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Frank E. Moss papers, 1931-1992

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Moss, Frank E., 1911-2003
Title
Frank E. Moss papers
Dates
1931-1992 (inclusive)
Quantity
380.5 linear feet, (726 boxes and 22 oversize boxes)
Collection Number
MS 0146
Summary
The Frank E. Moss papers (1931-1992) contain congressional papers of Senator Frank E. Moss, 1959-76, covering the 86th-93rd Congress, and personal files, 1935-76. Besides the congressional files the papers include biographical information, photographs, plaques, certificates, honors, etc. represetative of his eighteen years as U.S. Senator.
Repository
University of Utah Libraries, Special Collections
Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library
University of Utah
295 South 1500 East
Salt Lake City, UT
84112-0860

Telephone: 8015818863
special@library.utah.edu
Access Restrictions

Twenty-four hour advanced notice encouraged. Materials must be used on-site. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law.

Languages
English
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Historical Note

Frank Edward "Ted" Moss (1911-2003)was born in 1911 in Holladay, Utah. He was educated in the Salt Lake City schools, graduating from Granite High School in 1929. Majoring in history, political science, and speech, Moss was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Utah in 1933.

After graduating, Frank Moss married Phyllis Hart and moved to Washington, D.C., where he attended George Washington University Law School. While a law student, Moss worked for the National Recovery Administration (1933-1935) and the Resettlement Administration (1935-1936). After having received a law degree in 1937, he was admitted to the bar of the District of Columbia and served on the legal staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Moss returned to Utah in 1939 to become a law clerk to Utah Supreme Court Justice James H. Wolfe. In 1940 he was elected to his first public office as a judge in Salt Lake City's Municipal Court. Moss received his commission as a second lieutenant in the U. S. Army Reserve in 1938 and was called to active duty in February 1942. The following year he graduated from the judge advocate general's school after which he served as judge advocate in Salt Lake City and in Riverside, California. From 1943 to 1945, Moss was stationed in England with the judge advocate general of the U.S. Army Air Corps and completed his active military service in September 1945.

In the fall of 1945, Moss was elected to the Salt Lake City judgeship where he remained until 1950 when he won the election to the office of Salt Lake County attorney. During his two terms as county attorney, he was active in numerous professional organizations serving as the president of the National Association of County and Prosecuting Attorneys (1957-1958).

Moss's Senate career embraced the years of 1959-1976. For fourteen years Moss served on the Interior and Insular Affairs Committee and was chairman of its Minerals, Materials, and Fuels Subcommittee. He also sat on the Public Works Committee for eight years and on the Small Business Committee for six. In 1973 Moss became chairman of the Aeronautical and Space Sciences Committee.

Participating in the 1960s movement for increased consumer protection, he strongly supported the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act, the Truth-in-Lending Act, and the Flammable Fabrics Act. As the principal sponsor of the Toy Safety Act, Moss conducted hearings which revealed the dangers of common toys. His legislative endeavors received national attention when he led the fight to compel the elimination of TV cigarette advertising. Moss was one of the original sponsors of Medicare and gained national attention in 1976 when he posed as an indigent, elderly Medicaid recipient in an effort to expose Medicare fraud. He became well known in the United States and Canada for his work in the field of water resources, publishing a book on this subject entitled "Water Crisis" in 1967.

Senator Moss was the first Utahn to attain majority leadership positions in the Senate. He was elected as secretary of the Democratic Conference on three occasions, and sat on the powerful Democratic Policy and Steering committees. At the time of his defeat in 1976, Moss was hoping to become the next majority whip.

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Content Description

The Frank E. Moss papers (1931-1992) represent the largest manuscript collection in the Special Collections Department. The material in the Moss Papers includes correspondence, printed matter, diaries, photographs, tapes, films and scrapbooks. The largest portion of the collection is concerned with constituent opinions and problems involving military transfers, veteran pensions, grazing rights, industrial growth, the Vietnam War, the Nixon impeachment, abortion, gun control, and the right-to-work issue.

One of the most important sections of the collection deals with Senator Moss's special interests. Discussion of the usage and the conservation of natural and energy resources appears in materials focusing upon the planning and utilization policies affecting federal lands and parks. Moss's concerns with national health issues are manifested in his campaign to ban TV cigarette advertising and in his investigations of nursing home conditions and Medicare-Medicaid fraud.

Other significant materials in the collection are unpublished and published congressional committee and governmental hearing reports. Several travel diaries contain commentary on the political, economic, social and cultural conditions of countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and South America. Communications with federal, state and local officials and congressional colleagues also can be found in these papers. Informal office staff reports relating to contemporary problems and proposed policy positions in addition to office notes and memoranda have been preserved.

Hundreds of photographs, tapes and films serve as an important visual and aural component of the Moss collection. Some photos were taken for political publicity purposes while others depict Utah scenic attractions. These materials are located in the Photograph Collection division of Special Collections. Recordings of Senator Moss's speeches are housed in the library's Audio-Visual Department as are the senator's 1964 campaign film and numerous documentary films.

Information and correspondence concerning Moss's professional and political activities prior to his election to the Senate in 1958 can be found in boxes 1 through 3. The bulk of the Moss Collection, which pertains to congressional materials embracing the years of 1959-1976, are located in boxes 4 through 577. Numerous projects of Utah state, western regional and national significance, which caught the attention of Senator Moss, can be accessed in boxes 578 through 651. Copies of speeches delivered before a variety of audiences and statements prepared for Senate floor debate and committee discussion appear in boxes 652 through 693. Transcripts of radio tapes and issues of the senator's newsletters have been placed in boxes 694 and 685 while the voting records of Moss and of his Utah Republican colleaugues are contained in boxes 696 and 697. Papers related to the appointment of federal postmaster positions are situated in boxes 698 through 707. Boxes 708 and 709 include the Senate's legslative calendars and lists of bills which Senator Moss introduced in the Senate. Office records dealing with case work, schedules and memoranda can be seen in boxes 710 and 711. Biographical sketches of Moss and his correspondence as Salt Lake City Judge and Salt Lake County Attorney have been stored in box 712 while materials about his military service are available in box 713. Personal correspondence encompassing years of 1934-1977 has been filed in boxes 714 and 715. Logs of Senator Moss's daily activities during the years of 1957-1992 can be viewed in boxes 716 and 717. Box 718 contains diaries of travel to countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Materials and correspondence linked to the election campaigns of 1964, 1970, and 1976 have been deposited in boxes 719 and 720. Letters written in 1971-1973 from and to constituents concerning Utah problems and issues can be read in box 721. Copies of the senator's speeches (1973-1992) and a manuscript of Richard R. Hart's biography of Senator Moss have been placed in box 722. Boxes 723 through 726 are replete with a myriad of applications to enroll in U.S. military and naval academies. The U.S. Senate's voting history and Moss's legislative record during the 91st-94th Congresses appear in box 727 and numerous certificates and plaques of honor and appreciation can be found in box 728. Nineteen scrapbooks detailing events from 1958-1976 are located in boxes 729 through 747.

Click here to view digitized materials from the collection or visit ArchivesSpace for a container level list of digitized materials.

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Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

The library does not claim to control copyright for all materials in the collection. An individual depicted in a reproduction has privacy rights as outlined in Title 45 CFR, part 46 (Protection of Human Subjects). For further information, please review the J. Willard Marriott Library's Use Agreement and Reproduction Request forms.

Preferred Citation

Collection Name, Collection Number, Box Number, Folder Number. Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, The University of Utah.

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Administrative Information

Processing Note

Processed by Clint Bailey, Barbara Dickey, Marlene Lewis, Susan M. Neel and Roger V. Paxton in 1979 and 2008.

Addendum processed by Roger V. Paxton in 2008 (boxes 712-748).

Click here to read a statement on harmful language in library records.

Separated Materials

See also the Frank E. Moss photograph collection (P0146) and audiovisual (A0146) in the Multimedia Division of Special Collections.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Finding aid prepared by Clint Bailey, Barbara Dickey, Marlene Lewis, and Susan M. Neel.
1979 (last modified: 2019)

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