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Portions of documents from the life of former U.S. Sen., Rep. and Secretary of Defense, William S. Cohen, have been made available to the public by the University of Maine’s Fogler Library.
Cohen, who was once a University of Maine faculty member, donated the collection when he retired from the Senate in 1996. Since then, archivists have spent more than three years organizing and preserving the documents, videos and memorabilia to make them usable by researchers. Archivist Paige Lilly said the Cohen papers, which occupy approximately 2,000 feet of shelf space, are by far the largest of Fogler’s special collections.
The collection is organized into six categories. The private papers category includes personal letters, spy novels and poetry published by Cohen, as well as family photos.
The U.S. House of Representatives and Senate categories consist of press releases, campaign materials, voting records and details on projects Cohen was involved with. Audiovisual materials include 755 videocassettes and 65,000 feet of film.
Photos and memorabilia include pictures of Cohen with people ranging from tennis star Arthur Ashe to former President Richard Nixon.
Department of Defense portions of the collection include 16 CD-ROMs containing unclassified letters, memos and reports during Cohen’s four-year stint as secretary of defense under President Clinton.
Currently, only a little more than a third of the Cohen papers are fully organized and available for viewing. Lilly said some parts of the collection will not be available for some time.
“There are restrictions on the collection, some things are just becoming available now. Some won’t be until another 10 years have passed,” Lilly said.
She said as with most collections of this type, the donator places conditions on the use of materials.
“Cohen has placed restrictions on things researchers can have access to, because of privacy, confidentiality or national security,” Lilly said.
Most files regarding campaigns, press releases, multimedia and the House of Representatives are already available; however, any of the restricted material can be accessed with permission from Cohen.
Lilly said various researchers will make use of the Cohen papers. She expects doctoral candidates from other universities, academics and journalists to take the most advantage out of their publication.
Cohen was involved with health care issues, the Iran contra investigation and the Watergate investigation.
Lilly also encourages faculty to send undergraduates from all departments who are working on small projects to make use of the papers in any way they can.
Since the collection is too large to be kept in the library, it is housed in the library repository behind the Sawyer environmental building and can be viewed by making an appointment through the library.
Bangor Daily News