PEORIA MAGAZINE July 2023

MacNeil. Issues that were addressed during Michel’s tenure continue as threads in LaHood’s collection. The new documents will be indexed and processed over the next few years, and are expected to be accessible to researchers in 2028. They include: • Perspectives on the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, particular ly important because of Kinzing er’s role on the select committee investigating it and Davis’ role as ranking member of the Committee on House Administration dealing with Capitol security. • Davis’ role during and after the June 14, 2017, shooting at the Congres sional Baseball Game for Charity practice. • Campaigns, with Bustos’ service overseeing the Democratic Con gressional Campaign Committee in 2020 and her work addressing the electability of Democrats in districts won by President Donald Trump in 2016. • Transportation and infrastructure legislation, informed by Davis’ and Bustos’ committee work. • Agriculture legislation, from work by Davis and Bustos on multiple rounds of farm bill legislation. “It's important to academia that we’ve expanded our collection and our part nerships, and that, in turn, is beneficial to the Pekin-Peoria region’s reputation when it draws more researchers here,” White said. Meanwhile, “between Illinois College, Bradley University, and even Illinois State University and Millikin University where Congressmen Kinzinger and Davis went to school, there’s an opportunity to talk about congressional leadership to an even wider audience.”

Former Congressman Adam Kinzinger served on the Jan. 6 Committee with former Congresswoman Liz Cheney, among others

of my heart and soul in bipartisanship, I’m glad to be a Democrat in the midst of Republicans. I’m glad to be a woman in the midst of men. And I’m glad to help … future generations of leaders, students and scholars learn about this snapshot of congressional history.” The values Dirksen represented were key to Kinzinger’s decision to work with the Center. “Senator Dirksen’s record shows the importance of building bipartisan consensus, and of putting your district’s interests above fleeting political interests. Those are lessons that helped guide me in office,” Kinzinger said. “In an era of extreme political polarization, we need more opportunity for people to learn how and why Congress works, and the Dirksen Center has spent 50 years doing just that.” “Representing one of the biggest higher education districts in the coun try has taught me the importance of preserving records for scholarly study and for history,” Davis added. Providing facts and context about Congress and the people who serve there is a key mission of the Center. “With more papers, covering a longer period of time, we’re able to tell those stories better and shine light on ongoing themes,” White said. “Each of the new members in different ways represented the same bipartisan ethos as Everett Dirksen, Bob Michel and Ray LaHood.” The collections themselves bring something new to the Center.

“Almost the entirety of our earlier collections is in paper form,” White said. “Now we get to enter a new frontier, with collections that are almost entirely what’s referred to as ‘born digital.’” Prior collections were measured in linear feet, taking up whole shelves and stored in folders kept in special, acid-free boxes in the Center’s climate controlled archive space. The new collections were delivered on hard drives and flash drives and contain not only documents from congressional offices and correspondence with constituents and government officials, but also a copy of the member’s website and postings on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. AN ENRICHED PERSPECTIVE That the collections come from roughly the same period of time – Kinzinger entered office in 2011, the others in 2013 – is important, White said. “It ensures that researchers get a rich, multifaceted perspective on what happened in the halls of Congress during the last dozen years,” she said. “Different members, with different political leanings and different bases of support, will have entirely different perspectives on these major events. Together their papers will tell a richer, more complete story of what occurred.” It’s not the first time for such overlap. The Dirksen collection, for instance, is supplemented by the concurrent service of Michel for a dozen years, and by the papers of congressional journalist Neil

Chris Kaergard is communications manager and associate historian at Pekin’s Dirksen Congressional Center. He is a former newspaper reporter and editor

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