After two-and-a-half years of arranging, processing and database entry, the Robert C. Byrd Congressional Papers collection is now open to researchers by appointment.

This significant milestone has resulted in the creation of a 522-page index (or finding aid) of these records which is available in the Byrd Center’s Reading Room and also online through the Byrd Center’s website (www.byrdcenter.org).

The index covers 57 years of Senator Byrd’s files from the 83rd through the 111th Congresses. This includes legislative files, constituent correspondence and casework. This newly opened Congress Series spans more than 970 linear feet of records in 1,800 file boxes, and is the largest section of Senator Byrd’s papers.

Marc Levitt, the Byrd Center’s director of archives, headed the team that created this elaborate index. Others who contributed to it include Lilly Phipps, assistant archivist and Shepherd University history majors Heidi Carbaugh and Jody Brumage, who served as interns.

The Center’s director Dr. Ray Smock praised the work of the archival team saying “This finding aid will be a boon to researchers interested in national and West Virginia politics. It opens up a large window on how the longest-serving Senator conducted his remarkable career.”

As the remaining parts of the collection are processed and opened for research, the index will expand and be continually updated on the website. These forthcoming records will include the West Virginia Project files, Senator Byrd’s speeches, thousands of photographs and other related documents.

For more information about using the Byrd Center’s collections, please contact Marc Levitt at mlevitt@shepherd.eduor 304-876-5648.

The Robert C. Byrd Center for Legislative Studies is a private, nonpartisan and nonprofit educational organization with facilities on the campus of Shepherd University. The mission of the Center is to help foster better public understanding of the United States Congress, the Constitution and representative democracy.