Charles McCurdy Mathias Jr. papers

Collection

Identifier: MS-0150

Staff Only

Charles McCurdy "Mac" Mathias Jr. (1922-2010) was a Republican member of the United States Senate, representing Maryland from 1969 to 1987. He was also a member of the Maryland House of Delegates and the United States House of Representatives. The collection includes material from Mathias's service in both the House of Representatives and the Senate dating from approximately 1958-1988.

Dates

approximately 1958-1988

Creator

Mathias, Charles McC. (Charles McCurdy), 1922-2010 (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is housed off-site and requires 48-hours' notice for retrieval. Please contact Special Collections for more information.

Collection is open for use.

Conditions Governing Use

Single copies may be made for research purposes. Researchers are responsible for determining any copyright questions. It is not necessary to seek our permission as the owner of the physical work to publish or otherwise use public domain materials that we have made available for use, unless Johns Hopkins University holds the copyright.

Extent

973.23 Cubic Feet (700 record center cartons, 5 letter size document boxes, 181 legal size document boxes, 2 legal half-size document boxes, 2 flat boxes (15.5 x 12 x 3 inches), 2 flat boxes (25 x 21 x 3 inches), 1 flat box (21 x 17 x 3.5 inches), 7 flat boxes (24.5 x 20.5 x 1.5 inches), 1 Film canisters (13.5 x 13.5 x 2 inches), 5 Film canisters (13.5 x 13.5 x 3 inches), 5 Film canisters (13 x 13 x 1.25 inches), 4 Film canisters (15.75 x 15.75 x 1.75 inches), 3 Film canisters (14.5 x 14.5 x 3 inches))

Additional Description

Biographical / Historical

Charles McCurdy Mathias, Jr. (R.-Md) was born in Frederick, MD, July 24, 1922. He entered Haverford College in 1940 but left to enlist in the United States Coast Guard on December 7, 1942. He was assigned to the V-12 unit at Yale University, transferred to the U.S. Navy, and completed his undergraduate requirements while at Yale. At Columbia University, he attended Midshipmen's School and was commissioned an ensign in the Navy. He served in the South Pacific during World War II.

Mathias graduated from the University of MD Law School in 1949 and served as Assistant Attorney General of Maryland (1953-1954) and City Attorney of Frederick (1954-1959). In 1958, he was elected to the General Assembly of Maryland as a delegate from Frederick County. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1960 and reelected three times. In 1968, he ran successfully for the U.S. Senate where he remained until his retirement from a third term in 1987. Mathias was regarded as a moderate Republican whose years in Congress coincided with the terms of five different presidents: Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Carter, and Reagan. Mathias's career in the Senate included membership on several important committees. He was chairman, Special Committee on Termination of the National Emergency (92nd-94th Congresses), co-chairman, Joint Committee on Printing (97th and 99th Congresses), chairman, Committee on Rules and Administration (97th -99th Congresses). As chairman of the rules Committee, Senator Mathias oversaw the Senate's internal administration and operating procedures and was able to approve the budgets of the various committees. As a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Mathias played a central role in congressional efforts to control the spread of nuclear weapons. He was a leading advocate of arms control legislation and was a congressional adviser to the SALT II delegation and an observer at the START talks in Geneva. In October, 1985 he was elected president of the North Atlantic Assembly, an agency composed of member of legislative bodies of the NATO countries. On national issues, Mathias was a strong advocate of civil rights legislation and government support of the elderly and the handicapped. He was an original sponsor of the Voting Rights Acts of 1965 and 1982, and he introduced the Fair Housing Act of 1968. Closer to home, Mathias kept in touch with issues affecting the state. He helped to secure federal funds for Maryland projects such as the clean up of the Chesapeake Bay, the revitalization of the city of Baltimore, and the expansion of the state's transportation system.

Charles Mathias died on January 25, 2010.

Scope and Contents

The collection includes material from Mathias's service in both the House and the Senate ranging from approximately 1958 to 1988. Included are office administrative and management files; legislative research files; speeches, statements, and articles written for publication; Congressional Record inserts, legislative reprints; constituent mail on legislative issues with the Senator's responses; record vote analyses; campaign materials; news clippings; photographs; video tapes; records of travel; memberships, awards, and honors; and some files from Mathias's service in the Maryland House of Delegates, 1958-1960. A small amount of personal material includes biographical information and correspondence.

Other Finding Aids

With the exception of Series 1: Administration, a more complete legacy online finding aid for this collection is available: https://wayback.archive-it.org/org-626/20170504021534/http://ead.library.jhu.edu/ms.150-finding-aid.pdf

The most accurate contents list for Series 1: Administration is the one displayed in this record.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The papers were given to the University by Senator Charles Mathias in 1985.

Existence and Location of Copies

A digitized copy of a 1986 oral history with Mac Mathias is available here: https://jscholarship.library.jhu.edu/handle/1774.2/44564

Related Materials

Related material from Senator Mathias's service in Congress can be found in the National Archives.

Processing Information

The processing of the papers was done in stages over a period of ten years, including efforts by Ben Primer.

Finding aid prepared by Joan Grattan in 1985-1995.