Collections

The Bernard C. Smith Papers document the first four years of Smith's service as a New York State Senator. While Smith is most well known for his work in conservation, these papers from his early Senate career contain significant materials on the issues of abortion, education (especially for mentally handicapped children), medical treatment and penal codes and laws.

The David C. Baldus Papers document the distinguished legal research career of David C. Baldus, which includes the most sophisticated challenges to capital punishment in the United States since the reinstatement of the Death Penalty in 1976. Included is material from the Georgia Charging & Sentencing Study, which was used as evidence in the McCleskey v. Kemp (1987) decision. Similar studies involving capital sentencing in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and the U.S. Military are also detailed, as is Baldus's formal reports to the supreme courts of a number of other states. Also present is material documenting Baldus's long career as the Joseph B. Tye Professor of Law at the University of Iowa Law School. This includes teaching material, presentations, publications, and material documenting faculty service.

The records in this collection document Frank Moore's career as a New York State public servant. They consist primarily of the records of Moore's service in various elected and appointed positions.

The Frederic S. Berman Papers predominantly document his service in the New York State Senate through correspondence, newsclippings, bills, research material and campaign literature. In addition, there are files pertaining to his post-Senatorial career as the Commissioner of the New York City Rent and Housing Department and as a New York City Criminal Court Judge.

The Fred Pfeiffer Papers document Pfeiffer's work with labor unions and activist organizations in the Albany, N.Y., area from the mid-1970s to 2007.

The Leigh Bienen Papers include the records of the New Jersey Proportionality Review Project, the Illinois Capital Punishment Reform Study Commission, and the academic research papers of legal scholar Leigh Bienen. The New Jersey records contain material from New Jersey Public Defender Homicide Study directed by Bienen in the mid-1980s. The collection also includes the records from Bienen's involvement with the New Jersey Proportionality Review Project headed by Special Master David C. Baldus. Also present is material from Leigh Bienen's tenure on the Illinois Capital Punishment Reform Study Commission which resulted in the abolition of the death penalty in that state in 2011. Finally the collection contains Leigh Bienen's scholarly research material during her career teaching at both Princeton University and Northwestern University. Her research focused on proportionality review, the death penalty's monetary costs, and the role of prosecutor discretion.

The North Country James Bay Group records document efforts of this upstate New York environmental organization to stop Hydro-Québec's Great Whale (Grande Baleine) River/James Bay II development efforts in the early 1990s.

The Tanya M. Melich Papers contain materials relating to the political landscape of the United states throughout the latter half of the twentieth century, as well as various social movements with a particular emphasis on Women's rights.