Politics and Government Resources in Special Collections & Archives

Scrapbooks compiled by the college or by individual college alumni. Scrapbooks may contain photographs, memorabilia, and news clippings. Scrapbooks span primarily the late 1800s and early 1900s. Most scrapbooks cover undergraduate years; some include post-Bowdoin activities.

Included are individual scrapbooks on Speaker of the House Thomas Brackett Reed (Bowdoin 1860), Maine Governor Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (Bowdoin 1852), Congressman Jonathan Cilley of Maine (Bowdoin 1825), and Senator William Pierce Frye of Maine (Bowdoin 1850).

Correspondence, articles, addresses, lectures, publications, diaries, clippings, indexes, photographs, and other material from the personal and unofficial professional records of Oliver Otis Howard. The collection is fully available online.

These seven volumes were compiled by Joseph H. Manley (1842-1905), of Augusta, Maine, a lawyer and politician who filled several city and state positions. Manley published the Maine Farmer (1878-1905) and was chairman of the Maine (1881-1901) and National Republican Committees (1896-1904). He was a close friend and political ally of James G. Blaine of Maine.

The scrapbooks contain clippings, mainly from newspapers, relating to the Republican Party, 1884-1902. They are particularly strong in material about Blaine.

James E. Bassett, Jr. (1912-1978, Bowdoin 1934) served as a reporter and in several editorial positions on the Los Angeles Times, rising to associate editor (1934-1941, 1945-1948, 1961-1977) and in several editorial offices at the Los Angeles Mirror (1948-1960?), becoming assistant managing editor in 1957. A Navy lieutenant during World War II, Bassett was Admiral William Halsey's public relations officer. He was interested in Republican politics and served as press secretary for Richard Nixon's 1952 vice-presidential campaign, as public relations director for the Republican National Committee in 1954, as campaign director for Nixon's 1956 vice-presidential campaign, and as planning director of Nixon's 1960 presidential bid. Bassett was the author of Harm's Way, The Sky Suspended and Commander Prince, USN.

The collection contains a diary and memoribilia from Bassett's Bowdoin days; letters and photographs from the Nixon campaigns; wartime letters to his wife and memoribilia; and drafts of his published and unpublished works.

This material includes information on the presidential election of 1963 between Lyndon Johnson and Barry Goldwater, and on the 1970 Maine Democratic convention. The convention's speakers included Senator Edmund Muskie, Governor Kenneth Curtis, congressmen William Hathaway and Peter Kyros, and guest speaker Walter Mondale of Minnesota. Discussions centered on the state party platform and political issues of the day.

Both parts of the collection contain flyers, clippings, pamphlets, stickers and buttons (1964 and 1970); the latter also contains agendas, reports and other material discussing political issues of interest to the state of Maine.

George J. Mitchell (1933- , Bowdoin 1954) was an officer in the U.S. Army Counter Intelligence Corps until 1956. In 1960 he earned a law degree from Georgetown University. He was executive assistant to Senator Edmund Muskie (1962-1965), then returned to private practice, though remaining active in state Democratic politics. While filling a 1977 appointment as U.S. District Court judge, Mitchell took over the remainder of Muskie's Senate term when the latter became Secretary of State under President Carter (1980). His Senate career included membership on the Iran-Contra investigative committee and a term as Senate Majority Leader (1989-1995). He served a pivotal role in the Northern Ireland peace process (1995-1998), and, at the request of President Bill Clinton and Israeli and Palestinian leaders, chaired an international group organized to address the escalating violence in the Middle East (2000-2001).

The collection, the largest in the Library, documents Mitchell's professional and political career, including his 1974 gubernatorial campaign; his career as senator from Maine; his six years of service to the nation as Senate majority leader; and his work in Northern Ireland. The material consists of correspondence, memoranda, reports, financial records, press materials, and other printed matter as well as memorabilia. While the bulk of the collection is paper, there are also audio cassette tapes, video tapes, microfilm, computer tapes, photographs, posters, and other graphic arts materials. Some material in this collection is restricted; consult the collection's finding aid for more information.