Archives West Finding Aid

Scope and Content: Accession 1096-001 consists solely of papers created by Brock Adams and his staff during his time in the U. S. House of Representatives (1965-1976). The papers cover Adams’ work in the House and its committees and subcommittees, as well as his interest in Washington State issues. Unlike the Senate Papers, these papers do contain case files, both in a “Case Files” series and within Washington State Correspondence and Correspondence About Departmental Matters. Also in contrast to the Senate papers, correspondence comprises a major part of this collection.

Correspondence, which comprises about a third of the accession, has been placed at the beginning of the papers. In all correspondence series, the majority of the letters come from constituents. Congressional colleagues and interested parties from local corporations also have a presence in the files. Common correspondents include the University of Washington, Boeing, and Amtrak. The most prominent demographic groups were the elderly, generally writing about Medicare, Social Security and veterans' pensions, and college students concerned about the Vietnam War.

General Correspondence is broader in scope than in other series, not limited to a specific bill, or falling within the jurisdiction of a certain department. This series documents a mixture of regional and national issues, and includes constituent and colleague correspondence. The files are arranged chronologically by two-year session and within a session alphabetically by heading. Outgoing Correspondence or “Robos” are form letters for responding to constituent correspondence. The letters in this short series were intended as masters that could be modified to fit different aspects of an issue and could describe to constituents actions of the Congressman related to that issue.

Correspondence About Departmental Matters relates to particular government departments, for example the Internal Revenue Service, Immigration and Naturalization Services, Selective Service Administration, etc. This series consists mainly of constituent correspondence. Also common are letters from fellow members of Congress, members of government departments, city and county government officials and business associations outside the 7th District with an interest in Adams’ sponsored legislation. A number of the constituent letters are case files, personal complaints or situations in which a constituent has asked the Congressman to intervene on his or her behalf. This series has been restricted to protect constituent privacy. The files are arranged chronologically by year and within the year alphabetically by department. In keeping with the original order of Adams’ office, when alphabetizing, words such as “department” and “agency” were disregarded. Thus, the Agency for International Development is filed under “I” not “A.” This series and the Legislative Correspondence series show a large degree of overlap, and many letters in the Departmental Correspondence series mention specific bills. Researchers interested in legislation involving a particular department are advised to check both series.

Washington State Matters Correspondence discusses issues specific to Washington State (Hanford, the Lake Washington Bridge) as well as the effects of federal policy on the region (vocational rehabilitation, energy policy, welfare). This series has been arranged alphabetically by subject heading. The “General” files, placed at the beginning of the series, contain case files and have been restricted for privacy reasons.

Legislative Correspondence begins the Legislation superseries. This first series contains constituent and colleague correspondence often related to a particular bill or bills. Like the general correspondence, the files are arranged by session, then alphabetically by heading. Unlike the general correspondence, each session begins with a collection of files marked “General,” correspondence about little discussed or relatively minor issues. Adams’ Sponsored Bills is composed of bills and resolutions sponsored or cosponsored by Brock Adams. In many cases, related information such as correspondence, articles, drafts, similar bills and press releases are interfiled with the legislation. This legislation is arranged chronologically by year. Within the year, legislation is arranged by number; bills are listed first (H. R.), then House Joint Resolutions (H. J. Res.), House Concurrent Resolutions (H. Con. Res.) and finally House Resolutions (H. Res.)

Adams’ Working Files document his interest in legislative measures other than his own. The files contain bills and drafts of bills, as well as correspondence, articles, speeches and notes. Occasionally, the materials are annotated by Adams and his staff. The files are arranged in alphabetical order. Roll Call Votes is the heading for Adams’ voting record in the House of Representatives. For each measure, the record displays the title of the measure, how Adams voted, and the result of the vote in the House. This record also includes quorums and roll calls, in which Adams is listed as either “Present” or “Absent.” Floor Files are items that Brock Adams used on the House floor. Usually, these files contain heavily annotated copies of bills, reports to accompany bills and other government publications. Occasionally, the files also include releases from the Democratic Study Group or other opinion pieces from Congressional interest groups. These items are not related to Adams’ own bills, but rather display his opinions on other representatives’ measures. Adams’ annotations may show how he intended to vote, points he wished to clarify, and possible future effects if the bill was passed. Sometimes, Adams recorded the result of the House vote on the bill. These files are arranged chronologically.

Subject Series contain information on issues of particular interest to Adams and his constituents. Subjects include the Vietnam War, welfare, transportation (especially the proposed supersonic transport aircraft), housing, and reform in the U. S. House of Representatives. File content may include press clippings, correspondence with colleagues and constituents, drafts of bills, legislation, notes, speeches, floor statements and selections from the Congressional Record. The series are filed in alphabetical order. Folders marked “General,” are filed at the beginning of a series, and press clippings are filed at the end.

The General Series include a number of small series about a wide variety of issues. All series are arranged in chronological order. Press Releases contain, in addition to news releases, articles written by and about Brock Adams, interviews for television and radio, speeches and floor statements. In some cases, related items such as correspondence, articles and brochures are filed with the releases. Authorship of articles, when known, is listed in the file titles. Speeches, floor statements, interviews, and radio and TV transcripts are by Brock Adams unless otherwise stated. The Newsletters were sent to Adams’ constituents. Each newsletter gives information on a variety of topics, including Adams’ recent voting record, bills that Adams sponsored or co-sponsored, and legislation particularly relevant to the Northwest. Events of particular importance resulted in the creation of a “Dear Friend” letter or an issue-specific newsletter, entitled “A Special Report from Brock Adams.” The tiny series Background Information for Newsletters contains correspondence, press releases and handwritten notes.

Speeches include speeches delivered inside and outside of Congress. Common topics include the Vietnamese conflict, transportation (especially railroads) and Congressional budget reform. There is also a special series of Speeches and Writings Regarding the Vietnamese Conflict, which includes articles as well as speeches. Writings contain drafts of a book entitled Criminal Justice – Some Modest Proposals. Although there is no evidence that Adams ever published the book, he did complete the manuscript and submitted it for editing. The designations “Early,” “Middle” and “Late” on the different drafts are estimates on the part of the archival staff, as none of the drafts are dated. Index to Adams’ Speeches in the House of Representatives is the record of Adams’ testimony and floor statements in the House. The date and subject of each statement are listed, as well as the Congressional Record page number where the statement can be found.

Trip Files include information on domestic and foreign business trips. Included in the files are schedules, articles relating to Adams’ activities during the trip and correspondence before, during and following the trip. Daily Schedules are actually weekly schedules detailing Adams’ engagements both on and off the House floor. Many of these schedules are heavily annotated with last minute scheduling changes, notes and outlines for speeches and quick facts about the people and institutions he would be dealing with in the upcoming week.

Invitations Accepted come from local government and business leaders as well as fellow Congressmen and other federal government officials. Events include dedications, luncheons and dinners, forums, celebrations and vigils. Adams’ favorable responses are often included with the invitations. Thank You Letters are divided into two categories: Incoming and Outgoing. Incoming Thank You Letters are often from fellow members of Congress or from interest groups thanking him for cooperation on legislation. Also included are letters from important constituents. Most of these letters have Adams’ response attached. Outgoing Thank You Letters are often sent to Congressional colleagues or to constituents who provided him with useful articles or expert opinions. Thank you letters for gifts and for travel and campaign arrangements together with constituent thank you letters for the most part have been weeded and destroyed.

Clippings are found throughout the accession, and this single folder is by no means a comprehensive collection. The clippings found within this series come from the early part of Adams’ House career (1965-1969). They generally discuss Adams’ background and his policies in general as opposed to specific legislative measures. This series also contains a few articles on Adams’ fellow Congressmen.

The next series after the General Series group is Case Files. These are constituent requests of a deeply personal nature. Some requests relate to the draft, for example conscientious objectors during the Vietnam conflict. The bulk of the case files deal with immigration issues, generally the efforts of aliens to gain entrance to, or remain in, the United States. Also included in this subgroup are a few files containing general information about the draft and the Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS), which Adams and his aides may have used in responding to the requests. These files have been restricted for privacy reasons. These files are arranged in alphabetical order by topic. Individual case files are alphabetized by name.

The Personal/Political Papers subgroup contains both Personal Correspondence and Campaign Files. Personal Correspondence contains letters from family and friends and some record of day-to-day activities such as replacing lost articles, subscribing to newspapers, etc. Campaign Files are mostly composed of correspondence such as letters of congratulations, thank-you letters to office staff and contributors and interaction with Congressional colleagues. The series also contains publicity materials, Adams’ notes and a few articles and clippings.

Records generated by Adams’ committee work have been subgrouped at the end of the papers. The largest subgroup by far is the Foreign and Interstate Commerce Committee and its sub-subgroup Transportation and Aeronautics Subcommittee. There is some overlap between the two sections, and some records from the full committee may be found in the subcommittee and vice versa. The Legislative Correspondence, found in the records of the full committee, contains the correspondence for both the full committee and the subcommittee. Significant topics within this subgroup include rail and air transport, health, and environmental issues. The Legislative Correspondence series within this subgroup is arranged chronologically by year and within each year alphabetically by subject. All other series are arranged alphabetically by subject.

The small Agriculture Committee subgroup is composed of legislative files. The Banking and Currency Committee contains only two folders, both Adams’ sponsored bills. The Budget Committee is completely composed of correspondence. No separate Budget Committee subgroup existed in the House Papers originally. Archivists removed correspondence regarding the budget committee from other series such as Departmental Correspondence and Legislative Correspondence to create this subgroup. A larger block of records for the Budget Committee may be found in the Adams Senate Papers (Accession Number 1096-16). Pursuant to House Rule VII, the records of the House Budget Committee are closed until 2006. The District of Columbia Committee is the largest committee subgroup after the IFCC. This subgroup contains a correspondence series, including general and legislative correspondence, legislation and subject series. As with the Budget Committee subgroup, some of the correspondence in this series was originally part of Legislative Correspondence and Correspondence About Departmental Matters. Nothing documenting Adams’ work on the Revenue and Financial Affairs Committee has come into the archives. Only three files of correspondence remain from his work on the Science and Astronautics Committee, and these files have been retained in the Legislative Correspondence series at the beginning of the accession.

Adams worked on the National Transportation Policy Study Commission before being appointed to Carter’s cabinet. The records from this commission are sparse, containing correspondence, a few government reports and one folder of clippings.

The final subgroup consists of papers of Adams’ aide, Henry Seidel. Seidel began as Adams’ Administrative Assistant and managed the Congressman’s Seattle office from 1968 until his retirement in 1970. Unlike the Senate papers, with the exception of this subgroup, no series or subgroups are devoted specifically to Adams’ aides. Annotations, correspondence and other traces of Adams’ aides’ activities may be found scattered throughout many series.