Search

Office Files (1959-1976; 13 linear ft.) is an artificial series made up of the combination of what were originally three separate series documenting some facet of the administration of the Hart office and some of the more mundane kinds of responsibilities that a senator performed for his constituents. Office Files now consists of three subseries: "General Files", "Administration" and "Publicity." "General Files" covers the period of 1959 through 1969 after which time the files seem to have merged with the "Administration" subseries which covers the period of 1959 to 1976. The kinds of documents originally contained in these two subseries included: recommendations requested for Washington jobs; PAH's acknowledgments of persons' graduations, anniversaries, birthdays, etc.; requests for flags to fly over the Capitol; requests for travel courtesy; requests for PAH to meet with visitors in Washington; requests from constituents for the Agricultural Yearbook, the Congressional Record, speeches made by PAH in Congress, and reports of government agencies; letters from applicants for intern positions or for positions as Capitol pages; and requests for Hart to use his influence to get other politicos to make speeches and/or public appearances. These series also included Hart's request to use rooms in the Capitol. These files have been heavily sampled, and in some cases, discarded completely. The researcher should note that in 1970, the year the "General Files" and "Administration" subseries merged, the character of the files changed significantly with many of the file headings disappearing altogether. Obviously in 1970, Hart and his staff either discarded or had microfilmed and then discarded letters and requests of a routine nature. Some of the more interesting files in the "Administration" subseries relate to staff operations and office administration. Here there are individual files for staff members containing correspondence and memoranda. The third subseries in the Office Files series is "Public Relations." Formerly a subseries under "Administration" series (called Administration - Publicity), around 1970, the files were split off from "Administration" and a separate series - "Public Relations" - was created. Types of files in the now "Public Relations" subseries include responses to Hart mailings (newsletters) or responses to his radio and TV appearances.