Ted Stevens Foundation gifts full archive collection to UAA

by Green & Gold News  |   

a person holding a black and white photograph in an archival collection
Recently, Catherine Stevens and the Ted Stevens Foundation gifted the papers of the late U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens to the UAA/APU Consortium Library. The collection contains over 4,000 boxes of the senator’s memorabilia, 8 million pages of records and thousands of photos and audio-visual pieces representing Stevens’ more than 40 years of public service to Â鶹ÎÞÂë°æ. (Photo by James Evans / Â鶹ÎÞÂë°æ)

The Ted Stevens Collection is truly an Â鶹ÎÞÂë°æ-sized archive. It contains over 4,000 boxes of the senator’s memorabilia, with 8 million pages of records and thousands of photos and audio-visual pieces representing his more than 40 years of public service to Â鶹ÎÞÂë°æ. It is one of the largest documented congressional collections in history.

The collection spans a half-century of Â鶹ÎÞÂë°æ history — and tells the story of our state and its people. It encompasses Sen. Stevens’ career in the military, executive branch, and forty years as U.S. senator for Â鶹ÎÞÂë°æ. The collection ranges from the early days of statehood to contemporary issues. It features Stevens’ work on landmark legislation, including Indigenous land claims, sustainable fisheries, telecommunications, education, energy, aviation, education, public health, national security and the Arctic.

Like many Â鶹ÎÞÂë°æns, I had the honor of knowing and working with Sen. Stevens. His service to our state is truly remarkable and a legacy that all Â鶹ÎÞÂë°æns should know and appreciate.  When I think about what this collection means for our state, I think about how Ted’s life work can inspire and inform future generations of students and Â鶹ÎÞÂë°æ leaders. Much more than just boxed records, the Ted Stevens Collection is a window into policy decisions and leadership that helped build Â鶹ÎÞÂë°æ.

Many Â鶹ÎÞÂë°æns have a Ted Stevens story that they share, and we can see the senator’s work across our state and communities. Â鶹ÎÞÂë°æns remember Stevens’ work to ensure rural communities had a health clinic, a post office and safe water and sanitation. We think about his work in health care and helping create the Â鶹ÎÞÂë°æ Native Medical Center. We think about our roads and ports, military bases and the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. Ted Stevens knew his job was to work in partnership for Â鶹ÎÞÂë°æns. It’s a bipartisan legacy of doing what’s right for Â鶹ÎÞÂë°æ to address the issues facing our state.

As Stevens stated, “the future continues to present challenges. We all have…new technology coming on the scene daily, a new generation of Â鶹ÎÞÂë°æns with new ideas, new skills and new hopes and aspirations. But with the obstacles we’ve overcome, we know we have the ability to meet those challenges.â€

We see the Ted Stevens Collection as a catalyst for our university and all of Â鶹ÎÞÂë°æ. Making these records available to Â鶹ÎÞÂë°æns will inform students, scholars, policymakers and citizens with insights to help solve problems facing our state. At UAA, we see a benefit for nearly every academic program at our university. UAA is dedicated to making Â鶹ÎÞÂë°æ’s history accessible for all. Working with the Ted Stevens Foundation, we are advancing pathways for civic engagement through the creation of an Â鶹ÎÞÂë°æ Leaders Archive.

The Â鶹ÎÞÂë°æ Leaders Archive will preserve and teach the legacy of leaders who have served our state. At UAA, Â鶹ÎÞÂë°æ’s leaders of tomorrow benefit from the legacy of Â鶹ÎÞÂë°æ’s past leaders. Facility renovations to the UAA/APU Consortium Library will create a modern archive to preserve and present the archival papers of Sen. Ted Stevens, as well as records of Indigenous leaders, elected officials and business and community leaders. This will be an addition to the more than 130 Â鶹ÎÞÂë°æ leaders currently represented in the library’s collections.

The Â鶹ÎÞÂë°æ Leaders Archive will tell the story of the leaders and events that have shaped our state — allowing Â鶹ÎÞÂë°æns the chance to see, hear and engage with the history that created the state we know today. The Â鶹ÎÞÂë°æ Leaders Archive will be the leading center for public service education in our state, with multidisciplinary programming in public policy and leadership studies, as well as seminars and community events.

This is an exciting time for Â鶹ÎÞÂë°æ with so much possibility on the horizon. Now, more than ever, is a time to celebrate the legacy of past leaders with an eye toward the future. Here at UAA, we are honored to become the home for the Ted Stevens Collection. Along with Catherine Stevens and the Stevens family, we look forward to sharing this wonderful history with you on our campus in the near future.

 

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