Peter H. Dominick Papers

The Peter H. Dominick Papers at the University of Denver primarily pertain to his years in the U. S. Senate. Each congressional session represents a separate series. Each of these series contains material pertaining to the functions and activities performed and subjects covered during the session, filed in a set order. The order begins with Administrative and Personal information. This is followed by Political Affairs, which includes both local and national political information. Public Relations is the next category, which includes messages from colleagues and constituents, condolences and congratulations, publicity material, correspondence with friends and constituents about visits to Washington, D.C., and thank you letters. The next category is Domestic Policy, followed by Foreign Policy. These two categories were very large in the early years of Dominick's tenure in Washington, and contain policy statements on a number of issues. Unlike many senators, Dominick did not limit his correspondence to his own constituents, and thus this correspondence contains opinions and commentary from all over the United States and abroad. In the later years, this correspondence was contained mainly in other correspondence until finally, in the 1973-74 congressional term, the correspondence to Dominick was no longer saved, and only his statements on certain policies were saved as paragraphs to be added to letters on the subjects. These general categories are followed by Departments -- government departments, correspondence with them and with constituents who were concerned with the workings of the departments. In this category are found Constituent Agency Contacts (C.A.C.) files. These files contain requests from constituents for information or help in dealing with departments. There is a fine line between some of the C.A.C.s and Cases, but in general the C.A.C.s are items that can be handled by a letter or decision, while the Cases are more personal and contain more private information needed to work with a particular agency -- usually the military or benefits agencies. Agencies comprise the next category, and generally include correspondence and information similar to the Departments, but directed to specific agencies within the federal government. A small category of the State of Colorado follows, containing correspondence with the State and with constituents who want Dominick's help in influencing the State. This is followed by the District of Columbia category, which contains information about the running of the District government. This category's size varies, reflecting Dominick's involvement with the Senate oversight committee. The Legislation category concludes the filing system for each session. Bills and Resolutions sponsored or co-sponsored by Dominick are listed first. The legislation files contain correspondence and work files on the legislation that was being considered in a given congressional session. The other series in the collection cover other aspects of Dominick's work, generally divided by material type. Series 1 includes all material from Dominick's life prior to his election to Congress in 1962. Series 2 through 7 cover the congressional terms. Series 8 comprises the Record Analysis of voting during Dominick's years in Congress. Series 9 contains photographs. Series 10 covers Public Relations, which includes newsletters, press releases, and multi-media items. Series 11 contains cases on which Dominick worked on behalf of individuals. Series 12 contains documentation, papers, correspondence, medals, and other memorabilia related to Dominick's military career.