Blog: Dermot Cole
With 4,700 boxes, Stevens' papers at UAF will be largest archival collection
Published Wednesday, February 25, 2009
The university announced today that former Sen. Ted Stevens is sending the records of his 40-year Senate career to the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
About three or four truckloads are expected in Fairbanks by late March.
The Rasmuson Library at UAF, the preeminent research library in the state, is the natural place for what could become the most important historical archive on issues ranging from the oil pipeline and Native land claims to the gas pipeline.
It will be the largest archival collection at the Rasmuson Library, about three times the size of the second largest, the senate papers of former Sen. Frank Murkowski.
The collection includes about 4,700 boxes of papers and other records. The collection has not been inventoried, but UAF expects it will fill 92 pallets and weigh about 60 to 70 tons.
Three or four truckloads are expected to reach Fairbanks in late March from Washington, D.C.
Most of the material will be publicly available five years after Stevens' death, but some documents will be open as soon as they are archived.
Some constituent information in the files will be kept secret for 50 years after the documents were created or longer, depending upon privacy laws.
UA President Mark Hamilton announced the agreement today.
"The historic value of these papers, speeches and documents is immeasurable," Hamilton said. "It's very fitting that the senator's papers come to the University of Alaska."
A press release from the university quoted Stevens as saying, "Alaska is my home and it's my hope that this collection of papers and material will contribute to the body of knowledge about the many important federal issues which have affected our state."
The Stevens collection at UAF will be in addition to the papers of former Sens. Bob Bartlett, Ernest Gruening, Mike Gravel, Murkowski and most of the delegates to Congress during territorial days. The papers of former Reps. Ralph Rivers, Howard Pollock and Nick Begich are also at UAF.
The university said that the federal government will pay shipping costs, a standard practice under Senate rules. The school may seek funding from private and public sources to help process the collection.
It could take two or three years to process the collection, said Paul McCarthy, former Rasmuson Library director and an advisor to the university on the issue.
For historians and researchers interested in understanding modern Alaska, the Stevens collection will be among the most important in the world.
The documents will continue to belong to Stevens or his heirs and after 10 years they will have the option of transferring them to a university library in Anchorage, "provided that such facility is then able to accommodate and properly store, process and make use of the collection."
Today, the only university facility capable of handling the materials is the Rasmuson Library.
Stevens or his heirs will have the option of keeping the collection in Fairbanks or making a gift of the material in the future.
The most efficient course would be to retain the collection in Fairbanks and make it available to people throughout the state by making digital copies.
Also known as evidence.
I have some used toliet paper to donate, what is the going price?
maybe they could fire-up those boilers at the bottom of the hill and convert some of the felon's paperwork to some useful steam???
If this archives is going to be housed at a public facility, even on loan, then it should be available to ALL without some of the restrictions Stevens wants to impose over which reporters, historians and archivists have access to the files (read the Anchorage Daily News story from today, http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/stevens/s..., for more information on these restrictions). This was the government's business, so no restrictions should be allowed. Public business means public record.
“Some constituent information in the files will be kept secret for 50 years after the documents were created or longer, depending upon privacy laws.“
Cbingham- Some of the documents will pertain to private issues and it would violate the rights of private citizens under the US and Alaska Constitutions to release them now. Stevens is not imposing those restrictions, Constitutional laws are.
The fact that Stevens is willing to be judged by history rather than burning documents is a good sign.
No matter what you think of the man - he was our Senator for years and this collection is not only his history, but ours as well...for good or bad
I am glad it is going to UAF but I hope donations will be used to pay for archiving, etc
Stevens wants the documents sent to his home. So why are they coming here?
It has been months since he lost, yet Stevens has no plans to return to Alaska.
Thank you Dermot. Your story was much more informative than that written by the NM. I appreciate your thorough coverage.
MEL1776, I was referring to this paragraph (not the one about constituent records):
"As long as Stevens is alive, he can approve or deny requests made by the university on behalf of political scientists, historians, reporters and others to open sections of the archive before the entire collection is processed. If a demand for material comes to the university in the form of a subpoena or search warrant, the university is required, under the contract, to alert Stevens before it complies."
Some clarity is required here. The news article seems to say that public access will be restricted for five years after the Senator's demise, and that any public records request after that date will result in the records being transferred to Steven's heirs. Yet Dermot's article says that items will be made available as they become recorded, with some constituent info being kept secret for fifty years after the date. And then, after all the work that UAF invests into archiving, storing, and safekeeping, Stevens' family can just tranfer the entire batch to Anchorage?
Some clarity would be appreciated. BTW--I think it's great that UAF was chosen as the site for the archives. These papers are a valuable resource for Alaskans, and I thank Senator Stevens for his wonderful gift to us.
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