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Mike McCormack Papers, 1959-2009

Overview of the Collection

Creator
McCormack, Mike, 1921-2020
Title
Mike McCormack Papers
Dates
1959-2009 (inclusive)
1971-1980 (bulk)
Quantity
220 Linear feet of shelf space, (168 Boxes + oversize)
Collection Number
Cage 690 (collection)
Summary
THe collection consists of records of Mike McCormack, Washington State representative and state senator.
Repository
Washington State University Libraries' Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections (MASC)
Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections
Terrell Library Suite 12
Pullman, WA
99164-5610
Telephone: 509-335-6691
mascref@wsu.edu
Access Restrictions

This collection is open and available for research use.

Languages
English
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Biographical Note

Claude Gilbert Mike McCormack was born on December 14, 1921 in Basil, Ohio (now part of Baltimore, Ohio). He began college at the University of Toledo in 1939, worked for two years and then spent the years from 1943 to 1946 in military service. From 1946 to 1949, he attended Washington State College and received bachelor and master degrees in Chemistry. He worked briefly at University of Puget Sound and then spent twenty years with the atomic energy facilities of the Atomic Energy Commission at Hanford, Washington.

McCormack was first elected to a public office as member of the Washington State House of Representative in 1956, as the Democratic Party nominee. He was re-elected in 1958, he then was elected to the State Senate in 1960, 1964 and 1968. In the State Senate, McCormack was a member of several important committees, including the Interim Budget Committee and the Joint Committee on Higher Education. He was often associated with public higher education in press coverage. He was a principal author of the legislation that combined and extended the junior colleges of the state into the Community College System during 1967 and 1968. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1970. His election was an upset victory over five-term Republican Representative Catherine May. In the United States Congress, McCormack emerged as an expert on energy matters, a prominent issue during the years of his congressional service. He was a member of the House Science and Technology Committee and Chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy Research and Production. He was an author of laws that authorized efforts that included matters such as solar energy, and his expertise on overall energy issue was acknowledged by Members of Congress of both political parties. At times, he took positions that were critical of the policies advocated by presidents and administrations of both political parties. His's fifth election campaign, in 1980, was unsuccessful.

He then worked in Washington DC for a number of years and later with Institute for Science and Society at Ellensburg, Washington. Mike McCormack passed away on November 7, 2020 in Medford, Oregon.

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Content Description

The papers of Mike McCormack consist chiefly of his records as United States Congressman, including correspondence, government reports, texts of speeches and similar statements, press coverage items, materials related to political party participation, files maintained by office staff, papers concerning election campaigns, and reports and unprinted matter about many matters of public concern. Mr. McCormack's papers also include materials related to service in the Washington State Legislature prior to his election to Congress, and items that post-date his service in Congress.

Series 1, government and congress; Series 2, correspondence, chiefly with constituents; Series 3, speeches, public appearances, press coverage and so on; and Series 4, "anti-nuclear" files.

The original filing order of the records became partly disrupted in transfers among the office, the record center and the WSU Libraries. Much of the original order has been re-established by the Libraries. Some interpretations of original order are uncertain. One instance is the records and papers associated with Randy Rawson, a staff employee of the McCormack Office; these papers may include materials that were not originally Rawson's files. Another instance involves papers packed in such manner that original order can no longer be perceived clearly, although groups of related folders do exist. In this case, the WSU Libraries has elected to retain the shipping order, assembling all as one de-facto series; these are presented as Subseries 1.2, Issue and Subject files.

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Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

Copyright restrictions may apply.

Preferred Citation

[Item description]

Mike McCormack Papers, 1959-2009 (Cage 690)

Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries, Pullman, WA.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

The original filing order of the records became partly disrupted in transfers among the office, the record center and the WSU Libraries. Much of the original order has been re-established by the Libraries. As reconstructed by the Library the papers are arranged as sixteen subseries, falling into four series.

Acquisition Information

The papers were transferred to the Washington State University Library during 1981. The papers were sent from Mr. McCormack's office, the federal records center in Maryland and Mr. McCormack's field office in Yakima. Mr. McCormack later added items that date from years before 1971 and after 1981. Mr. McCormack donated his "anti-nuclear" files (MS 2010-03). These were added as an addendum to the existing collection (see Series 4).

Processing Note

The records were processed between 2000 and 2004 by Ted Jones, Kris Svingen, Keri Jetzer, Ginny Williams, Stephen Ziegler, Michael Evans, Summer Hahn, Kris Stenson, and Lawrence Stark.

Related Materials

MASC holds papers of other previous representatives from the 4th Congressional District:

Knute Hill Papers, 1909-1963 (Cage 194)

Otis Halbert Holmes Papers, 1943-1958 (Cage 224)

Catherine May Congressional Papers, 1959-1970 (Cage 304)

Sid Morrison Papers, 1980-1992 (Cage 781)

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Legislators -- United States -- Archives

Personal Names

  • McCormack, Mike, 1921-2020 -- Archives

Corporate Names

  • United States. Congress. House

Geographical Names

  • United States -- Politics and government -- 1945-1989 -- Sources
  • United States -- Politics and government -- 1989-1993 -- Sources
  • Washington (State) -- Politics and government -- Sources

Finding aid prepared by Ted Jones, Kris Svingen, Keri Jetzer, Ginny Williams, Stephen Ziegler, Michael Evans, Summer Hahn, Kris Stenson, and Lawrence Stark
2025

CC Attribution
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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