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Rep. Mac Collins donates papers
December 16, 2004
CARROLLTON, GA - CARROLLTON — Congressman Mac Collins was on the campus of University of West Georgia Tuesday to sign an agreement to donate his political papers — including his Congressional papers from his six terms in office — to the Special Collections Archives Department of the Ingram Library.
The papers will become part of Georgia’s Political Heritage Project, said Dr. Mel Steely, UWG professor emeritus of history and director of the project.
"The
first papers he brought today were from when he was Butts County Commissioner
and from his four years in the Georgia Senate,” Steely said. “We’ll
be getting his Congressional papers soon. Since this is his last term,
he’s still in the process of moving them from Washington.”
First elected in 1992, Collins represented the 8th District of Georgia, which included Butts County, Cowetta County, Henry County and part of Carroll County. He served six terms and was part of the 1994 “GOP revolution” lead by former Speaker of the U.S. House Newt Gingrich.
“Collins was right in the middle of the‘’Contract for America’ which nationalize the Congressional election,” Steely pointed out. “He was instrumental in helping reshape the House of Representatives.”
Collins is the fifth Georgia Congressman to donate his papers to UWG, adding his legacy to those of Gingrich, Reps. Bob Barr, Pat Swindall, and Lynn Westmoreland. The UWG collection also includes all materials from former Georgia Speaker of the House Tom Murphy.
Collins
said that he chose UWG because of the personal relationships he has with
the University staff.
“Most of the papers are letters between my staff and me,”
Collins said. “It’s sort of a record of the issues we faced
and the decisions we made. I believe that it’s important to preserve
history. I’m hoping people will be able to look back and see that
I was a work horse and not a show horse.”
Myron House, director of Special Collections at UWG, explained that the donation would add depth to Georgia’s Political Heritage Project.
“Congressman Collins represented a large district south of Atlanta that stretched from Carrollton to Columbus to Macon,” House said. “His papers are a valuable complement to our other Congressional collections.”
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