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Preserving a Legacy
Earlier this year, several semitrucks rolled up to UVM’s Library Research Annex in Williston and disgorged more than 3,000 white cartons containing nearly 50 years of American history—the Leahy Archive.
Retired U.S. Senator and current UVM President’s Distinguished Fellow Patrick Leahy donated his personal Senate papers to the University of Vermont’s Jack and Shirley Silver Special Collections Library, joining a rich tradition of Vermont public servants who have entrusted their personal records to UVM.
Leahy’s papers—a physical record of the culmination of 48 years in public office— will ultimately be archived in the ground floor of the Howe Library where, over the course of the next several years, they will be cataloged and organized by a team of congressional papers archivists and student interns, led by Chris Burns, interim director of Silver Special Collections and university archivist. Their work is aided by the senator’s prescient hiring of an on-staff archivist for many of his years in office.
UVM Dean of Libraries Bryn Geffert said the research value of Leahy’s collection is extraordinary, given not only the length of the senator’s service but also the breadth and importance of committees, initiatives, and projects in which he was involved.
“Senator Leahy has unique insights and experiences invaluable to historians and scholars studying the history of both our state and our nation,” Geffert said. “By donating his papers, Leahy ensures that future generations have access to a wealth of primary source materials from one of the most prominent legislators of the last half-century.”
“I am humbled that Vermonters chose me to represent them in the United States Senate for nearly 50 years.” Leahy said. “These papers document the many issues for which I advocated on behalf of Vermonters as well as relationships, events, and moments that I look back on with fondness. I am thrilled that they will be archived by UVM and shared with the public.”
Here are just a small sampling of the documents and objects in the archive shows the range of material that gives insight on the third longest Senate career in U.S. history.
Where it all began: In 1974, Patrick Leahy, then the 34-year-old state’s attorney of Chittenden County, began what many people considered a doomed U.S. Senate campaign (no non-Republican candidate had been elected to the Senate by Vermonters since 1856). The campaign used these items and an innovative television strategy to win the election that November by a little over 4,600 votes, and Leahy succeeded retiring Senator George Aiken.
In January 1975, when Senator Leahy took office, he was the youngest person Vermont had ever sent to the Senate. As he tells it, during his orientation a few days before his actual swearing-in, the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms was at first reluctant to allow him on the floor as a senator-elect. This schedule shows his itinerary during that time.
During his first year in office, Senator Leahy took part in a Congressional Delegation (CODEL) visit to what was then the Soviet Union. This ephemera from that trip includes a luncheon card, embassy packet, and Russian newspapers that feature official state coverage of the delegation.
Senator Leahy was a longtime member of the Senate Subcommittee on Intellectual Property and was co-sponsor of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, which helped modernized the U.S. patent system. These typewritten cards from 1986 contain talking points from a speech he gave on the subject of intellectual property reform.
A senator’s day is a busy one. Weekly schedules such as this one from May of 1994 will help future scholars recreate meetings and sequences of events in the working life of the senator. It includes handwritten notes by Senator Leahy and his staff members.
The Caped Crusader
Senator Leahy was both a noted fan of the comic book character Batman and one of the leading legislative figures in the campaign against the production, export, and use of anti-personnel landmines. The two interests came together in this 1996 Batman: Death of Innocents: The Horror of Landmines comic book, which included a forward by Senator Leahy. The senator's love for Batman didn't end on the page—over his career he's had cameo appearances in five Batmanrelated films, and he even lent his voice for an episode of an animated series.
Repeal of ‘Don't Ask, Don't Tell’
In 1994, a policy called “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was instituted by the U.S. military which barred openly gay, lesbian, and bisexual people from military service. This 2010 letter from Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi thanks Senator Leahy for his work on the repeal of this policy and includes a pen used to sign the House of Representatives formal enrollment of the bill of repeal.
In 1998, a congressional bill authorizing the National Sea Grant Program contained a sentence controversially designating Lake Champlain as a “Great Lake.” A few weeks later, that designation was reversed, and Senator Leahy issued this press release on the matter. Sea Grant funding was ultimately made available to Vermont, and today it helps fund important research on the environment and economy of the Lake Champlain Basin.
Twice during his years in office, Senator Leahy also held the official title of President Pro Tempore of the Senate (often called President Pro Tem), and as such presided over the body in the vice president’s absence and was third in line of succession to the presidency. According to Senate custom, these medallions were struck in 2012 in honor of the new President Pro Tem. Leahy held the title from 2012 to 2015 and again from 2021 until his retirement in January of 2023.
On the morning of September 11, 2001, Senator Leahy was expecting to take part in a ceremony at the U.S. Supreme Court. Instead, by shortly after 9 a.m., it became clear the U.S. was under terrorist attack. This statement was issued by the senator in the immediate aftermath of the attacks. The senate floor speech was delivered the day after.
From his first day on the Senate floor in 1975, Senator Leahy worked with Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware, who was then, like Leahy, in his 30s. The two stayed close colleagues throughout the next five decades. This formal invitation to President Biden’s inauguration was sent in January 2021.
Senator Leahy was a key member of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary during his tenure, including chairing the committee from 2001 to 2003 and from 2007 to 2015. These tickets allowed entry to the hearing for the successful nomination of Sonia Sotomayor as a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court in 2009.
Senator Leahy’s five-decade tenure spanned the Information Age, and the many modes of information storage. In addition to documents and objects, the Leahy Archive contains records in a range of formats that themselves represent a history of information storage, including reel-to-reel tape, microfilm cartridges, and floppy discs. As part of their project, archivists will be examining and cataloging terabytes of electronic records.
