Collecting Legislative Papers

Ms. Collection 165

Here in the Special Collections Department, we’ve been diligently working with legislators on their paper donations. Collecting legislative papers is integral to the State Library’s work, as these records are valuable resources for documenting the General Court as a lawmaking institution and as a representative assembly. Working with scholars and legislative aides, our department identifies, preserves, and makes accessible historical material relating to the legislature and the political process in the Commonwealth. These primary source materials are used by historians, students, lawyers, journalists, and Massachusetts citizens to tell stories about citizenship and democracy.

Many questions from legislators have come to us recently regarding what specific materials they should retain. Legislative paper collections include any and all formats of materials and consist of records such as sponsored bills, notes from debates, committee and commission work, correspondence, diaries, call logs, campaign material, and more.

Pictured above is one example of the materials comprising legislative paper collections – notes from a committee meeting. This particular document comes from Ms. Collection 165: Denise Provost Papers on Legislation Concerning Gender Identity and Nondiscrimination, 1997-2017, bulk 2014-2016. It can be found in Series III: Steering Committee Meeting Materials, 2014-2016, which includes committee meeting notes, talking points, as well as lists of businesses and state legislators. Also included in the series are notes and invitations related to the Transgender Public Accommodations: A Conversation briefing held for legislators in July 2015.

Ms. Collection 168

Above are two examples of legislative paper materials at once– a photograph and correspondence. These come from Ms. Collection 168: Gloria L. Fox Papers, 1985-2016, bulk 1999-2013. The items pictured here can be found in Series II Subseries B: Health Legislation, 1996-2012. This subseries documents Gloria Fox’s work in healthcare legislation, in which her main focus was health disparities within ethnic and racial communities. Fox worked on legislation relating to lupus, a disease that disproportionately affects African American women, AIDS/HIV issues as they relate to the African American community, and recognition for community health workers. Records in the subseries include correspondence, memos, meeting agendas and minutes, conference materials, reports, and draft bills.

Currently, over 50 legislative paper collections have corresponding, searchable finding guides which you can access through our digital repository. If you are a legislator or you work for a legislator interested in donating materials to the Special Collections Department, you can find more information including how to contact us on the State Library website.

Alyssa Persson
Special Collections Processing Librarian