19th century congressional stenographer William Blair Lord

Hi Andrew,

I suggest searching for his papers in local repositories. My office, the Center for Legislative Archives, holds the committee papers of the U.S. House and Senate. Personal papers of members of Congress, in addition to papers of congressional staff, are not considered committee papers and therefore are not transferred to the National Archives. We do have the original House and Senate Journals and the Congressional Record (CR).

The CR contains the official debates of the House and Senate beginning in 1873. Fortunately, the CR is digitized and accessible through the Government Publishing Office or go to a law/academic library and use a subscription database called HEIN Online. A Century of Lawmaking contains a digital version of the Congressional Globe, the predecessor of the CR, which will contain debates from 1833 to 1873.

I hope this information is helpful!

-Dot

Hi Andrew!

I actually have the exact same question--did you ever happen to find William Blair Lord's papers, and did they have notes on committee deliberations?

Thanks for any leads you might be able to provide.

Best,
Belle