July 21, 2015 — Sen. Ted Stevens was a towering figure.
So is his legacy.
Five thousand boxes, filled with his life’s work and stored in the basement of the University of Alaska Fairbanks library, catalogue that legacy. Unpacked, the papers within those boxes could form a column six feet wide and six feet long — and taller than the Juneau Federal Building.
Unfortunately, Stevens’ legacy now appears in jeopardy.
Earlier this month, historian, author and Alaska Dispatch News columnist Dermot Cole revealed that Stevens’ family and the Ted Stevens Foundation are pulling the senator’s records out of the university library. The records will be trucked to Anchorage, where they will be reviewed by archivists hired by the foundation. The foundation has said the papers will be available to the public some day. We don’t know when that day will be and what will be missing when that day comes.
Read the full editorial at the Juneau Empire