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The Society of American Archivists and the Midwest Archives Conference are co-sponsoring "The Acquisition, Processing, and Reference of Legislative Collections," from April 30-May 1, 1996, in Chicago, Illinois. Acquiring and processing congressional collections, and providing reference for them, can be among the most daunting of the archivist's responsibilities. Participants of this workshop will gain practical knowledge of the following issues: how to contact and work with a retiring senator or representative; forming the deed of gift; appraising the records, with special emphasis on keeping them a manageable size; sampling; processing; reference and access; and legal and ethical issues. The instructors will be Herbert Hartsook, curator of Modern Political Collections at the University of South Carolina, and Cynthia Pease Miller, assistant historian of the United States House of Representatives. Registration is $ 209, and participants will receive a certificate for 1.5 CEU upon completion of the course. The workshop will be held at the Midland Hotel in conjunction with the spring MAC meeting. For more information, contact SAA at (312) 922-0140 or FAX (312) 347-1452.

This issue of the roundtable newsletter reflects the culmination of certain activities your leadership has undertaken in the last couple of years. Of specific note, the Roundtable continues its venture with the Center for Legislative Archives (CLA) and offers bylaws for restructuring its organization. On page 3, CLA contributes their second column to the newsletter. Katherine Collado highlights one of the Center's unique and entertaining collections, the political cartoons of Clifford Berryman.

Karyl Winn of the University of Washington chaired the Bylaws Committee, which was appointed at the last annual meeting. In its ten-plus years of existence, the roundtable has grown significantly. The idea to restructure came primarily as a method to both insure and encourage greater participation from the membership as well as to provide more effective leadership within SAA and within the sphere of congressional papers archivists' interests. The bylaws for the roundtable are found on the goldenrod insert, with a ballot and a separate section for indicating interest in participating in leadership.

The current leadership structure has six steering committee members, which includes the chair and two ex officio members from the Senate Historical Office and the House Legislative Resource Center. The other three members serve staggered terms. Membership is by appointment. The newsletter editor has been the chair or a volunteer. The proposed bylaws add four seats to the steering committee, one of which is from the Center for Legislative Archives. The representatives from the Senate, House, and CLA will have voting privileges. Officers and other steering committee members will be elected. All steering committee members will have specific responsibilities. The newsletter editor position becomes a separate function with ex officio status.

Please give careful consideration to the proposed bylaws and return your ballot by the April 15 deadline. More importantly, whether the ballot is affirmed or not, plan to contribute your talents and time to the roundtable and notify the leadership of your interests. All praise to Rebecca Johnson Melvin for establishing and editing a homepage for congressional papers resources!! This, in addition to editing the newsletter, calls for an ovation.

The Congressional Papers Roundtable of the Society of American Archivists met in Washington, D.C. at the National Archives Center for Legislative Archives on Friday, 1 September 1995. Sheryl Vogt, chair, called the meeting to order at 10:45 a.m. The first order of business was to introduce the members of the steering committee. They are: Karen Paul, U.S. Senate Historical Office; Cynthia Pease Miller, Legislative Resource Center for the House of Representatives; Sheryl Vogt, University of Georgia; James Cross, Clemson University; Rebecca Johnson Melvin, University of Delaware Library; and Karyl Winn, University of Washington.

Sheryl Vogt then announced that the Congressional Papers Roundtable celebrated its tenth anniversary this year. The last time the SAA annual meeting was held in Washington, D.C., was in 1984. At that time Karyl Winn led an organizational meeting of a small fledgling group of archivists interested in forming the roundtable. To date, the membership numbers around 140. At this time, Vogt also recognized the Senate Historical Office and the Legislative Resource Center of the House of Representatives for the support they have given this group.

The roundtable members were thanked for their quick response with letters and phone calls when it appeared that the reorganization of the House of Representatives would eliminate the Office of the Historian. This support helped save the office, which is now a part of the House Legislative Resource Center. Cynthia P. Miller introduced John J. Kornacki, director of the House Legislative Resource Center. He reported to the group that the Center is under the supervision of the Clerk of the House, Roby Carle. The Center combines the operations of the Records and Registration, the House Library, the House Document Room, and the Office of the Historian.

The steering committee for the roundtable met on Thursday, August 31. Committee members determined that there needed to be a more formal structure to the roundtable in order to encourage more members to participate. Two committees were created to provide this organization. The Bylaws Committee, chaired by Karyl Winn, with Karen Paul, Cynthia Pease Miller and Sheryl Vogt, will prepare guidelines for managing the Roundtable and electing officers. The Nominating Committee, consisting of Herb Hartsook (chair), Jim Cross and Rebecca Johnson Melvin, will solicit candidates for elections to be held next year in San Diego. The roundtable hopes to have structure similar to the Manuscripts Section which consists of a chair, vice-chair, and a steering committee. People interested in serving the Roundtable should contact a member of the current steering committee.

The SAA Program Committee encouraged the roundtable to submit program proposals for next year's meeting. Some suggestions included sessions on electronic records or on state party organizations and clubs. The Congressional Papers Roundtable sponsored three sessions at this annual meeting: Picture Appraisal in an Age of Abundance, the Future of Congressional Collections, and the Heinz Electronic-Library Interactive On-line System (HELIOS).

Herb Hartsook and Cynthia Pease Miller were encouraged to offer their legislative workshop in San Diego since it has not been taught on the west coast. At the 1996 meeting, there will be a panel discussion on appraisal guidelines and their implications. This proposal was prompted by the appraisal guidelines for congressional collections established at the Minnesota Historical Society and an article by Mark Greene in Archival Issues. Bill Brown, University of Miami (Florida), announced that the proceedings from the Congressional Papers Conference that was held in Portland, Maine, (September 1994) will be published by the end of 1995. Rebecca Johnson Melvin requested that information for the Congressional Papers Roundtable be sent to her to be included in the newsletter.

Michael Gillette, director of the Center for Legislative Archives, was introduced. He welcomed the group and thanked the group for responding to the survey that was sent to members last fall. This survey shaped some of the Center's programs and incentives. The group was then invited to tour the legislative records area and the new reading room.

Sheryl Vogt announced a social with light refreshments for roundtable members on Saturday, September 2. Everyone was invited to attend. The meeting was adjourned at 11:15 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Pam Hackbart-Dean
University of Georgia

The Senate Historical Office announces publication of a revised edition of the Guide to Research Collections of Former United States Senators, 1789-1995. In addition, the office has published Senators of the United States: A Historical Bibliography. These are companion volumes intended for use in congressional research settings. Another recent title from the Historical Office is United States Senate Election, Expulsion and Censure Cases, 1793-1990. Copies are available from the Senate Historical Office, Washington, D.C. 20510. Senate Archivist, Karen Paul, is also pleased to announce that she now has an email address:

Karen Paul is about to begin work on a revised edition of the Records Management Handbook for United States Senators and their Archival Repositories. She would like to invite anyone who is interested to submit comments or suggestions for inclusions, deletions, changes, etc. to the current version. Comments should be sent to her at the Senate Historical Office, Washington, D.C. 20510.

The Office of the Clerk has prepared and made available for departing members of the House a 22-page booklet, Closing a Congressional Office: A Guide to the Disposition of Official Papers and Records. For more information about these useful guidelines, contact Cynthia Pease Miller at (202) 225-1153. Cynthia Pease Miller has a new email address:

A collection of some 2,000 original pen and ink drawings by political cartoonist Clifford K. Berryman was found in the basement of his daughter Florence Berryman's home. After Florence Berryman's death, bags of papers found in her basement were almost mistaken for trash. A closer examination revealed a treasure trove of cartoons drawn by Clifford Berryman. The Charles Engelhard Foundation purchased the drawings from the estate of Florence Berryman as a gift to the United States Senate for transfer to the National Archives Center for Legislative Archives. The gift was made in honor of former Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield. The collection represents one of the largest private collections of graphic art dealing with Congress and American politics from the 1890s to the 1960s, an era of sweeping legislative transformation.

The Center for Legislative Archives and the Senate Curator's Office plan to showcase the Berryman drawings in a number of ways, with an emphasis on educational applications. Publication of the Berryman cartoons, outreach programs, and displays of his original drawings will provide wide access to this unique collection. Reproductions of the Berryman cartoons are available for research.

Florence Berryman, a former art critic for the Washington Evening Star, described political cartoons as the branch of art in which the transmission of ideas is paramount. She stressed that a political cartoon must make an immediate impact and that "A drawing may be beautifully executed, may have decorative qualities, admirable composition and creative design, all of which will make it good art. But unless it presents an idea, forcefully and convincingly, it is not a good cartoon." Clifford Berryman's cartoons met both standards.

Clifford Kennedy Berryman became a celebrated and important fixture as a cartoonist in twentieth century Washington. His status as Washington's best known and most-admired graphic commentator on politics originated at a young age. He was born in 1869 in Versailles, Kentucky. As a boy growing up in Kentucky, he was intrigued by hometown politics and state politicians. A self-taught artist, Berryman's work attracted the interest of Kentucky Congressman Joseph C.S. Blackburn, who secured Berryman a job as a draftsman at the United States Patent Office. Once in Washington, Berryman familiarized himself with the nation's capital and recorded his observations in sketches.

When Berryman submitted several of his cartoons to the Washington Post in the late 1880s, he was asked by the editorial board to serve as the lead cartoonist's understudy. By 1896, he became the lead cartoonist, a position he held until 1907. At that point, he was asked to become the Evening Star's front page cartoonist, his life-long ambition. The Evening Star was a local Washington paper with a circulation of approximately 150,000 and a detectable Republican slant. He held that position for over forty years, drawing until he died in 1949.

Eschewing the often biting styles of his contemporaries, Berryman opted for light-hearted portrayals of tense and troublesome episodes in political history. Rather than belittling subjects by exaggerating unattractive personal characteristics or habits, Berryman's more flattering drawings won him the regard of many politicians. Berryman had an ability to make a central point without rancor. His early style caused readers to gently shake their heads and smile at his subjects. The style was a contrast to the more monotone traits of Herblock, the cartoonist for the Washington Post, who was typically pro-liberal, and much more caustic in his portrayals.

Revered by Washington politicians and critics alike, Berryman was touted as the "Dean of American cartoonists" and the "pride and boast of Washington." Berryman was even characterized as "one of the most thoughtful and constructive political philosophers of his day." His work can be succinctly described as "satire that never left a scar." Linda Mullins, author of books on the teddy bear, a novelty born in Berryman's cartoons, and a personal friend of the late Florence Berryman, claimed that of the 15,000 Berryman drawings, not one ever hurt someone's feelings. His 1949 obituary in the Evening Star stated, "Berryman pointed up the frailties of the parts [his subjects] played without trespassing on the privacy of their own lives or personalities." Comments on Berryman's gentility are abundant. His niece, Betty Berryman Austin, commented, "I wish you could have known him--he was a real charmer." Berryman's unique style lampooned a politician's policies and political persona while sparing the immutable characteristics of his subject. For instance, his 1948 cartoons of Republican front-runner Thomas Dewey chided his overconfidence. Truman's triumph over Dewey made Dewey's quirk seem foolish, proving that self-assurance did not guarantee victory.

Despite Berryman's reluctance to criticize politicians, he was not shy about confronting major issues of the day. If a politician's actions warranted Berryman's attention, he used his political cartoons to express his disapproval. For example, his cartoons were, at times, critical of presidents. One such cartoon, which earned the artist the Pulitzer Prize in 1944, depicted the confusion during World War II as national leaders, including Franklin Roosevelt, struggled to mobilize United States manpower.

Berryman's son, Jim who succeeded his father as lead cartoonist at the Evening Star, sought to continue the "Berryman style." The characteristic Berryman approach was emphasized by Jim's son, Rhys, noting that Truman would often call Jim to discuss particularly negative cartoons. Notwithstanding Jim Berryman's frequent use of Truman as a subject, he was able to maintain a good personal relationship with the President. Indeed, Rhys pointed out that "...Harry was a good sport" and that his "Dad really didn't dislike Truman, he just liked to poke fun..."

Berryman's well-received cartoons were pivotal in defining the need and importance of cartoons to enhance, explain, and interpret the proceedings of Washington's political arena by grabbing readers' focus every time they viewed the front page of the newspaper. His work added an artistic dimension to the writings and analyses in the newspapers and today remains a means to study past history using visual documents.

Florence Berryman offered the relevant remark that cartoons are of and for the people. She prophesied their lasting impact. She thought that people would look at old cartoons and know what people of earlier times were doing, suffering, and hoping. Clifford Berryman's work epitomized his daughter's vision. Berryman enabled us to know the times, the themes, and the players by bringing them to visual life.

For further information or a bibliography related to Berryman's political cartoons, contact Katherine A. Collado or Michael L. Gillette, Director, Center for Legislative Archives. (202) 501-5350.

When the Minnesota Historical Society completed its Congressional Papers Appraisal Policy in 1993 it intended to apply these guidelines both to new collections as well as those which were already held by the Society. In 1995, with the assistance of NHPRC Mellon Fellow Sushan Chin, the Society embarked on a project to test the applicability of the guidelines on two collections of congressional papers, those of representatives Arlen Erdahl and Albert Quie. The reappraisal of collections was approached with the same goals in mind as with ongoing appraisal: balance the Society's resources against the sizeable bulk of existing congressional collections, and apply "the most stringent appraisal criteria possible consistent with preserving collections which serve the long-term historical objectives of historians and other researchers." Further, we sought to maximize the space savings at the least cost in staff time.

In short, the project was successful. The Arlen Erdahl Papers (1979-1983) were reduced from 120 to 20 cubic feet, and the Albert Quie Papers (1959-1979) were reduced from 462 to 176 cubic feet. Our goal of weeding out material only at the series level (as opposed to folder level appraisal) was made difficult by the fairly amorphous filing systems maintained by the two offices, neither of which matched up well with the series outlined in our guidelines. Although there were fairly distinct series such as newsletters, academy appointments, case files, invitations, speeches, press releases, etc., the largest portion of both collections consisted of subject files (variously labeled general, departmental, legislative, and subject). Upon close examination of representative boxes, these subject files were found to be constituent correspondence on a myriad of issues; a letter or memo with staff or colleagues about policy formulation or legislation would occasionally appear, but represented less than 1% of the items. Our guidelines call for the elimination of constituent correspondence for representatives because of our retention of it for senators, so we wanted to devise a method whereby some evidence of the representative's positions and actions were documented without also including hundreds of feet of constituent mail. In both sets of papers we chose to identify those folders in the subject series that related to the representative's district or to areas of particular concern and expertise. In Quie's case these files related to poverty, education, and agricultural issues in addition to his district concerns. Erdahl, on the other hand, did not particularly distinguish himself on any particular issue, and therefore only his subject files related to district issues were deemed worth saving.

However, for the reappraisal to be practical in terms of staff time invested versus results obtained, it was not feasible for us to examine the contents of each of the folders in these broad constituent subject files. The alternative was to select files based on the folder titles alone. In order to test the feasibility of this approach we selected ten random boxes of subject files, marked the folders in the box inventories which we believed reflected the choices noted above, then examined the contents of every folder in the ten boxes. In our examination of folder contents we did not find any folders which contained materials which we wished to save and had not also been selected from our perusal of folder titles. In fact, the opposite was true. There were a significant number of folders which did not merit retention based on their contents, even though we had selected them based on their folder title. We were content, though, to live with this. The final selection and disposition of the subject files was therefore done by folder title review. Based on this approach, the Division of Library and Archives allocated money to hire a project archivist this year to implement further reappraisal. This archivist, Rob Teigrob, is well into the papers of Donald Fraser (1963-1979); 200 of the original 500 boxes in this collection have already been identified for destruction. After the Fraser papers, we hope to reappraise two or three additional collections this year (more if additional project funds are available). The MHS Congressional Papers reappraisal project will be the subject of the Congressional Papers Roundtable meeting in San Diego; if you have questions before then, please contact Todd Daniels-Howell or Mark Greene.

Terry Abraham, Stephen E.Belzarini, and Anne Frantilla, "What is Backlog is Prologue: A Measurement of Archival Processing," American Archivist 48:1 (Winter 1985) 31-42.

William J. Maher, "Measurement and Analysis of Processing Costs in Academic Archives," College and Research Libraries 43 (January 1982) 59-67.

Karen Temple Lynch and Thomas E. Lynch, "Rates of Processing Manuscripts and Archives," the Midwestern Archivist 50 (1987) 25-34.

Uli Haller, "Variations in the Processing Rates on the Magnuson and Jackson Senatorial Papers," American Archivist 50 (1987) 100-109.

Modern Political Collections at the University of South Carolina is having a banner year as regards outreach and is beginning to benefit from efforts aimed at raising private support for the division's programs. A gala dinner hosted by University President John Palms announced the receipt of the papers of former congressman and majority whip Butler Derrick, and the inauguration of an endowment to support the work of Modern Political Collections. The dinner received significant coverage by print, television, and radio media. The University grasped the dinner as an opportunity to publicize the division's collecting and oral history activities. Herb Hartsook, Curator of Modern Political Collections, was interviewed on television and radio during the week following the dinner. The publicity helped kindle the interest of at least one prospective donor of papers.

The endowment currently stands at just over $ 28,000 and is growing weekly. Income from the endowment will initially be used to support research in and publications based upon the division's holdings. In addition to growing the endowment, private monies raised for specific projects currently fund two graduate assistantships in the division and efforts are under way to fund a one year full time position to assist with a major processing and oral history project.

Each year the University highlights one area of its operations with a major exhibit for the South Carolina Sate Fair. This year, Modern Political Collections will be highlighted with a display that tentatively will include a video introduction, an interactive exercise, and traditional displays. The exhibit is being planned by Heather Erskine, a graduate student specializing in Museum Studies in the University's Applied History Program, in coordination with Hartsook. The exhibit will serve as Erskine's thesis project and will be designed so that discrete elements of the exhibit may be mounted again, in other venues, as stand-alone displays. It is anticipated that over 300,000 people will view the exhibit.

Special Collections and Archives, University of Idaho Library, is pleased to announce the availability of large portions of the James A. McClure Papers to researchers and scholars. The finding aid, including descriptions of the component parts and folder inventories, is now available on the WWW at the URL: http://www.uidaho.edu/special-collections/Manuscripts/

Senator James A. McClure donated his congressional papers to the University upon his retirement from the U.S. Senate in 1990. This material initially totaled more than 1,500 cubic feet (approximately 20 tons), much of it correspondence with Idaho constituents, as well as communications with other political leaders, memoranda, photographs, government documents, and audio and video tape recordings. The arrangement, sorting, and description of the materials began in 1991 under the direction of Manuscripts-Archives Librarian Richard C. Davis. Processors included University students Andrew Arconti, Harriet Essiam, Ken Lahners, Kate Schalck, John Whitmer, and Wilma Woods, with additional effort by Manuscripts Assistant Judy Nielsen. The library acknowledges the financial support of the Provost's Office towards the cost of arrangement and description.

James Albertus McClure was born on December 27, 1924, in Payette, Idaho. McClure served in the United States Navy during World War II, earned a law degree from the University of Idaho in 1950, and subsequently returned to Payette where he was elected county prosecuting attorney and Payette city attorney. A conservative Republican, McClure was sent to the Idaho state senate for three terms, 1961-1966, and in the latter year was elected to the United States Congress from the 1st District of Idaho (the northern panhandle and the southwestern quarter of the state), being re-elected in 1968 and 1970.

In 1972, Idaho voters elected McClure to the U.S. Senate, and re-elected him in 1978 and 1984. His service in both House and Senate reflected the public lands and natural resource issues of interest to his constituents, including membership on the House Interior and Insular Affairs Committee and chairmanship of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, 1981-1987, of which he was thereafter the ranking minority member. He was also the ranking minority member of the interior Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee and a member of the Senate Rules Committee, the Senate Republican Steering Committee, and the Helsinki Commission on Human rights. In 1987 he served on the Senate Select Committee to investigate the Iran-Contra Affair.

McClure declined to run for re-election in 1990 and upon his retirement from the Senate he entered a partnership with his former legislative director and executive assistant, forming McClure, Gerard, & Neuenschwander, Inc., a Washington, D.C., lobbying firm. He and his wife, Louise have returned to Idaho to live.

The McClure Papers add to the growing body of documentation of Idaho's political leadership. Among the holdings of the University of Idaho Library are records of governors C.A. Bottolfsen, Barzilla Clark, and C. Ben Ross; U.S. senators and representatives William Edgar Borah, Burton Lee French, James P. Pope, George L. Shoup, W.B. Heyburn, Gracie Pfost, Herman Welker, and Compton White; state legislators Harold Lough and Robert Hosack; and University of Idaho regents, presidents, and faculty.

The historical manuscripts at the University of Idaho Library are supplemented by the 16,000 volumes of Idaho and Pacific Northwest history in the Day-Northwest Collection, the Idaho state documents collection of over 10,000 items, over 100,000 images in the Historical Photograph Collection, and other records of mining, lumbering, and insurance companies; banks, hospitals, and orphanages; personal papers of judges, doctors, lawyers, and journalists; and the University Archives. All are located in Special Collections and Archives which open from Monday through Friday, 8 am to 5 pm, except University holidays. Summer hours may vary.

Karen Paul is trying to compile a list of senators who have given unexpended campaign funds to repositories that received their papers, and senators who helped with fund-raising subsequent to the donation of their papers. If your repository received financial help from a senator, please call Karen Paul at the Senate Historical Office, (202) 224-3351, or email

"Am seeking information on Congressman Arsene Pujo, served in the House of Representatives from 1903-1913. Any information on location of papers would be appreciated. Thanks." (McNeese State University, Lake Charles, LA.)

Greg Colati:
Bowdoin College, in Brunswick, Maine, has received as a gift over 1,000 boxes of material chronicling the political career of former U.S. Senator George J. Mitchell (Bowdoin '54). President Robert H. Edwards announced the gift of the papers on September 7, 1995, at a special luncheon attended by Mitchell, members of his family, former staff, and members of the College community. The material documents Mitchell's professional and political career, including his 1974 gubernatorial campaign, his career as a senator from Maine, and his six years of service to the Nation as Senate Majority Leader. The collection, which also includes personal and family materials, consists of correspondence, memoranda, reports, financial records, press materials, and other printed matter as well as memorabilia. It is expected that the processing of the documents will take two years; however, portions of the collections will be made available as cataloging work progresses.

Dan Lewis:
Processing of the Glenn Anderson Papers, created by Glenn M. Anderson, Congressman from Long Beach, CA, has entered the second phase of processing at California State College Dominguez Hills. The first phase, creation of a detailed preliminary inventory, was completed in April 1994. The second phase, description and arrangement, began in January of 1996. Project Archivist Dan Lewis, who completed the initial inventory, is continuing work with the current phase of the privately-funded project. Anderson was the youngest mayor in the country in 1940 while serving as mayor of Hawthorne (he was 27), and served as Lieutenant Governor of California from 1958 to 1966. He entered Congress in 1969 and served until his retirement in 1991. Mr. Anderson, who passed away in 1994, is best remembered for his contributions to Southern California's transportation infrastructure.

C&RL News Dec. 1995:
President Bill Clinton dedicated the new Thomas J. Dodd Research Center at the Storrs campus of the University of Connecticut on October 15, 1995. The dedication was a kickoff for a year of events designed to investigate and analyze the status of human rights in today's world, a particular interest of President Clinton's. The late U.S. Senator Thomas J. Dodd served as Executive Trial Counsel to the Chief Prosecutor of the Nuremburg International Tribunal and was an outspoken opponent of communism and totalitarianism. The 55,000-square-foot research and archival facility holds Dodd's papers as well as UConn's archival collections on Connecticut politics, labor, business, immigration, and enterprise, as well as a record of the university's own history and many of the university's special collections. The $9.9 million facility includes an auditorium, lobby, lounge, gallery, conference room, reference and public reading rooms, and offices, and provides a technologically advanced, climate-controlled environment for storing and preserving the collections.

NIDS US Newsletter (Chadwick-Healey, Inc.) October 1995:
Texas A & M University, College Station, has confirmed its acquisition of the U.S. House of Representatives papers of Senator Phil Gramm. The 29 cartons of material have been at the University for over a decade, but some of Gramm's staff expressed surprise that they were there after a Mother Jones story reported on their location. Senator Gramm recently stated, however, that he intends to give his Senate papers and any future papers to Texas A & M, which is also the location of the George Bush Presidential Library.

David Maslyn:
The University of Rhode Island is preparing for the final transfer of the papers of Senator Claiborne Pell. The University has been receiving Pell's papers since 1976 and currently has 1400 linear feet at the Library. This material is accessible with a box inventory and at least one dissertation has already been written based on research in the collection.

LRJM:
During the academic year 1995-1996, Special Collections at the University of Delaware Library was fortunate to cosponsor with the political science department a graduate assistant to process the papers of Willard Saulsbury, Jr. (U.S. Senate 1913-1919). In compensation similar to a teaching assistantship, the graduate student received tuition and a stipend for 20 hours work per week. Previous assistantships have been from English, History, and Art History; this was the first political collection we have been able to process with assistance from the mutually beneficial program.

Also, you can now read this newsletter online at the Congressional Sources on the Internet homepage. Take a look.

CONGRESSIONAL PAPERS ROUNDTABLE/SOCIETY OF AMERICAN ARCHIVISTS

PURPOSE

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.

STEERING COMMITTEE

The Steering Committee is composed of 10 members, which includes the officers (chair, vice-chair/chair-elect, and the immediate past chair); four members (two elected per year for two-year terms); and three members who shall be individual representatives from the legislative Resource Center of the House of Representatives, the Senate Historical Office, and the Center for Legislative Archives of the National Archives. The newsletter editor serves as an ex officio member (unless the editor also holds elected membership).

The Steering Committee directs and coordinates activities of the roundtable and approves appointments made by the chair if vacancies occur. Committee members help set agenda for the year, appoint a newsletter editor as necessary and contribute to the newsletter and to other activities, plan the annual program and SAA program sessions sponsored by the roundtable. Steering Committee members are expected to attend the annual meeting.

The chair, vice-chair/chair-elect, and members of the Steering Committee not serving as members of the Nominating Committee serve on the Program Committee. The immediate past chair and two elected members of the Steering Committee in their first year of service compose the Nominating Committee.

OFFICERS

The chair, vice-chair/chair-elect, and the immediate past chair serve as officers of the roundtable. Only members of SAA and the Congressional Papers Roundtable may hold these positions. The chair directs and reports the activities of the roundtable, organizes and conducts the annual meeting of the roundtable and the steering committee, acts as liaison for the roundtable to other bodies, appoints roundtable committees as needed, and handles administrative matters.

The vice-chair/chair-elect serves as acting chair in the absence of the chair and participates as a member of the steering committee in all its activities.

The immediate past chair serves as a member of the steering committee and as chair of the Nominating Committee.

The officers make a commitment for three years to serve one year each as vice-chair/chair-elect, chair, and immediate past chair. Each is expected to attend the annual meeting.

NEWSLETTER EDITOR

The newsletter editor shall be appointed by the Steering Committee for a negotiated term. Terms are encouraged to range from not less than two years to not more than three years. The newsletter editor serves as an ex officio member of the Steering Committee, unless the editor also holds elected membership. In the latter case, the editor shall have all decision privileges of committee members. The editor should not serve concurrently as chair of the roundtable.

The newsletter editor is responsible for editing, publishing, and distributing two newsletters per year and any other special issues or mailing as determined by the Steering Committee. The editor maintains the roundtable mailing list and negotiates all newsletter matters with the SAA office as appropriate. The editor serves as secretary at the annual roundtable meeting and takes minutes which are subsequently published in the newsletter.

PROGRAM COMMITTEE

The Program Committee is composed of the chair, vice-chair/chair-elect, and Steering Committee members who are not members of the Nominating Committee. The chair shall appoint certain Program Committee members to coordinate, write, and submit Steering Committee-approved session proposals on behalf of the roundtable to the SAA Program Committee.

The Program Committee develops proposals for both the roundtable program and SAA sessions for the following year's annual meeting. The Steering Committee reviews and selects proposals.

NOMINATING COMMITTEE AND ELECTION

The Nominating Committee is composed of the immediate past chair, who serves as chair of the committee, and the two elected Steering Committee members in their first year of service. If any of these cannot serve, the roundtable chair shall appoint members from the Steering Committee as needed.

The Nominating Committee solicits candidates for the next year's leadership, using a notice in the newsletter and receiving the names of volunteers of persons recommended, and prepares an appropriate slate for the elected roundtable positions from those nominees agreeing to place their names in nomination. The committee ensures that there is at least one nominee and no more than two nominees for vice-chair/chair-elect and that the number of nominees for Steering Committee is not less than the number of positions to be filled. All candidates for election must be members of SAA and the roundtable.

The committee publicizes the slate in the newsletter issued preceding the annual meeting. The committee prepares a ballot and conducts an election at the annual roundtable meeting. Only members of the roundtable may vote. Any member of the roundtable who is unable to attend the annual meeting may request an absentee ballot from the committee chair; absentee ballots must be returned to the committee chair prior to the annual meeting. Voting at the annual meeting shall be by secret ballot if there are more candidates than can be elected for any position. Candidates with the highest number of votes shall be elected. New leadership assumes office at the conclusion of the annual meeting of the roundtable.

If for any reason the vice-chair is unable to succeed to the office of chair, a new chair shall be elected following the same procedures as election for a vice-chair. The Steering Committee shall appoint any other vacancies to fulfill unexpired terms of elected positions, after which a normal election shall occur.

ENACTMENT

These bylaws shall be distributed to the membership of the roundtable with a mail ballot for their approval or rejection. They shall become effective immediately if approved by a majority of the votes cast by the deadline set for the return of the ballots. The ballot shall include a method for indicating interest in elective or appointive positions for the roundtable.

The first year these bylaws are instituted, the Steering Committee shall consist of 8 members: the chair, the vice-chair/chair-elect, the immediate past chair, two of the four members elected so that these four will have staggered two-year terms thereafter, and the three representatives. Both a chair and a vice-chair shall be elected, with the current chair rotating to immediate past chair.

The chair (1994) previous to the current chair serves as chair of the first Nominating Committee, and the two Steering Committee members whose terms expired in 1995 serve as committee members.

YES ___

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