Soil Conservation Service

File — Box: 34, Folder: 24

Identifier: II

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

From the Collection: The Allan Turner Howe papers (1975-1976) are composed of the material accumulated during his term in the United States House of Representatives, 94th Congress. The collection consists of material generated by the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs; the Committee on Public Works and Transportation. Correspondence to and from constituents and casework handled through his three offices in Washington, D. C., Salt Lake City and Cedar City, Utah is included. The collection does not contain any material from his career before election to the 94th Congress, his campaign, his arrest and trial in 1976, or any subsequent events. Also, it contains no office "logs" or diaries and no non-print materials such as photographs or tapes of speeches.

The filing systems used in the three offices have been retained to the greatest possible degree. Constituent and casework files were sampled when the material contained was voluminous or repetitive. Sampled files have been noted in the register and in the files themselves. In all cases, an attempt was made to retain the character of the files.

The collection is divided into the following areas. Boxes 1-18 contain the Legislative Files. Generally the Legislative Files contain all source material and the legislative progress of each bill by the bill number rather than the general subject. The overall order is established by committee and sub-committee, with the files filed under the appropriate sub-committee. Box 15 is a record of all legislation sponsored or co-sponsored by Representative Howe, organized alphabetically by committee.

Boxes 19-35 contain the Subject Files. Boxes 19-28 cover 1975 and 29-35 cover 1976. The Subject Files are organized alphabetically by subject, each file in chronological order. The files contain almost exclusively letters and telegrams from constituents who received individual rather than "form" letter responses from Representative Howe.

Boxes 36-49 were labeled Constituent Letter Files. Boxes 36-42 cover 1975, and boxes 42-49 cover 1976. These files consist primarily of correspondence to Representative Howe on issues of legislation and proposed legislation, but also included constituent opinions on non-legislative matters ranging from the Kaiparowitz Power Plant to Natural Foods. Howe did not separate correspondence on legislative and non-legislative materials. The letters are arranged by subject and letters for each subject are organized alphabetically by the surname of the correspondent. Almost exclusively, constituent letters were answered with a form letter and the drafts of these letters are found in front of the first folder for each subject. Most of the sampling was done in this part of the collection because of the form letters, post card campaigns and similarity of letters received on a given subject.

The Casework Files consist of inquiries made to Howe on behalf of individual constituents to solicit his help in solving a problem of that constituent, or in some cases, a member of the family, for example: Social Security reimbursements, problems with various branches of the armed services, etc. The files are divided by the office that handled the case. Boxes 50-55 are the Washington, D.C. casework files organized alphabetically by general subject with some of the more voluminous cases filed at the end by the surname of the individual case. Boxes 56-58 contain the Salt Lake City office casework files, alphabetical by surname of the individual case rather than by subject. There is no cross-indexing from subject to surname.

Boxes 59-61 contain the files of the Cedar City, Utah office. All matters handled by the Cedar City Field Office are contained here, including casework for individuals that was conducted by this office, general inquiries and correspondence, public relations files and the Field Office files. The casework is organized alphabetically by surname of the case. Next are found general inquiries filed by subject and public relations files consisting primarily of congratulatory messages from the Congressman for various occasions and filed by county. The office files are found at the end. The Cedar City files are interesting because they provide a marked contrast to the Salt Lake City and Washington, D. C., files with their emphasis on personal congratulations and the nature of the cases sent to Cedar City.

Box 62 contains the Washington, D.C, office files. Staff rosters all form letter responses, news releases, etc., are contained in the office files.

Boxes 63-66 consist of a group of files that have been titled Legislative and Casework Miscellaneous. These files were received in separate box from the Legislative or Casework Files and this organization was retained. In most instances, these files are concerned with items of particular interest to Howe's constituents, such as abortion, the Kaiparowitz Power Plant, Utah National Parks, etc., which were never legislative matters before the Congress. They are organized alphabetically by subject. The importance of the Kaiparowitz Power Plant generated quite a bit of material and it is again noted that it is found in boxes 64 and 65 as well as in the 1975 Constituent Letter files, box 39.

There are three areas where material is lacking which should be noted. There is no personal material perse. This is strictly a collection of office materials. Second, the lack of office logs or diaries leaves only the written record and no clues regarding appointments, telephone calls, etc., which might be significant. Third, there is no material on the arrest or trial of Howe.

Dates

1976

Conditions Governing Access

Twenty-four hour advanced notice encouraged. Materials must be used on-site. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law.