Resources

New Publication Congress Investigates: A Critical and Documentary History
published by Facts On File, Inc., as part of their Library of American History. Edited by Roger Bruns, David Hostetter, and Raymond Smock

This two volume work (1,200 pages) contains scholarly essays, key documents, chronologies, overviews, photographs, political cartoons, and other illustrations on the most significant congressional investigations over the past two centuries.

Open/download the Press Release (Word .doc)
View the Table of Contents

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List price: $195.00 hardcover. ISBM 978-0-8160-7679-6. July 2011. Revised Edition. Grades 9 and Up. Black-and-white illustrations. Original documents. Index. Bibliographies. Chronologies. Overviews. In two volumes. 1,296 pp. 8 1/2 x 11. eBook available.

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West Virginia Public Radio interview

The Byrd Center Archives is in the midst of a major undertaking to process the voluminous personal papers of the late Senator Robert C. Byrd. On Dec. 13, 2010, Cecelia Mason of West Virginia Public Radio interviewed Byrd Center director Ray Smock. The story and the audio can be found at: http://www.wvpubcast.org/newsarticle.aspx?id=18017&terms=Ray+Smock

Key Press Coverage on the Passing of Senator Robert C. Byrd

View Press Coverage

Byrd Center for Legislative Studies Featured in C-SPAN Interview

Dr. Ray Smock, Director of Byrd Center was interviewed by Brian Lamb on Nov. 11, 2009. The Q&A program aired on Nov. 15, 2009. (Pictured at right: Brian Lamb and Ray Smock.) To view the one hour program, go to:
http://www.q-and-a.org/Video/?ProgramID=1258

Senator Robert C. Byrd on Constitution Day

Constitution Day is celebrated each September 17, to commemorate the date of the signing of the U. S. Constitution in 1787. Here are two of his speeches on the significance of this day and the importance of increasing public knowledge about the U.S. Constitution.

September 17, 2006 :: A Constitution Day Message from Senator Byrd

September 16, 2005 :: Senator Byrd's Constitution Day Address

Major Research Project Launched on Early Petitions to Congress

The Byrd Center for Legislative Studies has launched a documentary editing research project on the petitions received by the House of Representatives and the Senate during the early years of the Republic from 1789 to 1817. These petitions, most never published before, offer a fascinating glimpse into the lives and concerns of Americans of the time and what they expected Congress to do for them. Each petition is a story unto itself. We hear the voices of Indians, New England whalers, women, abolitionists, both black and white, and manufacturers urging Congress to protect their fledgling industries against the unfair prices of foreign imports. These petitions helped shape the very nature of the House and Senate and for the first time, beginning in 1789, the people of all the states had a national government to hear their grievances.
(Read more of this introduction....)

Index of Early Petitions

All of these documents are from Record Group 233 at the National Archives. The transcriptions preserve original spelling and punctuation as allowed by modern typography. Dockets noted by clerks are included in the transcriptions but lists of signatures are omitted.
Links will open these documents in MS Word format.