The collection, jointly held by GW and the State Historical Society of North Dakota, includes campaign videos, photos and Senate documents.
U.S. Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., the 26-year veteran of Congress renown by colleagues as a deficit hawk, will donate his papers to George Washington University after he retires in January. GW will collaborate with the State Historical Society of North Dakota to make the collection available.
Sen. Conrad, M.B.A. ’75, made the announcement Aug. 21 at the North Dakota Heritage Center in Bismarck, joined by GW President Steven Knapp, North Dakota Lt. Gov. Drew Wrigley and Merl Paaverud, director of the state historical society.
“I am so pleased to have a great North Dakota institution working with my alma mater to preserve these records. I know they will find innovative ways to make these documents available to everyone,” said Sen. Conrad, who has been a leader on issues from the budget, to agriculture, energy and rural health care.
The collection, a preview of which appears here, will include more than 600 records storage boxes, or the equivalent of 600 linear feet, from Sen. Conrad’s offices in Bismarck, Fargo, Grand Forks, Minot and Washington, D.C., along with documents from his time as chairman of the Senate Budget Committee and campaign videos hailing from 1986 set to the tune of the senator’s signature campaign song. A photo gallery also chronicles Sen. Conrad over the years, progressing from grainy black and white snapshots to modern color ones.
“We are honored to join the State Historical Society of North Dakota in a unique partnership that will make Sen. Conrad’s papers available to scholars, students and the general public both in Washington, D.C., and in the state he has so ably represented for so many years,” Dr. Knapp said.
Sen. Conrad’s collection will be a particularly important one to add to GW.
“His collection will help historians in the decades to come understand the difficult choices and behind-the-scenes negotiations that helped determine the nation’s fiscal policies during one of the most critical periods on that front in the nation’s history,” said Steve Mandeville-Gamble, GW’s associate librarian for collections and scholarly communications.
In May, GW and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., honored Sen. Conrad for his service and support of the university at its Annual Capitol Hill Alumni Reception.