Herbert H. Bateman State Senate Records
Collection
Identifier: Mss. 83 B31
Office files, 1968-1982, of Herbert H. Bateman, Virginia Republican State Senator from Newport News. Includes correspondence with constituents and state officials; bills and legislative materials; memorandum; reports; pamphlets; and publications arranged according to subject. The collection contains background information and committee working papers showing Virginia's responses to the energy crisis of the late 1970's and to Ronald Reagan's "New Federalism" programs as well as the state's policies on education, transportation, and welfare funding, and the activities of state regulatory agencies.
There are materials concerning Bateman's sponsorship of coastal zone land management bills, bills for execution by lethal injection, bills for mandatory sentencing by judges in criminal cases and his activities on behalf of the port of Newport News, the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company and the Virginia seafood industry. The largest body of material concerns Bateman's 1975-1977 efforts as paid counsel and as senator to minimize the economic impact of the poisoning of the James River by kepone on the Virginia seafood industry.
Prominent correspondents include Linwood Holton, Mills Godwin, John Dalton, Charles Robb, Harry F. Byrd, Jr., William Spong, Thomas Downing, William Scott and Paul Trible, other General Assembly members and state agency commissioners.
English
Collection is open to all researchers. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, such as the Virginia Public Records Act (Code of Virginia. § 42.1-76-91); and the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (Code of Virginia § 2.2-3705.5). Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. If sensitive material is found in this collection, please contact a staff member immediately. The disclosure of personally identifiable information pertaining to a living individual may have legal consequences for which the College of William and Mary assumes no responsibility.
Before reproducing or quoting from any materials, in whole or in part, permission must be obtained from the Special Collections Research Center, and the holder of the copyright, if not Swem Library.
Herbert Harvell Bateman was born in 1928 at Perquimans County, North Carolina. He graduated from the College of William and Mary and received his law degree from Georgetown University. He served in the Virginia Senate from 1968 until 1983 when he was elected to Congress. Further information about this individual or organization may be available in the Special Collections Research Center Wiki:
19.00 Linear Feet (22 boxes.)
The Herbert H. Bateman Records consist of Bateman's state senatorial office files, 1968-1982, which are arranged alphabetically by subject matter into 249 series.
Each subject file contains all types of materials: correspondence, memorandum, reports, publications, pamphlets, newspaper clippings, bills, and other legislative documents. The collection includes voluminous background materials on the various issues, as well as correspondence and papers revealing Bateman's positions on the issues. The collection contains little information on Bateman's political activities (the original file inventory indicates that such material was retained) such as campaigns or party activity. The only file dealing with a political campaign is one entitled "Trible," which contains Bateman's correspondence with members of the Virginia Senate pertaining to the campaign of Representative Paul Trible for the U.S. Senate.
The Bateman Records have been arranged almost completely according to the original office file organization. Unfortunately, maintaining original office integrity has also meant retaining serious inconsistencies and redundancies. During Bateman's 14-year tenure in the Senate, he had several legislative aides who often duplicated files under different names or placed similar material in different files. With a few exceptions, these inconsistencies have been kept in the arrangement of this collection. Several files have been altered because the original office files had no apparent order. These files include Kepone, Ports of Virginia/Virginia Port Authority, and State Water Control Board/Water Resources. In addition, the files of Constituent Correspondence and Legislative Correspondence (originally filed alphabetically as "correspondence”) have been moved to the end of the collection, and the files of Consumer Credit, Consumer Protection, and School Distribution Formula have been moved into the alphabetical file order.
Hints for users: when researching Bateman's position or assembly action on a particular issue, follow the steps listed below to find all relevant materials.
Gift: Acc. no. 83-1; 12,731 items, 1/20/1983.
12,734.00 items
Other Information:
Additional information may be found at http://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaead/published/wm/viw00055.frame
Processed by John M. Coski in 1987.
Part of the Special Collections Research Center Repository