be materials relating to Sen. Dole’s two presidential runs and his leadership roles in the Senate and the Republican National Committee. Inventories for collections can be found on the web site as they become available. Researchers are encouraged to contact the archivist with any questions.

The John Brademas Center for the Study of Congress (New York University)
The New York University Archives serves as the final repository for the historical records of NYU. Its primary purpose is to document the history of the University and to provide source material for administrators, faculty, students, alumni, and other members of the University community, as well as scholars, authors, and other interested persons who seek to evaluate the impact of the University's activities on the history of American social, cultural, and intellectual development.
The John Brademas Congressional Papers document the career of John Brademas as a Representative from Indiana's Third District from 1959 to 1981 and serves as the cornerstone for the John Brademas Center for the Study of Congress.

University of Rhode Island Library
The University of Rhode Island Library preserves many of  the records of Rhode Island's political leaders. Special Collections currently holds the papers of six governors, three United States Representatives, one Rhode Island Representative, and two United States Senators. These records occupy approximately four thousand linear feet. Many of the collections are being processed, as staff and time permit, and are presently unavailable for research; unprocessed collections are available by special permission only.

P.K. Younge Library (University of Florida)
Political papers have been at the center of the Library of Florida History since its inception in 1945. Among the earliest collections are the papers of David Levy Yulee, an antebellum Florida Senator. The most recent acquisition is the Bob Graham Senate Collection. The library also works closely with the Samuel Proctor Oral History Center and transcripts can be found in the University of Florida Digital Collections

H.M. Briggs Library Archives (South Dakota State University)
South Dakota State University Archives and Special Collections is the repository for the Senator Thomas A. Daschle Career Papers, the Benjamin Reifel papers, and the Frank E. Denholm Papers. Daschle’s papers chronicle his distinguished 26-year career in the U.S. House and Senate from 1979 to 2005. Tom Daschle served four consecutive terms in the House and was elected to the Senate in 1986. He served as the Democratic Party Leader from 1994-2005 and was the only one in the Senate’s history to have served twice as both Majority and Minority Leader. Ben Reifel was the first Lakota elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and represented South Dakota in the 1st District House seat from 1961-1971. When Reifel decided not to seek a sixth term, Frank Denholm was elected to the 1st District seat and served two consecutive terms from 1971 to 1975. Daschle, Denholm, and Reifel are alumni of South Dakota State University located in Brookings, South Dakota.

Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy (University of Tennessee)
The Howard Baker Center focuses on three main areas of interest. First, the center maintains and promotes research in the papers of Howard Baker and other political collections at the University of Tennessee. These materials provide a wealth of information for scholars and students. The Center will work to assist in the solicitation of new collections. Second, the Center hosts public programs on issues of local, regional, national, and international significance. These programs are on a wide array of topics, with special interest given to the role of the media. Thirdly, the Center actively engages in innovative educational initiatives to help students of all ages better understand the American political system. These initiatives promote understanding of the responsibilities and rewards of public service, and the significance of each citizen's active involvement in government.

Office of the Historian, U.S. House of Representatives
The Office of the Historian provides information and interpretation on important precedents and events for the use of Members of Congress and their staffs, the media, students, educators, scholars, and the general public. The Office conducts oral history interviews of current and former members of Congress and selected staff, as well as advises members on the disposition of their archives and papers. It also works with the Office of Photography to archive the hundreds of thousands of photographs taken in the House.

Special Collections, University of Vermont
Special Collections advances the mission of the Libraries and the University of Vermont by developing, preserving, and providing access to rare books and permanently valuable records and collections that document Vermont and the University.

Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate

The Institute will be dedicated to educating the general public, students, teachers, new Senators, and Senate staff about the role and importance of the Senate. In keeping with Senator Kennedy's lifetime of public service, a major goal of the Institute will be to improve civic education in the nation and educate and inspire a new generation of active citizens and legislators. In all of its programs, the Institute will draw heavily on Senator Kennedy’s extensive papers and oral history materials covering his more than four decades in the Senate.

Senator Mitch McConnell and Representative Elaine Chao, University of Louisville
The McConnell Center was established in 1991 by Kentucky's senior U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell and the University of Louisville. McConnell, a 1964 graduate of the university, founded the Center based on his belief that "Kentucky's future depends on inspiring talented, motivated leaders."  The McConnell Center is dedicated to providing a non-partisan, well rounded education that encourages top undergraduates to become valued citizens and future leaders of the Commonwealth and the nation. The Center also facilitates public discourse on the major challenges of our time while encouraging an understanding of our shared past.

Congressional Papers Roundtable The Congressional Papers Roundtable of the Society of American Archivists is composed of members of the Society and others who work with or have an interest in the papers of members of Congress and the records of Congress. The roundtable provides a forum for news, for discussion of issues and developments, and for setting standards and advocating action in the preservation and management of congressional papers and records.

Maine Political Papers Network
The Maine Political Papers Network (MPPN) exists to facilitate access to and promote preservation of the papers of
Maine lawmakers and other elected officials. This informal collaboration of libraries and archives includes the Maragaret Chase Smith Library, the Edmund S. Muskie Archives at Bates College, the George J. Mitchell Papers at Bowdoin College, the William S. Cohen Papers at the University of Maine, the Maine State Archives, and the Maine Historical Society. The MPPN website provides links to these institutions and a comprehensive list of Maine's governors and members of Congress.

Contact us

Modern Political Papers Collection 

Indiana University Libraries

Herman B Wells Library E460

1320 E. 10th Street 

Bloomington, IN 47405

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