William T. Cahill Congressional Papers

The Congressional papers of William T. Cahill, comprising 64.4 cubic feet of documents, span Cahill's service as a Republican Representative in six consecutive U.S. Congresses from 1959 to 1970, with the bulk of the documentation ceasing in 1969. The papers document specific facets of Cahill's work in Congress, as well as Congressional service in general, including the evolution of legislation, service on the House Judiciary Committee, interaction with constituents, colleagues and government departments and agencies, special investigations, and campaigns, including Cahill's first campaign for Governor of New Jersey, which was undertaken during the 91st Congress.

The collection is composed primarily of paper documents, among which are incoming and outgoing letters with constituents, colleagues and other government officials, committee prints, memoranda, newsletters, position papers, press clippings and journal articles, press releases, published reports, speeches, telegrams and unpublished testimony before Congress. Also included are a limited number of photographs.

The Cahill papers are organized into twelve series based on document type and subject scope. Five series are subdivided by Congressional term due to their size and original organizational scheme. BILL FILES, 1959-1966, comprised mainly of correspondence, committee prints, and copies of bills, details the legislation proposed by Cahill through the first four Congresses of his tenure. LEGISLATIVE FILES, 1959-1967, consisting of similar documentation as that found in BILL FILES, pertains to legislation introduced by Representatives other than Cahill. Scattered legislation from the Senate is also represented. JUDICIARY COMMITTEE FILES, 1960-1968, spans most of Cahill's tenure on the Judiciary Committee. While consisting of significant amounts of correspondence, this series also houses numerous transcripts of committee testimony, as well as the heaviest concentration of legislation outside of the BILL FILES and LEGISLATIVE FILES. DEPARTMENT AND AGENCY FILES, 1959-1970, representing one-third of the total documentation in the collection, details Cahill's interactions with various federal departments at all levels of government, mostly on behalf of his constituents. While comprised of a similar range of documents as its afore mentioned counterparts, the bulk of this series is dominated by correspondence. GENERAL FILES, 1959-1969, much like the DEPARTMENT AND AGENCY FILES, exhibits an abundance of correspondence, especially with constituents. Topics vary from political issues such as civil rights and a physician shortage to the day-to-day requests of constituents.

The remaining series, due largely to their smaller size, have no subdivisions. PRESS RELEASES, 1961-1964 and 1966-1968, consisting of a fairly limited number of press releases, focuses mainly on Cahill's public statements and legislative agendas. Most of the releases are from Cahill's office, while a few originate from other Congressional offices or third parties. VOTING RECORDS, 1959-1970, consists of Cahill's voting records as compiled by the Republican Congressional Committee, the Legislative Reference Service and the House of Representatives. AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE FILES, 1966-1969, details an investigation of the automotive insurance industry spearheaded by Cahill through the Judiciary Committee. COMMITTEE FILES, 1961-1965, is comprised mainly of correspondence either focused on or directed to less than two dozen different committees, none of which Cahill served on. ALPHABETICAL CORRESPONDENCE, 1960, is an alphabetical file of outgoing letters from Cahill's office. GUBERNATORIAL CAMPAIGN FILES, 1966-1967 and 1969, consists of press releases, position papers and speeches from Cahill's campaign for Governor of New Jersey, which was conducted while he was still in office as a Representative to the 91st Congress. PHOTOGRAPHS, 1963-1969, is composed entirely of 8x10, black-and-white prints, mostly depicting school groups visiting Washington, D.C.

With the exceptions of the PHOTOGRAPHS and VOTING RECORDS, no one series possesses a monopoly over any document type. For example, while PRESS RELEASES houses the bulk of the collection's press releases, additional releases can be found in GUBERNATORIAL CAMPAIGN FILES, GENERAL FILES, DEPARTMENT AND AGENCY FILES, and elsewhere. Likewise, scattered legislation can be found outside the two most logical sources, BILL FILES and LEGISLATIVE FILES.