Georgetown’s newest addition to its special collections delves deep into the world of spies, espionage and secret intelligence. So it’s only fitting that acquiring such valuable documents takes quite a bit of information gathering.

That’s how John Buchtel, head of the Special Collections Research Center at Lauinger Library, describes the process of identifying and securing new collections.

He sees obtaining those collections as paramount not only to Georgetown’s reputation as a research center, but also to put history in the hands of community members.

“Digital scholarship is a wonderful tool, but there are always reasons why you need original documents,” Buchtel says. “There’s something thrilling about being able to touch a piece of paper that someone 400 years old touched.”

Within Georgetown’s special collections, that piece of paper may range from a letter signed by school founder John Carroll to one signed by President Ronald Reagan.

“There is no substitute for original documents,” John Buschman, associate university librarian, concurs. “Just like a picture of a painting is no substitute for the original painting.”

One student he currently is assisting is researching Edmund Walsh’s role in the Nuremberg trials. The School of Foreign Service founder’s papers from that era sit among the Lauinger collections.

“This student is having an experience he can’t have anywhere else,” Buschman notes. “It’s like looking through a keyhole to see how decisions, and history, were made.”

Most recently, the university acquired a special collection from the family of the late Richard Helms, director of the Central Intelligence Agency from 1966 to 1973. Personal and professional papers and photographs paint a picture of a nation in turmoil from the Vietnam and Cold Wars – and how that turmoil forced U.S. intelligence gathering to adapt.

Georgetown celebrated the new collection, which will be on display at Lauinger through May 31, with an April 28 symposium that drew many intelligence officers, including former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and current CIA Director Gen. Michael Hayden. Both spoke about the changing field of intelligence and how Helms’ tenure helped shape the current intelligence community.

“Getting this collection was a real coup for Georgetown,” says Buschman. “After the symposium, one federal archiving agent made it very clear just how unusual it is for a university archive to have a director of central intelligence’s personal papers.

“This pushes Georgetown to the front line in the strength of our collection.”
In his estimation, Georgetown has the most comprehensive intelligence collection outside of the CIA or state department.

The library’s espionage and intelligence division stands as just one subset of an overall special collection that boasts 100,000 rare books and 7,000 linear feet of manuscripts in addition to art and other media. The division began in earnest 25 years ago with the Russell J. Bowen collection, comprising of thousands of nonfiction books on intelligence. Bowen had worked for the CIA as a senior foreign technology analyst in the areas of non-nuclear energy and illegal technology transfer.

But just how does the university secure these donations? Buchtel likens the process to a bit of covert operating.

“It’s a game of intelligence, and we use all means at our disposal,” he explains. “Sometimes it’s because friends of friends recommend Georgetown as a place for the papers. Sometimes a retiring professor will call us before his office is cleaned out to see if we want anything.”

And, yes, sometimes the library staff scours newspaper obituaries.

“It sounds a bit rapacious, but in the same token, we’re doing them a service,” Buchtel says. “People don’t always know how to handle these pieces of history, and we’re there to offer advice and a home for them.”

In the case of the Helms collection, Nicholas Scheetz, manuscript librarian, helped secure the materials from the ex-CIA director’s widow, Cynthia.

“Because the papers are from someone like Helms, this really fills in gaps in the public record that still exist because federal agencies haven’t declassified information,” says Buschman.

The university librarians hope the Helms collection will inspire others to consider donating their papers to Georgetown. In part, the symposium demonstrated to members of the intelligence community how their papers would be stored and used for research.

“Researchers know us as a source. If you want to start studying these materials, we’re one of the best place to go to,” says Buschman. “We have a large collection already, and we know what to do with the information. So, that makes Georgetown more attractive to donate to.”

With a strong external reputation for its collections, the library staff now hopes university community members will make more systematic use of the special collections.

“Faculty can bring students in, and we can provide tangible, historical documents for almost any specialty,” Buchtel says.

Source: Blue & Gray (May 12, 2008)