Retired U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy is donating his personal Senate papers to ̽̽’s Jack and Shirley Silver Special Collections Library, joining a rich tradition of Vermont public servants donating their personal records to ̽̽.
Leahy’s papers — a physical record of the culmination of 48 years in public office — will be archived and made available to ̽̽ students, faculty, and the public.
“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 ̽̽ and shared with the public.”
“The Leahy Papers” are the latest addition to the permanent legacy of the senator at ̽̽. The university’s honors college was named after the senator, as the Patrick Leahy Honors College, earlier this year. This naming complements a scholarship initiative supporting the Patrick and Marcelle Leahy Scholars and ̽̽’s premier research vessel (R/V Marcelle Melosira) being named for the senator’s wife, Marcelle.
“Senator Leahy has long been a champion of our university’s vitality and success, and it is our privilege to help provide a home for this important collection,” ̽̽ President Suresh Garimella said. “These papers are an invaluable resource for studying not only the senator’s remarkable career, but also the history of a dynamic period of time for Vermont, the nation and the world.”
̽̽ 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.”
̽̽’s interim Director of Special Collections Chris Burns is leading a $2.5 million project – funded with a grant secured through the Secretary of the Senate – to renovate office and collection space and hire new archivists to sort, prepare, and maintain Leahy’s collection.
“The main component of the grant is to hire people to work on the collection: three archivists and a team of student interns for five years,” Burns said, adding that the scope of work that lies ahead is daunting. “There are approximately 3000 boxes of documents and about 20 terabytes of data,” Burns said.
Technically, the records and papers created, kept, and maintained in a senator’s office belong to that member. Many donate their papers to a research repository in their state when they retire. ̽̽ is already home to many of its previous senators’ archives, including Leahy’s predecessor, George Aiken, and two senators whose terms overlapped with Leahy’s, Senators Robert Stafford and Jim Jeffords. The university also has material from Vermont’s first senator, Stephen Bradley.
Beyond the typical primary sources that will be available from this collection, some of Leahy’s photography will be archived, giving even further insight into the senator’s career.
The research opportunities for a collection this size are limitless. Students, faculty, and staff from across disciplines at ̽̽, as well as the general public, will be able to access the collection once it has been archived.
Leahy retired in January 2023 as the third-longest-serving senator in the nation’s history. His time in the Senate was notable for the ideas and policies that he heard from Vermonters and brought to the national stage. He brought federal scientists to Camels Hump to see the effects of acid rain. He established the national Organic Food program based on conversations he had with Vermont famers. He repeatedly established dairy support programs for small dairy farms. The farmland and forestland protection pilot programs he began in Vermont are now well established national federal grant programs that have protected millions of acres of farm and forestland.
Leahy’s legacy extends far beyond his home state. He was a leader on foreign policy throughout his tenure in the Senate. As a freshman Senator, he became the only Vermonter in Congress who voted to end the Vietnam War – a decision that ultimately hinged on a single vote in the Armed Services Committee. He brought a national voice to the Nuclear Freeze movement in the 1970s and 80s. He wrote the law banning the export of landmines and led efforts in Congress to aid mine victims by creating the Leahy War Victims Fund. He was a champion for human rights throughout the world and author of the so-called “Leahy Law” which banned US aid to foreign military units accused of gross human rights violations.
His legacy also includes legislative accomplishments from his service on the Judiciary Committee—sitting as chair or ranking member of the committee for 20 years. He co-authored the Patriot Act passed soon after the 9-11 attacks. He authored the first update to the nation’s patent law system in 50 years with the Leahy-Smith Act among other important legislative accomplishments.
In his final term, Senator Leahy served as Chair and ranking member of the Appropriations Committee, where he successfully shepherded passage of six years of Omnibus Appropriations bills—including two historic supplemental bills during the COVID pandemic.
“The senator’s legacy will endure in a number of ways here at ̽̽, but this collection is a special one,” Geffert said. “Rarely is such an expansive chapter of our nation’s history so well documented and made this available for future generations.”