Robert C. Byrd

Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education

In 2002, the Robert C. Byrd Center for Legislative Studies ("the center" or "the Byrd Center") was opened on the campus of Shepherd University, in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, adjoining the university's Ruth Scarborough Library. The Byrd Center's mission is "advancing representative democracy and promoting a better understanding of the United States Congress and the Constitution through programs and research that engage citizens." The Byrd Center is an archival research facility, housing the papers of Senator Robert C. Byrd in addition to the papers of Congressmen Harley O. Staggers Sr. and Harley O. Staggers Jr. and Scot Faulkner, the first Chief Administrative Officer of the United States House of Representatives. The Byrd Center is a founding institution of the Association of Centers for the Study of Congress, "an independent alliance of organizations and institutions which promote the study of the U.S. Congress".