INTRODUCTION

The Senate Papers Sub-Group contains 569 cubic feet of records documenting John Glenn’s twenty-four years in the United States Senate.  First elected to the Senate in 1974, Glenn served four terms from 1975 through 1998.  In addition, the sub-group contains the records of his unsuccessful election campaigns for the U.S. Senate in 1964 and 1970.  Also included in the sub-group are materials documenting Glenn’s political activities from 1965 to 1975, the period of time between his first unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate and his first elected term in office.  Notable among these materials are records from Glenn’s affiliation with the 1968 presidential campaign of Robert F. Kennedy.  Other records cover his activities within the Ohio Democratic Party and his work as chairman of a task force formed by Governor John J. Gilligan in 1970 to study the environmental needs of the State of Ohio.

ACCESS:  The bulk of the Senate Papers Sub-Group is open to public research.  Exceptions include one series and parts or all of four sub-series:  the papers in the Nominations and Recommendations Sub-series are closed for twenty-five years from the date of the individual files located within the sub-series; the records of Senator Glenn’s presidential campaign debt located with the Mary Jane Veno Files are closed until January 1, 2017; the records pertaining to Senator Glenn’s possible vice presidential nomination in 1988 located in Glenn’s personal office files are closed until January 1, 2017; and the records from the hearings on campaign finance reform held by the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee in 1997 (the Thompson-Glenn Hearings) are closed until January 1, 2018.  In addition, Series 6, Investigations, containing records of the Senate Ethics Committee’s 1990 to 1991 investigation of Charles Keating and the failure of the Lincoln Savings and Loan Company, is closed until January 1, 2017.

COPYRIGHTS:  Senator John Glenn has dedicated such copyrights as he possesses in the Senate Papers Sub-Group to the public.  Consideration of all other copyrights is the responsibility of the author and the publisher.

ARRANGEMENT:  The records within the Senate Papers Sub-Group are arranged within the five record series identified in the Records Management Handbook for United States Senators and Their Archival Repositories (Senate Publication 105-54, 1998), written by the archivist for the U.S. Senate, Karen Dawley Paul.  The five record series are Personal/Political; Legislative; Constituent Services; Media Relations; and Office Administration.  The series are arranged further into the twenty-seven sub-series listed on page nine.

A sixth record series, Investigations, contains Senator Glenn’s records pertaining to the Senate Ethics Committee’s 1990 to 1991 investigation of the Lincoln Savings and Loan failure.  Senator Glenn was one of five U.S. Senators, dubbed the “Keating Five” by the media, investigated by the Ethics Committee for ties to Charles Keating, the owner of the failed savings and loan company.  The Investigations Series is closed to public research until January 1, 2017.

PROCESSING NOTE:  Jeff W. Thomas, along with staff members, Julie Petersen and Michelle Drobik, and volunteer, Dick Thomas, processed and arranged the Senate Papers Sub-Group from 1999 to 2002.  In processing and arranging the collection a careful effort was made to preserve whenever possible the original order and filing systems found within each sub-series.  Subject files generally are arranged in alphabetical order by folder heading, with the documents within folders arranged in chronological order.  Correspondence files may be arranged either alphabetically by the author’s last name, or in some instances, in chronological order.  Large folders originally housed in expanding files are separated for preservation purposes into smaller files by logical subheadings or simply labeled part 1, part 2, etc.

SERIES AND SUB-SERIES LISTING

Series 1:  Personal/Political

            Sub-series:       1 - Administrative Assistant

                                    2 - Biographical Material

                                    3 - Daily Schedules/Calendars

                                    4 - Domestic Trip Files

                                    5 - Foreign Trip Files

                                    6 - JHG’s Office Files

                                    7 - Nominations and Recommendations

                                    8 - Presidential Campaign Files

                                    9 - Senate Campaign Files

                                  10 - Washington Date Files

Series 2:  Legislative

            Sub-series:       1 - Briefing Books

                                    2 - Committee Files

                                    3 - Great Lakes Task Force

                                    4 - Legislative Staff

                                    5 - Voting Record

Series 3:  Constituent Services

            Sub-series:       1 - Constituent Correspondence

                                    2 - Grants and Projects

                                    3 - Service Academies

Series 4:  Media Relations

            Sub-series:       1 - Media Reviews

                                    2 - Newspaper Clippings

                                    3 - Press Director’s Files

                                    4 - Press News Conferences

                                    5 - Press Releases       

                                    6 - Press Subject Files

                                    7 - Speeches and Statements

Series 5:  Office Administration

            Sub-series:       1 - Office Administration

                                    2 - Guest Books

Series 6:  Investigations

            Sub-series:       1 - Defense Files

                                    2 - Hearing Files