K. Ross Toole Archives
The Mike Mansfield Papers: Series Notes
Series X: Senate: Federal Agencies, 1953-1977 (285 linear ft.)
This series is an orderly chronicle of all Mansfield's interactions and interests in federal agencies during his time in the Senate. The series is broken up by senatorial term and proceeds alphabetically by the name of the agency. Most of the information in these files relates to interactions between federal agencies and Montanans, though subjects as basic as the postmastership in Forsyth and as exotic as evacuations in Pakistan are covered. Many of the files focus on the day to day worries of constituents and the multitude of complaints and concerns they have in connection to federal agencies. The bulk of the series consists of correspondence, agency reports and newsletters, legal documents, speeches, press releases, and newspaper clippings.
More specifically, the series begins with the Department of Agriculture and covers all relevant programs of the agency for Mansfield's first term in the Senate. It includes most of the programs that Agriculture administers like the Farmer's Home Administration, the Farm Credit Administration, and the Forest Service. This same pattern repeats itself through the entire spectrum of federal agencies, beginning anew with each Senatorial term. Agencies with particularly extensive files also proceed by year within a given term. The Department of the Navy is an example of this. Within each agency there is a wide range of subject matter. There are numerous letters from constituents and interest groups. Most of these are accompanied by copies of Mansfield's replies. Problems with agencies that directly affected people's finances form the core of these letters. Timber sales, loans for farms and ranches, opening and closing military bases, federal job appointments, grazing fees, disaster relief, and dam projects all figure prominently. Complaints about specific policies and appeals to change these policies also appear frequently. Many folders contain letters from agencies justifying the policies under attack and more basic letters keeping Mansfield informed of general progress with various federal programs. Correspondence between Senate colleagues, and particularly between Mansfield and the rest of Montana's Congressional delegation appears throughout the series. Besides letters, many folders contain agency reports ranging from basic records of timber sales to Treasury fiscal investigation results. Many of the military files reflect information similar to that in other series regarding court martials, discharges, transfers, and personnel assignments. The State Department files reflect the concerns of Cold War America, including investigations and reports of Communist strength domestically and abroad. State files also range from the administration of the Civil Service exam to strategic concerns in Southeast Asia. The remainder of the series consists of numerous newspaper clippings sent by constituents, press releases, drafts of Mansfield's speeches, excerpts from the Congressional Record, and agency memorandums.
It is relatively easy to understand the basic structure of this series, though its sheer size makes locating specific documents difficult. Using rough chronology and manually scanning folders is probably the best approach, especially for periods when folders are vaguely titled, for example "Agriculture Miscellaneous." There is considerable overlap in subject matter with other series, especially the Montana and Legislation series, and cross-referencing a particular subject in these other series is worthwhile.
See a sample document from this series: A telegram from David Brower, Council of Conservationists, opposing the construction of Echo Park Dam in Colorado [1955].
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Last Updated: 24 June 2002.