Harry F. Byrd, Jr. Papers ca. 1958-1974

Access and use

Location of collection:
University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept.
Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
University of Virginia
P.O. Box 400110
160 McCormick Rd
Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4110
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Brenda Gunn
Phone: (434) 924-1037
Phone: (434) 243-1776
Fax: (434) 924-4968

Summary

Language:
English

Background

Scope and content:

This collection consists of ca. 134,000 items (268 Hollinger boxes and 30 cubics, ca. 150 linear feet) ca. 1958-1974, and contains papers pertaining to the political career of Harry F. Byrd, Jr.of Winchester, Virginia, in the United States Senate, and papers of the Byrd family, and includes campaign material, legislative files, speeches, correspondence, miscellaneous and topical files, constituent and fan mail, and daily carbons.

Decisions concerning the processing and retention of individual files were made by the Curator based upon the recommendations in Records Management Handbook for United States Senators and Their Repositoriesby Karen Dawley Paul, Archivist Senate Historical Office.

The first series contains the campaign files for the 1966 Democratic Primary and Senatorial Election, and the 1970 Senatorial Race. Some of the more outstanding correspondents in this series are noted in the box listing.

Senator Byrd's speeches and statements comprise the second series and include typed manuscripts of speeches, electrostatic copies of manuscript and printed speeches, copies of the Congressional Recordcontaining speeches or statements by Byrd, and news releases concerning speeches. A complete typed list of individual speeches can be found in a spring-back binder in Box 61.

The third and largest series is composed of Senator Byrd's legislative files which are listed alphabetically in the box listing by folder heading and are arranged in reverse chronological order. Whenever possible the original folder heading was retained. Some topics, such as Welfare, which a researcher might expect to find under Health, Education, and Welfare, generated so much material that the office simply filed the material under Welfare. It is best to check as many alternate headings as possible to ensure finding a particular subject. Senator Byrd served on the Agriculture and Forestry Committee, the Armed Services Committee, and the Committee on Finance, so there are a considerable number of related files in this collection.

The fourth series contains correspondence with individual politicians both on the national and state level, personal correspondence, Byrd familycorrespondence, Byrd business correspondence, and correspondence with other Senators and Congressmen. These folders are arranged alphabetically by the name of correspondent or type of correspondence.

Miscellaneous and non-legislative topical files were placed in series five and arranged alphabetically by subject. This series includes the following types of material: acceptances of invitations to speak, participation in the Alfalfa Club and Alibi Club, the Apple Blossom Festival, the Bicentennial Commission, various Democratic Party organizations, Media folders, Special Committees on which Byrd served, the Tax Foundation, and information gathering trips to Asia, Central America, and the Middle East.

The sixth series consisting of chronological constituent and fan mail was determined to be an ideal candidate for systematic sampling due to the large amounts of similiar material in this series and its non- topical arrangement. A systematic sample is one in which the sample elements are picked by their location within the total population. Ten percent of the total number of constituent letters was determined to be a statistically valid sample size. The procedure for sampling was as follows: the constituent files were arranged in chronological order, every tenth letter was pulled from the files and retained, and the remainder was destroyed. Thus out of a total of 16,340 constituent letters, a ten percent sample or 1,634 letters were kept. Any large chronological gaps in the constituent mail sample were present in the original arrangement and are not a result of the sampling procedure. This same procedure was used for the fan mail.

The last series consists of thirty cubics of daily carbons which this department hopes to microfilm at some future date. The listing of audiotapes and oversize material follows the carbons and can be found in this guide.

Acquisition information:
This collection was given to the Library by Harry F. Byrd, Jr. of Winchester, Virginia, on February 21, 1979.
Arrangement:

This collection is arranged in seven series and generally is in reverse chronological order; exceptions include the speech series and the constituent and fan mail samples series. The series are: Series I: Campaign Files, Subseries A: 1966 Election, 1. District Files (Boxes 1-14) and 2. Management Files (Boxes 15-25), Subseries B: 1970 Election, 1. District Files (Boxes 26-41), 2. Management Files (Boxes 41-49), and 3. Publicity Files (Boxes 50-51); Series II: Speeches (Boxes 52-61); Series III: Legislative Files, Subseries A: General (Boxes 62-224), Subseries B: Senate Committees (Boxes 225-226); Series IV: Correspondence (Boxes 227-239); Series V: Miscellaneous & Topical Files (Boxes 240-259); and Series VI: Chronological Constituent & Fan Mail (Boxes 260-266).

Physical location:
Physical description:
ca. 134,000 items