Archives West Finding Aid
Table of Contents
LeRoy Ashby and Rod Gramer Collection on Frank Church, 1850-1993
Overview of the Collection
- Creator
- Ashby, LeRoy;; Church, Bethine C.; Church, Frank;; Gramer, Rod, 1953- ;
- Title
- LeRoy Ashby and Rod Gramer Collection on Frank Church
- Dates
- 1850-1993 (inclusive)18501993
- Quantity
- 23.0 linear feet, (12 linear feet of boxed material, 11 feet of cassette tapes (26 boxes, plus 335 audio-cassette tapes in 22 drawers))
- Collection Number
- MSS 173
- Summary
- Research files compiled by LeRoy Ashby and Rod Gramer, co-authors of the book Fighting the Odds, the Life of Senator Frank Church (Washington State University Press, 1994); together with tape recorded interviews conducted by Ashby and Gramer, including Frank Church (1924-1984), his wife Bethine Church, family, friends, staffers, and colleagues, about Church's life and Senate career. Research files include photocopies of selected documents from the Church papers at Boise State University, arranged topically, with copies of some family documents dating back to the 1850s. The collection also includes an edited typescript of the book and photocopies of cited source documents, arranged by chapter.
- Repository
-
Boise State University Library, Special Collections and Archives
Special Collections and Archives
1910 University Drive
Boise ID
83725
Telephone: 2084263990
archives@boisestate.edu - Access Restrictions
-
Collection is available for research with the exception of selected files. Contact Special Collections for information.
- Languages
- English
- Sponsor
- Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided, in part, by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities
Biographical NoteReturn to Top
Rod Gramer was born in Boise in 1953 and graduated from the University of Idaho with a degree in history in 1975. He was a journalist with the Idaho Statesman when he began research for a biography of Frank Church in 1978 with fellow journalist Marc Johnson. Johnson later left the project and Gramer continued alone, assisted by his wife Julie. Rod and Julie Gramer were the first researchers to use the Frank Church papers at Boise State University in 1984. Gramer left the Idaho Statesman in 1988 to become news director for television station KTVB-TV in Boise in 1988. In 1998 he moved to Portland, Oregon, to assume a similar position with a television station there. Additional biographical information can be found in Who’s Who in the American West 1992/93 and in Contemporary Authors (volume 147).
LeRoy Ashby (b. 1938) earned a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland in 1966. In 1972 he joined the faculty of Washington State University, where he has taught popular culture and twentieth-century American history. He has won several teaching awards and has written several books, including biographies of Senator William Borah and William Jennings Bryan. Like Rod and Julie Gramer, Ashby and his wife Mary were among the first users of the Church collection at Boise State. Further biographical information can be found in the Directory of American Scholars and Contemporary Authors (volume 33-36, First Revision).
Content DescriptionReturn to Top
In 1994, Washington State University Press published a biography of U.S. Senator Frank Church (D-Idaho) entitled Fighting the Odds: The Life of Senator Frank Church, by LeRoy Ashby and Rod Gramer. Ashby, a professor of history at Washington State University, and Gramer, an Idaho journalist, began their research independently: Gramer in the 1970s, Ashby in the 1980s; each with the intention of writing their own book. They later combined forces to produce the jointly-written biography, which in 1995 won Utah State University’s David W. and Beatrice C. Evans Award as the most significant biography from the West published in 1994.
Both authors made extensive use of the Frank Church papers at Boise State University and conducted many interviews with Church’s family, friends, staff, and political colleagues, as well as Senator Church himself. The research files include notes, photocopies of key documents from the Frank Church collection, and copies of both primary and secondary materials obtained elsewhere. The interviews were recorded on tape cassettes; some are accompanied by either partial or complete transcripts made by or for Rod Gramer and LeRoy Ashby.
Like the Fred Hutchison collection (MSS 124), the Ashby-Gramer collection serves as a distillation of the much larger Church collection, presenting a selection of papers and documents the two researchers considered important to their research. Their files, maintained separately, are arranged alphabetically by topic, from Abortion to Wilderness. The earliest material in the files is census data from 1850 regarding the Church family. The collection also contains an edited typescript of the book and photocopies of source documents footnoted in the book, arranged by chapter.
Use of the CollectionReturn to Top
Preferred Citation
[item description], LeRoy Ashby and Rod Gramer Collection on Frank Church, Box [number] Folder [number], Boise State University Special Collections and Archives.
Administrative InformationReturn to Top
Arrangement
Collection arranged in six series: 1. Rod Gramer research files; 2. LeRoy Ashby research files; 3. Citation source documents and typescript; 4. Transcripts of interviews by Rod Gramer; 5. Transcripts of interviews by LeRoy Ashby; and 6. Interviews on tape.
Acquisition Information
Gift of Rod Gramer, 1998 and LeRoy Ashby, 2001.
Related Materials
See also: Frank Church Papers
Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top
1: Rod Gramer research filesReturn to Top
Container(s) | Description | Dates | |
---|---|---|---|
Box | Folder | ||
1 | 1 | Abortion |
|
1 | 2 | Aging |
|
1 | 3 | Agriculture |
|
1 | 4 | Andrus, Cecil |
|
1 | 5 | Arms control |
|
1 | 6 | Banking and Federal Reserves |
|
1 | 7 | Verda Barnes |
|
1 | 8 | Basques |
|
1 | 9 | Chester Bowles |
|
1 | 10 | James L. Brown |
|
1 | 11 | Beorge Bush |
|
1 | 12 | G. Harold Carswell |
|
1 | 13 | Chase Church |
|
1 | 14 | Forrest Church |
|
1 | 15 | Frank Church: Early Years and Family History |
1850-1984 |
1 | 16 | Frank Church: High School |
1938-1942 |
1 | 17 | Frank Church: As Compromiser |
|
1 | 18 | Frank Church: Frank Church: Post-Senate |
|
1 | 19 | Frank Church: Death |
|
1 | 20 | Frank Church: Death |
|
1 | 21 | Frank Church: Letters Received |
1984 |
1 | 22 | Frank Church: Condolence Letters and Tributes |
|
1 | 23 | Civil Rights |
1957 |
1 | 24 | Chase A. Clark |
|
1 | 25 | D. Worth Clark |
|
1 | 26 | Clark family history |
|
1 | 27 | Congress/President |
|
1 | 28 | Education |
|
2 | 1 | Election |
1956 |
2 | 2 | Election |
1956 |
2 | 3 | Election |
1960 |
2 | 4 | Election |
1962 |
2 | 5 | Election (recall) |
1968 |
2 | 6 | Election |
1972 |
2 | 7 | Election |
1974 |
2 | 8 | Election |
1976 |
2 | 9 | Election |
1976 |
2 | 10 | Election |
1976 |
2 | 11 | Election (staff) |
1976 |
3 | 1 | Election: early months |
1976 |
3 | 2 | Election: announcement speech |
1976 |
3 | 3 | Election: California |
1976 |
3 | 4 | Election: Colorado |
1976 |
3 | 5 | Election: Ohio |
1976 |
3 | 6 | Election: Nebraska |
1976 |
3 | 7 | Election: Oregon |
1976 |
3 | 8 | Election: Rhode Island |
1976 |
3 | 9 | Election: Vice-Presidential consideration |
1976 |
3 | 10 | Election |
1980 |
3 | 11 | Election: ABC and NCPAC |
1980 |
3 | 12 | Election: Committee for Positive Change |
1980 |
3 | 13 | Election: New Right |
1980 |
3 | 14 | Energy |
|
3 | 15 | Environment |
|
3 | 16 | Executive powers |
|
3 | 17 | Federal debt |
|
3 | 18 | Filibuster |
|
3 | 19 | Financial disclosure |
|
3 | 20 | Fish |
|
4 | 1 | Foreign aid |
|
4 | 2 | Foreign policy |
1956-1964 |
4 | 3 | Foreign policy |
1964-1973 |
4 | 4 | Foreign policy: committee chairmanship |
|
4 | 5 | Foreign aid policy: Africa |
|
4 | 6 | Foreign aid policy: Cuba |
|
4 | 7 | Foreign aid policy: Cuba Trip |
|
4 | 8 | Foreign aid policy: Europe |
|
4 | 9 | Foreign aid policy: India-Pakistan |
|
4 | 10 | Foreign aid policy: Iranian hostage crisis |
|
4 | 11 | Foreign aid policy: Israel |
|
4 | 12 | Foreign aid policy: Korea |
|
4 | 13 | Foreign aid policy: Latin America |
|
4 | 14 | Foreign aid policy: Libya |
|
4 | 15 | Foreign aid policy: Libya; Bayh |
|
4 | 16 | Foreign aid policy: Libya; Symms |
|
4 | 17 | Foreign aid policy: Middle East |
|
4 | 18 | Foreign aid policy: Russia |
|
4 | 19 | Foreign aid policy: Uganda |
|
4 | 20 | J. William Fulbright |
|
4 | 21 | Gasahol |
|
4 | 22 | Gun control |
|
4 | 23 | Hells Canyon |
|
4 | 24 | Walter Hickel |
|
4 | 25 | Indians |
|
4 | 26 | Inflation |
|
4 | 27 | Intelligence investigation |
|
4 | 28 | Intelligence investigation |
|
5 | 1 | Intelligence investigation |
|
5 | 2 | Lyndon B. Johnson |
|
5 | 3 | Kennedy-Johnson White House favors file |
1961-1968 |
5 | 4 | Edward Korry |
|
5 | 5 | Labor and business |
|
5 | 6 | Law and order |
|
5 | 7 | Walter Lippman |
|
5 | 8 | McCarthyism |
|
5 | 9 | James McClure |
|
5 | 10 | Military spending |
|
5 | 11 | Mine safety |
|
5 | 12 | Multinational corporations |
|
5 | 13 | Multinational corporations: ITT and Chile |
|
5 | 14 | Multinational corporations: ITT and Chile |
|
5 | 15 | Multinational corporations: Lockheed and Northrop |
|
5 | 16 | Multinational corporations: OPIC |
|
5 | 17 | Multinational corporations: Oil Companies |
|
6 | 1 | Multinational corporations: Oil Companies |
|
6 | 2 | Multinational corporations: Oil Companies |
|
6 | 3 | Natural gas deregulation |
|
6 | 4 | Nuclear energy |
|
6 | 5 | Occupational Safety and Health Administration |
|
6 | 6 | Panama Canal |
|
6 | 7 | Politics and government |
|
6 | 8 | Range management/cattle |
|
6 | 9 | Reclamation |
|
6 | 10 | Reclamation Act |
|
6 | 11 | Nelson Rockefeller |
|
6 | 12 | Social Security |
|
6 | 13 | Steve Symms |
|
6 | 14 | United Nations |
|
6 | 15 | Vietnam |
1962-1966 |
6 | 16 | Vietnam |
1963-1966 |
6 | 17 | Vietnam |
1967-1969 |
6 | 18 | Vietnam |
|
7 | 1 | Vietnam |
1970 |
7 | 2 | Vietnam: Cooper-Church Amendment |
1970 |
7 | 3 | Vietnam: Cooper-Church Amendment |
1970 |
7 | 4 | Vietnam |
1971 |
7 | 5 | Vietnam |
1971 |
7 | 6 | Vietnam |
1972 |
7 | 7 | Vietnam: Case-Church Amendment |
1972 |
7 | 8 | Vietnam |
1973-1975 |
8 | 1 | Vietnam: Case-Church Amendment |
1973 |
8 | 2 | Vietnam: Tom Dine Papers |
|
8 | 3 | Vietnam |
1965-1966 |
8 | 4 | Vietnam |
1969-1970 |
8 | 5 | Watergate |
|
8 | 6 | Book: outline |
|
8 | 7 | Book: interview plan |
|
8 | 8 | Book: research plan |
|
8 | 9 | Book: research: Jack Anderson index |
|
8 | 10 | Book: research: book 2, hapter |
|
8 | 11 | Book: research: book 3, chapter 3 (Vietnam) |
|
8 | 12 | Book: chapter 1 interview excerpts |
|
8 | 13 | Book: chapter 2 interview excerpts |
|
8 | 14 | Book: research notes from books |
|
8 | 15 | Book: letters from LeRoy Ashby, 1992-1993 |
|
8 | 16 | Bryce Nelson: tribute to Frank Church |
|
8 | 17 | Frank Church: last interview with Gramer, transcript |
1983 |
8 | 18 | Mike Wetherell: “Memo to FC” |
1977 |
2: LeRoy Ashby research filesReturn to Top
Container(s) | Description | Dates | |
---|---|---|---|
Box | Folder | ||
9 | 1 | Abortion |
1973-1979 |
9 | 2 | Adoption |
1979-1980 |
9 | 3 | Aging |
1978 |
9 | 4 | Agriculture |
1958-1977 |
9 | 5 | Aides (office staff) |
1974-1977 |
9 | 6 | Amtrak |
1976-1979 |
9 | 7 | Arabs |
1978 |
9 | 8 | Balanced budget |
1979 |
9 | 9 | Basques |
1978 |
9 | 10 | Boise, Tom |
1966 |
9 | 11 | Borah, Mary |
1957-1969 |
9 | 12 | Busing |
1972 |
9 | 13 | Carter, Jimmy |
1977 |
9 | 14 | Carter Administration: Relations With |
1977-1982 |
9 | 15 | Central America |
1978 |
9 | 16 | Central Intelligence Agency: Intelligence Committee |
1960-1974 |
9 | 17 | Central Intelligence Agency: Intelligence Committee |
1975 |
9 | 18 | Central Intelligence Agency: Intelligence Committee |
1975 |
9 | 19 | Central Intelligence Agency: Intelligence Committee: Financial Report |
1975 |
9 | 20 | Central Intelligence Agency: Post-Committee Files |
1976-1977 |
9 | 21 | Central Intelligence Agency |
1988 |
9 | 22 | Bush CIA Nomination |
1975-1976 |
10 | 1 | China |
1970-1979 |
10 | 2 | Church, Bethine |
1957-1985 |
10 | 3 | Church, Frank |
1947-1975 |
10 | 4 | Civil Rights |
1956-1966 |
10 | 5 | Colleagues and friends |
1956-1983 |
10 | 6 | Communist propaganda |
1962 |
10 | 7 | Cuba |
1960-1978 |
10 | 8 | Disclosure of income and assets |
1946-1977 |
10 | 9 | Draft, military |
undated |
10 | 10 | Economy |
1973-1980 |
10 | 11 | Education |
1957-1980 |
10 | 12 | Energy and nuclear energy |
1963-1980 |
10 | 13 | Equal Rights Amendment |
1957-1976 |
10 | 14 | Federal Bureau of Investigation |
1989 |
10 | 15 | Foreign policy issues |
1957-1980 |
10 | 16 | Foreign Relations Committee Chair |
1962-1980 |
11 | 1 | Geneva protocol |
1971-1974 |
11 | 2 | Genocide treaty |
1951-1975 |
11 | 3 | Great Society |
1964-1987 |
11 | 4 | Gun control |
1967-1980 |
11 | 5 | Human Rights |
1976-1978 |
11 | 6 | Idaho’s Conservatism and Church’s Liberalism |
1969-1987 |
11 | 7 | International Telephone and Telegraph Company |
1969-1975 |
11 | 8 | Internment Camp, Japanese Americans |
1978 |
11 | 9 | Israel and the Middle East |
1957 |
11 | 10 | Kissenger, Henry |
1968-1976 |
11 | 11 | Labor |
1958-1978 |
11 | 12 | Latin America |
1969-1986 |
11 | 13 | Liberalism |
1978-1984 |
11 | 14 | Libya |
1979-1980 |
11 | 15 | Middle East |
1958-1988 |
11 | 16 | Mikva, Abner |
1979 |
11 | 17 | Miscellaneous |
1955-1986 |
11 | 18 | Mormons |
1959 |
12 | 1 | Multinational corporations |
1975 |
12 | 2 | Multinational corporations |
1976 |
12 | 3 | Multinational corporations |
1977-1990 |
12 | 4 | Multinational corporations: CIA |
1970-1973 |
12 | 5 | Multinational corporations: CIA |
1974 |
13 | 1 | National Energy Act |
1972-1977 |
13 | 2 | New Frontier |
1960-1963 |
13 | 3 | Nicaragua |
1978-1980 |
13 | 4 | Nuclear weapons: India |
1977-1980 |
13 | 5 | Office of Economic Opportunity |
1966-1969 |
13 | 6 | Office Staff and Administration |
1956-1980 |
13 | 7 | Overseas Private Investment Corporation |
1973-1978 |
13 | 8 | Pakistan |
1978 |
13 | 9 | Panama |
1960-1975 |
13 | 10 | Panama |
1976-1977 |
13 | 11 | Panama |
1978 |
13 | 12 | Panama |
1979-1982 |
13 | 13 | Pfost, Gracie |
1962-1965 |
13 | 14 | Pink Sheet on the Left |
1975-1989 |
13 | 15 | Pornography |
1966-1973 |
13 | 16 | Prayer Amendment |
962-1966 |
13 | 17 | Russian Brigad |
1979 |
14 | 1 | Salt II |
1977-1979 |
14 | 2 | Salt II, 1977-1979 |
1980-1987 |
14 | 3 | Soviet Union |
1974-1981 |
14 | 4 | State Department |
1980 |
14 | 5 | Sugar |
1976-1984 |
14 | 6 | Taiwan and China |
1970-1981 |
14 | 7 | Urban affairs |
1962 |
14 | 8 | Vietnam |
1959-1971 |
14 | 9 | Vietnam |
1972-1973 |
14 | 10 | Vietnam |
1974-1980 |
14 | 11 | Watergate |
1972-1974 |
14 | 12 | Welfare |
1972-1979 |
14 | 13 | Western Coalition of Senators |
1980 |
14 | 14 | Wilderness |
1986 |
15 | 1 | Drew Pearson: Senator and Senate personalities |
undated |
15 | 2 | Drew Pearson: Senator and Senate personalities |
1928-1953 |
15 | 3 | Drew Pearson: Senator and Senate personalities |
1954-1964 |
15 | 4 | Drew Pearson: Frank Church |
1963-1967 |
15 | 5 | Central Intelligence Agency: Clippings |
1976-1984 |
15 | 6 | CIA Files |
1963-1974 |
15 | 7 | CIA Files |
1975 |
15 | 8 | CIA Files |
1976 |
15 | 9 | Lyndon Johnson: Vietnam and Foreign Aid |
1957-1987 |
15 | 10 | Nixon Papers |
1969-1970 |
15 | 11 | Nixon Papers, 1969-1970 |
1970-1974 |
16 | 1 | Newspaper references to Frank Church (Information Bank) |
1977-1979 |
16 | 2 | Newspaper references to Frank Church (Information Bank) |
1976-1977 |
16 | 3 | Newspaper references to Frank Church (Information Bank) |
1975 |
16 | 4 | Newspaper references to Frank Church (Information Bank) |
1974 |
16 | 5 | Newspaper references to Frank Church (Information Bank) |
1972-1973 |
16 | 6 | Newspaper references to Frank Church (Information Bank) |
1970-1971 |
16 | 7 | FBI file on Frank Church |
undated |
3: Citation source documents and typescriptReturn to Top
Container(s) | Description | |
---|---|---|
Box | Folder | |
17 | 1-43 |
Citation source documents and typescript, Fighting the Odds
|
4: Transcripts of interviews by Rod GramerReturn to Top
Contact Special Collections and Archives for additional information
5: Transcripts of interviews by LeRoy AshbyReturn to Top
Contact Special Collections and Archives for additional information
6: Interviews on tapeReturn to Top
Contact Special Collections and Archives for additional information
Names and SubjectsReturn to Top
Subject Terms
- Church, Bethine C.--Interviews
- Church, Frank--Archives
- Church, Frank--Interviews