Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

Papers of Harry F. Byrd, Jr., Accession #10320-a, -b, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

These two additions to the Harry F. Byrd, Jr. Papers were given to the Library by Harry F. Byrd, Jr. of Winchester, Virginia, on January 14, 1981 (10320-a) and December 16, 1982 (10320-b).

Scope and Content

These additions to the papers of Harry F. Byrd, Jr., of Winchester, Virginia, consist of ca. 310,200 items (588 Hollinger boxes and 50 cubics) ca. 1954-1982, chiefly papers pertaining to his years of service in the United States Senate. These include speeches, legislative files, transitional files from the beginning of his Senatorial career, administrative files, publicity files, public activity files, cassette tapes, printed material, memorabilia, index cards, certificates and awards, bound volumes, and photographs.

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 Repositories by Karen Dawley Paul, Archivist Senate Historical Office.

The first series contains both typed manuscript and electrostatic copies of speeches by Senator Byrd and statements released by his office; copies of the Congressional Record inserts included by Byrd; and press releases concerning speeches. This series is the only group of papers in this collection kept by Byrd's staff in regular chronological order. The remainder of Byrd's papers were filed in reverse chronological order by the staff and that order has been maintained for the rest of the collection.

The second and largest series in the collection consists of Senator Byrd's legislative files which are listed alphabetically in the box listing by folder heading and are arranged in reverse chronological order within each year. The filing arrangement used by Byrd's office changed in 1972 from previous years; the original folder heading was retained for individual files but the collection has been arranged in several series for the convenience of the researcher. A complete list of the folder headings can be found in the box listing but several topics of interest are noted in this paragraph. These include: agriculture (Boxes 13-24); American Revolution Bicentennial Commission(Boxes 25-27); armed services (Boxes 41-75); Byrd's committee work, the largest number of files being for the Armed Services Committee(Boxes 146-148) and the Finance Committee(Boxes 148-158); correspondence with other Senators and Congressmen (Boxes 161-177); the Byrd Amendment concerning Judge Tenure (Boxes 187-188); the Supreme Court (Boxes 191-193); Jimmy Carter's Policy on Energy (Box 226); the Energy Crisis (Boxes 227-239); the New York City Bailout (Boxes 177-179); the Arab-Israeli War and Middle East conflict (Boxes 263-265, 271-273); the Central America conflict (Boxes 266-268); Iran (Boxes 270-271); the Panama Canal Treaty (Boxes 274-283); Rhodesia and chrome (Boxes 283-285); relations with the Soviet Union (Boxes 285-287); Saudi Arabia (Boxes 287-288); Henry Kissinger (Boxes 288-289); the VietnamWar and public opinion (Boxes 291-295, & 329); the restoration of citizenship to Robert E. Lee (Boxes 328-329); the Taft-Hartley Act (Boxes 359-362); political affairs (Boxes 383-392); communications from the office of the President (Boxes 405-411); federal tax reform (Boxes 429-441); revenue- sharing (Boxes 454-456); Virginia affairs (Boxes 463-499); the Portsmouth Public School controversy (Box 496); and Watergate and public opinion (Boxes 499-510).

The third series constitutes the transitional files, ca. 1964-1966, in use by Byrd's office when he was appointed to complete his father's term in the Senate in 1965, including memoranda files concerning upcoming legislation (Boxes 528-529), speech drafts for 1966 (Box 530), and civil rights files, 1965-1966 (Box 528).

The administrative files comprises the fourth series of the collection and includes memoranda to and from the staff and the legislative and administrative assistants, White House nominations, form letters, and other office concerns.

The fifth series consists of the personal papers of Senator Byrd, including files concerning the controversy over the Jack Anderson column about Byrd; biographic material; Byrd business papers (1970-1972); Byrd family papers (1954-1982); caricatures of political figures by Jeff MacNelly (Box 548) including Harry F. Byrd, Jr., Richard M. Nixon, Mills Godwin, Gerald Ford, Henry Kissinger, Lyndon B. Johnson, and others; miscellaneous photographs of Byrd with various groups and individuals (Box 549); and Byrd's South Pole trip to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the flight of his uncle, Richard E. Byrd, over the South Pole in 1929 (Box 549).

The sixth series contains publicity files, chiefly newsletter responses from constituents, press correspondence and requests, and newsclippings concerning the Senator and his activities.

The public activities files in series seven has folders on the Annie J. Bronson Charitable Foundation; appointments; donations; 1976 election congratulations, campaign invitations and questionnaires (this is the only campaign related material in this collection, except for a few pieces of memorabilia); invitations accepted; memorablilia, including bicentennial flags, first day covers, medallions and commemorative coins, presidential ceremonial pens from Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, campaign buttons, patches, pins, and a 1970 election rubber stamp "Virginians Vote for Byrd"; and VIP correspondence files, created by culling especially notable correspondents from transitory and temporary files not otherwise retained with the rest of the collection. Correspondents are noted in the folder listing for boxes 585-587.

Series eight consists of miscellaneous papers and materials including cassette tapes removed from the collection and stored separately, fifty cubics of daily carbons, 1973-1982, which this department hopes to microfilm at a later date, oversize material, and a card file tray containing 3 x 5 index cards with the filing categories used by Byrd's office after 1972.

Organization

The original folder arrangement of the Harry F. Byrd, Jr. papers was entirely alphabetical. Because the collection was a large one, several series were created by separating the files pertaining directly to legislation from the others. All of Byrd's papers, excluding the speech series, were in reverse chronological order and this order has been maintained within each year. The years have been arranged with the earliest year coming first in sequence.