Biographical

The Thomas Corcoran Congressional Papers document his career as an U.S. Representative. The material in the collection spans his four terms in Congress, beginning in January 1977 and ending in the fall of 1984. The collection is divided into eight series: Personal Files, Legislative/Bill Files, Subject Files, Committee Files, Constituent Correspondence, County Grants and Projects, News Secretary Files, and District Office Files. The first series, Personal Files, is divided into five subseries. The first subseries contains sparse biographical information on Corcoran. The second subseries consists of published voting and attendance records. The third includes briefing memos and floor briefs on pending legislative issues. The fourth, subject files, contains information on Energy Tours and statements and memos on various topics. The fifth subseries includes correspondence to and from Corcoran and his colleagues in Congress and lobbyists. The Legislative/Bill Files Series usually include a copy of the bill, committee reports, staff memos, and correspondence to illustrate the bill’s introduction and movement through Congress. Only bills sponsored and cosponsored by Corcoran are included in this series and may duplicate Committee Files. Series three, the Subject Files, includes published reports, correspondence and newspaper clippings. Patrons should crosscheck subjects in the Legislative/Bill Files for related information. The fourth series, Committee Files, includes bills, hearings, testimony, memos, minutes, agendas, and correspondence that document the committee’s work and decisions. There is a subseries for each of the four committees. The first subseries is for the Energy and Commerce Committee which replaced the Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee in 1980. The second is for the Government Operations committee but the information here is extremely sparse. These files may duplicate bills found in the Legislative/Bill Files. Constituent Correspondence, series five, contains LOMAX model letters, dead form letters, issue mail indexes, mail counts, and directories. The seventh series, News Secretary Files, is divided into four subseries: press releases, TV/radio material (cassettes and a 16 mm color film of Corcoran), subject files, and speeches. District Office Files, the eighth and last series, is arranged by office. The Geneva office is the first subseries and contains questionnaire results and press releases. The Ottawa office subseries contains subject files, travel schedules, and the records of Corcoran’s Congressional Advisory Committee.