Today marks the opening of the 113th Congress of the United States.  It is a day of ceremony as the official ballot counts are recorded and Senators and Representatives are sworn in.  Archives & Special Collections is honored to hold the personal papers of many of Connecticut’s Congressional delegation, primarily from the mid to late twentieth century.  The papers of fifteen members the delegation are open and available for research.

Just as these papers document the concerns and issues of Connecticut and its resident’s, the Archives of the House of Representatives documents the activities of the House.  In a new website, the “History, Art & Archives of the U.S. House of Representatives,” provides access to finding aids for open House records dating from 1789,  a searchable database which pulls the roughly 11,000 individuals with House service,  includes full interviews with a range of individuals from House history, as well as essays on the institution and other useful bits of information for those interested in the evolution of the House and the people who have been elected to serve there.

Betsy Pittman, University Archivist