• Announcing a New State Politics and Policy Journal
• News from the Congressional Papers Roundtable
• New Book
• Parliamentary Conferences for the Years 2000-2001
• RCLS Membership

Announcing a New State Politics and Policy Journal

The Illinois Legislative Studies Center at the University of Illinois at Springfield is launching a new journal, which will be the official publication of the State Politics and Policy Section of the American Political Science Association.

Tentatively titled State Politics and Policy Quarterly, the mission of the journal will be to foster, highlight, and promote the rigorous, theoretically-driven and methodologically sound study of political behavior and policy, using the methodologically advantageous venue of the U. S. states. There has long been a need for such a journal, and SPPQ will fill that need. This will be a carefully refereed journal of high academic quality with a specialty focus, at the level of Legislative Studies Quarterly, Political Behavior, and American Politics Quarterly.

A first-class organizing committee has been assembled to guide the journal's development: Virginia Gray, Kenneth Meier, Richard Niemi, Gary King, Keith Hamm, James Garand, Paul Brace, David Lowery, Ronald Weber, William Berry, Malcolm Jewell, Gerald Wright, Elinor Scarbrough, and Thomas Holbrook.

The first official call for papers will be sent out to members of APSA's State Politics and Policy, Public Policy, Urban Politics, Legislative Studies, Public Administration, and Federalism and Intergovernmental Relations sections in early 2000. The first issue is slated to appear in March 2001.

I strongly encourage readers of the LSS Newsletter who work in the area of state politics and policy to submit their best manuscripts to SPPQ. This is your chance to be there at the creation! To do so, please send four copies (three with identifying references removed) to me at the address below. We will strive to provide you with careful and thorough referees' reports in a timely fashion. Watch your email in early 2000 for a more detailed announcement.

Chris Mooney, Director, Illinois Legislative Studies Center, PAC 484, P. O. Box 19243, University of Illinois at Springfield, Springfield, IL 62794-9243.

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News from the Congressional Papers Roundtable

Institutional News

In April, Millersville University dedicated the archives of Bob Walker (R-PA), who served in the U. S. House of Representatives for more than 20 years. Walker was best known as an early and staunch supporter of Ronald Reagan and a leader in the Republican resurgence in 1995. The archives contain more than 200 c. f. of material housed in the university's Ganser Library. Most of the collection is officially open, although the personal correspondence is closed until April 2009.

The Ohio State University Archives . . . received an additional 100 c. f. of materials from the home of Sen. John Glenn (D-OH). This accession included personal correspondence, photographs, other audiovisual items, printed materials, and artifacts. The archives also received materials from the U.S. Astronauts Hall of Fame in Titusville, FL, and NASA's Space Center in Houston. These artifacts and photographs document Glenn's military, NASA, corporate, and U.S. Senate careers, and they had been displayed in temporary exhibits commemorating the senator's 1998 flight aboard the space shuttle Discovery.

The Carl Albert Center at the University of Oklahoma announces two new accessions. Added to the existing Carl Albert Collection are 82 c. f. of files and 24 framed photos and memorabilia. Included is a set of pens used to sign the Great Society legislation and given to Carl Albert (D-OK) as a present from President Lyndon Johnson.

The Center has also acquired 14 boxes from newspaper reporter Allan Cromley. This collection contains files on Oklahoma's delegation to Congress during the 1950s-1980s. A similar collection, the papers of UPI reporter Harry Culver, was acquired years ago and has recently been processed and made available to researchers. The Center's web site (http://www.ou.edu/special/albertctr/archives/) has also expanded. In addition to existing information on resources documenting Native American history and the Great Depression, smaller subject descriptions have been added. New topics include abortion, birth control, migrant labor, and the UN.

The Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library at Princeton University continues processing on the papers of Sen. Bill Bradley (D-NJ). Most of the collection documents Bradley's 18 years in the Senate. In the past year significant progress has been made on the 2100 c. f. collection, which is being processed by project archivist Kristen Turner and her team of one full-time assistant and four students.

The papers of Rep. Eligio (Kika) de la Garza (D-TX) have been acquired by the University of Texas-Pan-American. The university received 717 boxes of archival materials, 588 from the congressman's Washington, DC, office and 129 from his McAllen, TX, office. Materials include legislative documents, constituent inquiries and requests, photographs, maps, trophies, plaques, and awards.

Tulane University has received the congressional papers of Robert Livingston (R-LA), representative of the First Congressional District from 1977-1999. Livingston, who received a BA and JD from Tulane, was Speaker-designate and chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. The speeches, interviews, press releases, newsletters, and other public documents will be open once they are processed. The remaining papers are restricted for 10 years. Tulane University Library has made a special allocation for the rapid processing of Livingston's papers.

Online Access to Senate Oral Histories

Since 1976, the Senate Historical Office has conducted oral history interviews with former senators and retired members of the Senate staff. Both biographical and institutional in scope, these interviews include personal recollections of careers within the Senate and discussions of how Congress has changed over the years.

During the week of 26 May 1999 with the online publication of a 1989 interview with Sen. George A. Smathers (D-FL), the Historical Office initiated a project that will eventually provide online access to its complete oral history series.

For more information, click on "Oral History Project" at the Senate Historical Office home page (http://www.senate.gov/learning/learn_history.html).

For more information about this and other publications of the Senate Historical Office, please contact Betty K. Koed, Assistant Historian, Senate Historical Office, Betty_Koed@sec.senate.gov, (202) 224-0753.

Rules and Guidelines for Senate Committee Records

Karen Paul of the Senate Historical Office reports: A Records Management Handbook for United State Senate Committees has recently been published. It and the pamphlet U.S. Senate Records: Guidelines for Committee Staff have been distributed in the Senate. Newly highlighted in the handbook and pamphlet are the rules and statutes governing ownership and disposition of committee records. It is important that all repositories receiving senators' papers be aware that committee records should not be included in such donations. If they are found mixed with the private papers, repositories should contact the Senate Archivist at (202) 224-3351 and arrange for the return of these materials.

Rayburn Memorabilia to Stay Put

The 11 May 1999 issue of the Dallas Morning News reported on an agreement between the office of Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) and the state of Texas allowing the Sam Rayburn Library and Museum to retain control of memorabilia housed there. A spokesman for Hastert stated that the Bonham, Texas, facility could keep the items as long as they are publicly displayed. The memorabilia has been on display since the library opened in 1957. The University of Texas's Center for American History, which oversees the Rayburn Museum, maintains that the items belong to it and are state property. The Feb. 1999 issue of the Congressional Papers Roundtable Newsletter stated that the Clerk of the House had been claiming memorabilia that former Speakers had given to universities and libraries throughout the country.

Congressman Sponsors Bill to Prepare a History of the House

Page Putnam Miller's 9 July 1999 NCC Washington Update reported the following: On 22 June 1999, John Larson (D-CT) introduced H.R. 2303, a bill that directs the Librarian of Congress to prepare a history of the House of Representatives. Larson, a former high school history teacher and a newly elected member of the House, introduced this bill because of his disappointment as a new member of Congress with the lack of awareness in the House to its own history. He sees this as a bipartisan initiative and has enlisted 245 cosponsors, including the leadership of both parties.

The bill begins by stating that "subject to available funding," the Librarian is mandated to consult, commission, or engage the services or participation of eminent historians and current members and former members of the House in preparing the history...

Many in the historical profession are pleased to see a renewed interest in the history of the House of Representatives; however, there is a hope that this move will not preclude efforts to restore the House Historical Office, which was dismantled in 1995. There is also some concern in the historical profession about how this history will be prepared. Just five years ago the Congressional Research Service, which is part of the Library of Congress, prepared a history of the House that was never widely distributed because of its disjointed narrative and its heavy reliance on lists, tables, and charts. Ironically, the House Historical Office was in the process of preparing a history of the House and had completed about one-third of the manuscript at the time the office was disassembled. There is also the question, in light of the library's own budgetary priorities and constraints, of how it would deal with this "unfunded mandate."

The Contemporary Congress, 3d. Edition, Burdett A. Loomis, Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's Press, 1999.

In the third edition, Burdett Loomis once again provides a brief yet comprehensive overview of the Congress. The breadth of coverage in this text offers instructors the flexibility to use it either as a supplement or as the main foundation for the course. With a new edition for each new Congress, The Contemporary Congress analyzes the impact of new faces, issues, and political contexts on the workings of the legislative branch.

Loomis writes in the preface, "The 106th Congress, with Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), is a lot different than that of Speaker Newt Gingrich. . . Nor does the future look any more certain on Capitol Hill. The election of the year 2000 is arguably the first since 1952 in which both houses of Congress and the presidency are up for grabs."

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The Research Committee of Legislative Specialists of the International Political Science Association is an organization of more than 150 scholars from 30 different countries of the world whose goal is to facilitate research into the comparative forms and effects of legislative institutions, processes, and politics. The resulting network of international scholars included individuals interested in national, cross-national, and sub-national aspects of legislatures.

The RCLS, which in 2000 will celebrate its 29th year of scholarly activity, regularly organizes international gatherings of parliamentary and legislative specialists. Scholars and others interested in parliaments and legislatures are invited to join this international network and thus facilitate communication among researchers with common interests in the comparative forms and effects of legislative institutions, processes, and politics.

Membership in RCLS currently runs through the year 2000 IPSA World Congress in Quebec City, Canada, and entitles international scholars to information concerning the professional activities of the Research Committee (including program plans for sessions at the year 2000 IPSA World Congress), receipt of the RCLS International Newsletter, and listing in the RCLS International Membership Directory and Research Register.

To join RCLS, please send your name, professional address, telephone and fax numbers, E-mail address, and current legislative research interests, together with a check or international money order payable to "RCLS" for $40 U.S. or £30 sterling to either:

Professor Lawrence D. Longley
Co-Chair, RCLS
Dept. of Government
Lawrence University
Appleton, WI 54912,
U.S.A. Tel. +1-920-832-6673
Fax +1-920-832-6944
E-mail: PowerLDL@aol.com

OR

Professor The Lord Norton of Louth
Co-Chair, RCLS
Dept. of Politics
The University of Hull Hull,
HU6 7RX, United Kingdom
Tel. +44-1482-465-863
Fax +44-1482-466-208
E-mail: p.norton@pol-as.hull.ac.uk