Claiborne Pell Senatorial Papers, Correspondence

University Archives and Special Collections
15 Lippitt Road
Kingston, RI 02881-2011
Tel: 401-874-4632

email: archives@etal.uri.edu

Published in 2008

Collection Overview

Title:	Claiborne Pell Senatorial Papers, Correspondence
Date range:	1960-1996
Creator:	Pell, Claiborne, 1918-2009
Extent:	265 box(es) (132.5 linear feet)
Abstract:	The Claiborne Pell Senatorial Papers, Correspondence consists of the records of the Senator and his staff. These records cover the 36 years Pell served as a United States Senator from Rhode Island beginning in 1960 and ending in 1996.
Language of materials:	English
Repository:	University Archives and Special Collections
Collection number:	MsG.71.6

Scope & content

The Correspondence series consist of correspondence between Senator Pell and members of the United States Congress, as well as Executive Administration officials.

Arrangement

The records are arranged into the following series:

• 1. Senatorial Correspondence I
• 2. Senatorial Correspondence II
• 3. Executive Administration Correspondence I
• 4. House of Representatives Correspondence I
• 5. Personal Correspondence
• 5A. Personal Alphabetical File
• 6. Alphabetical File
• 7. Constituent Correspondence
• 8. General Correspondence
• 9. Senatorial Correspondence III
• 10. 1995-1996 Correspondence
• 11. Pre-Senate Correspondence
• 12. Executive Correspondence II
• 13. Post-Senate Correspondence
• 14. House of Representatives Correspondence II
• 15. Rhode Island State Representatives Correspondence
• 16. Gubernatorial Correspondence
• 17. Chronological File

Biographical Note

Claiborne deBorda Pell was born on November 22, 1918 in New York City to Matilda Bigelow Pell and Herbert Claiborne Pell. The Pell family lineage includes five members of Congress and George Mifflin Dallas, who was Vice President to President James Polk, 1845-1849. Senator Pell’s father served as a United States Congressman from New York, 1919-1921, as well as Minister to Portugal, 1937-1941, Minister to Hungary, 1941-1942, and a United States Representative to the United Nations War Crimes Commission 1943-1945.

Senator Pell attended St. Georges High School in Middletown, Rhode Island, graduated from Princeton University in 1940, and received a Masters degree from Columbia University in 1946. He joined the United States Coast Guard four months before the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the start of World War II. Senator Pell continued his service after the war and attained the rank of Senior Captain in 1978.

After graduating from Columbia University, Pell participated in the San Francisco Conference that culminated in the creation of the United Nations and established the United States Consulate General in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia after the communists seized control of that nation. Senator Pell then served as a State Department Foreign Service Officer stationed in Eastern Europe and Italy for seven years.

After leaving the Foreign Service, Pell served as Vice President for the International Rescue Committee. He was stationed in Austria and assumed responsibility for assisting refugees from the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. During this time, Pell was arrested and placed in jail by agents from three fascist governments and three communist governments. In 1959, President Eisenhower appointed Pell to the delegation meeting on the International Maritime Consultative Organization. Senator Pell has received more than 20 decorations for his service including the Presidential Citizens Medal.

In 1960, Senator Pell was elected to the United States Senate and served for the next six terms as the Senator from Rhode Island until his retirement in 1996. He won his first Senate race by the largest plurality of that time and is the longest serving Senator in Rhode Island’s history. He has served as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Chairman of the Subcommittee on Education. Senator Pell also served as ranking member on the Labor and Welfare Committee, Rules and Administration Committee, Executive Committee on the Environment and Energy Study, as well as the Special Committee on Aging, and the Joint Congressional Committee on Libraries and Museums.

Senator Pell’s appointments included being Senate Advisor to the United States delegation to the United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, delegate to the 25th United Nations General Assembly (1970), Senate Advisor to the Strategic Arms Limitations Talks (SALT), and a member of the Commission on Improving the Effectiveness of the United Nations. Senator Pell also played a principle role in outlawing the placement of weapons of massive destruction on the seabed and to ensure international cooperation in protection of the environment.

Senator Pell was the principal sponsor of the 1965 legislation creating the National Endowment for Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. He authored the National Sea Grant College and Program Act of 1966 which provides annual funding for oceanographic studies. He is also the author of the Basic Educational Opportunity Grants (renamed Pell Grants in 1980), that eliminate financial barriers to higher education. He was a driving force in the Senate to establish the International Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty aimed at reducing nuclear weapons, in addition to authoring legislation banning the manufacture and use of biological weapons.

Senator Pell also served as a member of the Presidential Commission on Drunk Driving and was the original Senate advocate for tougher penalties against those caught driving while intoxicated. He also authored the High Speed Ground Transportation Act aimed at improving rail service including the establishment of a continuous electrification infrastructure between Washington, D.C., New York, and Boston.

Senator Pell passed away on January 1, 2009. In addition to his wife Nuala, Senator Pell is survived by his son, Christopher T. H. Pell of Newport, his daughter Dallas Pell of New York, his five grandchildren and five great grandchildren.

Access & Use

Access to the collection:	Any qualified person doing scholarly research is permitted to use material housed in the Special Collections Unit.
Use of the materials:	Terms governing use and reproduction: Photocopying and scanning of materials is a fee based service available in the repository and is allowed at the discretion of the Archivist when in compliance to the Unit's policy on copyright and publication.
Preferred citation:	Claiborne Pell Senatorial Papers, Correspondence, Mss. Gr. 71.6, University of Rhode Island, University Archives and Special Collections.
Contact information:	University Archives and Special Collections 15 Lippitt Road Kingston, RI 02881-2011 Tel: 401-874-4632 email: archives@etal.uri.edu

Administrative Information

ABOUT THE COLLECTION
Acquisition:	Claiborne Pell Senatorial Papers were deposited to the University of Rhode Island by Senator Pell from 1976-2012. The Papers were gifted by Mrs. Pell in April 2012.
Custodial history:	The records were kept by Senator Pell’s Washington and Providence offices before being transferred to the University of Rhode Island.
Processing information:	The collection was processed by Mark Dionne in 2006.
ABOUT THE FINDING AID
Author:	Finding aid prepared by Mark Dionne
Encoding:	Finding aid encoded by Mark J. Dionne 2008 February 15, updated by Erin C. Mullen on 2012 April 19, updated by Mark Dionne on 2020 July 27.
Descriptive rules:	Finding aid based on Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS)

Additional Information

Related material:

The materials related to this collection can be found in the Pell Family Papers and Pre-Senate subgroups.

Inventory

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Inventory