Reid donating papers to Nevada university

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is donating documents from his 28-year career in the Senate to the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR), according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

School officials say the nearly 2,000 boxes of papers expected to be handed over before the senator’s 2017 retirement will shed considerable light on contemporary American politics.

{mosads}“There are so many pivotal issues that I think will be illuminated by his papers,” UNR Dean of University Libraries Kathy Ray said. “We all feel this sense of stewardship about making sure we do the best job of making these available and helping people use them, especially historians.”

The documents will shed light on the senator’s activity after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, debates over the Iraq War and Affordable Care Act, and his relationships with presidents spanning from Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama.

Reid, who made the arrangement with the school early in his political career, said he is especially fond of the northern Nevada university because it is his older brother’s alma mater.

“Number one, I had a brother who graduated from there,” Reid said. “Most people don’t realize I was not the only one [of four brothers] to go to school. My brother struggled so hard to get out of school.”

He also cited the university’s strong history department as a factor in his decision.

The university library also hosts documents from former Nevada Sens. Paul Laxalt (R), Alan Bible (D), John Ensign (R), and Richard Bryan (D), as well as former Reps. Barbara Vucanovich (R-Nev.) and Jim Santini (R-Nev.).