Series I. Legislative, 1955-1989

The series includes correspondence, subject files, clippings, and printed material that document Jim Wright’s relationship with his constituency. The bulk of the material is correspondence Wright received from residents of his home district regarding legislation active in the House. Wright’s responses to this issue mail are largely routine form letters. The material from Wright’s first eight congresses (1955-1970) has been gathered by congress and sorted into the following groups: departments, general, legislative, and, in some congresses, special projects. The material is arranged alphabetically within each group. Correspondence in the departments group relates to issues concerning specific government departments. The general group includes letters of congratulation and condolence, as well as correspondence regarding state and county matters. The legislative group consists of issue mail regarding legislation about to reach the House floor for a vote. The legislative group material includes information from the Public Works Committee, on which Jim Wright served as a long-time member. The special projects group consists of campaign material and other ad hoc activities.

The gathering of material by congress stops in 1971, although Wright’s staff continued to sort the material into the same groups until the late-1970s. This original order has been maintained. From the late-1970s on, instead of sorting the material, Wright’s staff put the documents into a series of numerical runs. These runs contain the same kinds of documents found earlier in the series – departments, general, and legislative – with certain special projects filed separately.

Correspondence to Wright from his constituents comprises the majority of this series. While very little of the material is of a personal nature concerning Wright, it does shed light on the attitudes of the people in Texas’s 12th congressional district about the issues of the day. Those issues included civil rights, foreign relations, health care, labor relations, energy, and flood control.