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Contact information: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mss.contact
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/mm78015859
Collection material in English
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the LC Catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically.
The records of the Citizens' Joint Committee on National Representation for the District of Columbia were given to the Library of Congress by the committee in 1961.
The status of copyright in the unpublished writings in the records of the Citizens' Joint Committee on National Representation for the District of Columbia is governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.).
The records of the Citizens' Joint Committee on National Representation for the District of Columbia are open to research. Researchers are advised to contact the Manuscript Reading Room prior to visiting. Many collections are stored off-site and advance notice is needed to retrieve these items for research use.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container number, Citizens' Joint Committee on National Representation for the District of Columbia Records, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
The Citizens' Joint Committee on National Representation for the District of Columbia was formed in 1916 and was comprised of thirty local organizations. The committee's activities became dormant after the American entry into World War I, but were revitalized during the 1920s through the early 1940s under the leadership of Theodore W. Noyes. The objective of the committee was a constitutional amendment granting District of Columbia citizens the right to votes in both houses of Congress and the Electoral College. In 1960, when the Senate passed a civil rights bill that included District voting rights, District officials reactivated the joint committee to provide support for the bill during House hearings. In the House, the bill was first reduced to include only voting rights for the District of Columbia, the national anti-poll tax provision having been dropped. Eventually, only voting rights in the Electoral College were approved. The Twenty-third Amendment granting the District the right to vote in presidential elections passed Congress in 1960. At this point, the committee lobbied individual states for its quick passage. The Twenty-third Amendment was ratified in 1961.
The Citizens' Joint Committee on National Representation for the District of Columbia lobbied for the passage of the Twenty-third Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which, in 1961, granted the citizens of the District of Columbia the right to vote in presidential elections. The records of the organization span the years 1926-1961 and are organized into five series: Miscellaneous , Old Records , Political , and Publicity . The papers include correspondence with members of Congress, chiefly members of the Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on Rules; records of congressional hearings; publicity materials; lists of local groups backing the Twenty-third Amendment; and a file by state showing contacts made by the committee with leaders of the various state legislatures.
The series "Old Records" contains committee files primarily from the 1920s through the early 1940s when, under the leadership of Theodore W. Noyes, the committee worked to build support for a constitutional amendment to grant full voting rights to District citizens. The series includes correspondence, minutes of meetings, lists of members, and official endorsements from organizations.
This collection is arranged in four series:
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/mm78015859
Memoranda, proposals, printed matter, and miscellaneous material relating to the effort to pass the Twenty-third Amendment.
Arranged alphabetically by type of material.
Correspondence, minutes of meetings, lists of members, and endorsements from organizations.
Arranged alphabetically by type of material.
Draft legislation, weekly status reports and memoranda, files on state legislatures and lobbying files for each state.
Arranged alphabetically by type of material.
Press releases, printed matter, information files.
Arranged alphabetically by type of material or subject matter.