K. Ross Toole Archives
The Mike Mansfield Papers: Series Notes
Series XV: Senate: Correspondence, 1953-1976 (168.5 linear ft.)
This series contains all of the outgoing correspondence from Mansfield's office during his tenure in the Senate. The folders contain copies of the letters and telegrams sent by the office.
The letters cover all aspects of Mansfield's job in the Senate. They include reply letters to constituents on a variety of topics, numerous condolence letters to constituents, and thanks to various Montanans for campaign assistance. The constituent topics include correspondence relating to pending legislation, military personnel issues like court martials, concerns about Social Security and inflation, job applications, labor disputes, the war in Vietnam, hippies, farm conditions, and Academy appointments. Besides the constituent mail, there is significant correspondence with Congressional colleagues, various federal agencies, the White House, and foreign dignitaries. These letters also cover a broad range of topics including pending legislation, informal and formal Committee meetings, the House Committee on Un-American Affairs, agricultural subsidies, and civil rights. The vast majority of the letters are a single page, though matters of particular importance sometimes cover two or three pages.
In general, Mansfield's replies are not particularly substantive, and many are variations on standard form letters that appear repeatedly throughout Mansfield's files. Nevertheless, the subjects and volume of mail provide insights into the political concerns of the era. Specific issues, like passage of the Wilderness Act in 1964, can be traced through letters sent daily from Mansfield's office. Particularly volatile political issues like opposition to the Vietnam War are reflected in voluminous correspondence on the subject. Mansfield's rising political importance is seen in the increasing volume of mail his office replies to and the prominence of the correspondents. The letters also provide an excellent overview of the overwhelming array of concerns a Senator copes with and the affection that Mansfield elicited from Montanans.
The typical box holds four or five weeks of letters broken into folders containing a week of correspondence each. The folders are arranged chronologically, with all of the communications for a single day grouped together. The series proceeds chronologically from November 1953 to the end of Mansfield's fourth term in 1976. The series is arranged strictly chronologically; after box 190 the folders shift from containing a week of correspondence to holding a single day. Many of the copies in this series appear elsewhere in the collection in a subject area. Some of the boxes have pink inserts highlighting particular topics and issues. These inserts do not seem to follow any pattern and often mark a single letter.
See a sample document from this series: A letter to Sister Mary Janet of Saint Mary College in Xavier, KS, promising that Mansfield will encourage Montana students admitted to the College to attend.
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Last Updated: 24 June 2002.