A quarter of Specter's archives available for public viewing

With the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, the nation may be in for another round of contentious confirmation hearings as a replacement is considered.

The public could look to a large volume of records from the late Sen. Arlen Specter for clues on what to expect.

And this week for the first time, some of the records in Specter's archives that pertain to prior Supreme Court justice confirmation hearings have become available for the public to view, Philadelphia University announced.

About one quarter of the 2,000 boxes of congressional records, documents, letters, videos and memorabilia from Specter's tenure are now available for public viewing, the university said.

The Specter collection "offers a wealth of information regarding the contentious confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and nominee Robert Bork," Evan Laine, faculty director of the university's Arlen Specter Center for Public Service, said in a statement.

Specter took the spotlight in 1991 for his blistering interrogation of former law professor Anita Hill, who had accused Thomas of sexual harassment.

"Correspondence that Sen. Specter received in response to the hearings provide fascinating, behind-the-scenes insights into these historic events," Laine said.

Specter pledged his archive to Philadelphia University in 2010, two years before his death. Specter lived near the university in East Falls.

The university subsequently joined with the University of Pittsburgh, which has expertise in processing, preserving and making digital large archival collections. And in 2014, Philadelphia University opened the Specter public service center in its Roxboro House, featuring an array of items from Specter's service.

Displayed in one room were 60 or so framed photographs, showing Specter with some of the world's greatest dignitaries and controversial world leaders: President Obama and former Presidents George H.W. and George W. Bush, Clinton, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon, and Dwight Eisenhower, as well as Fidel Castro and Saddam Hussein.

But not at the center are many of the legislative documents that figured prominently during Specter's term.

Members of the public interested in viewing documents should contact: Stan Gorski, director of Philadelphia University's Paul J. Gutman Library, at gorskis@philau.edu, or University of Pittsburgh archivist Ashley Taylor at alt64@pitt.edu.

Eventually, some of the material will become available in a digital format.

The material that can be viewed now includes legislative documents related to Specter's high-profile appointments on the Judiciary and Appropriations committees, covering topics such as campaign finance, healthcare and labor. Speeches, news clips and press releases are part of the new release.

The records also touch on other major moments in history, including President Clinton's impeachment trial, the investigation into the Waco compound siege in 1993 and the passing of the Affordable Care Act in 2009, the university said.

Specter was first elected to represent Pennsylvania in 1980. A longtime moderate Republican, he supported abortion rights, gay rights, and funding for stem-cell research, causing him to clash with party conservatives. As a young prosecutor, he was assistant counsel to the Warren Commission and promulgated the "Single Bullet Theory" in President John F. Kennedy's murder.

In 2009, he switched to the Democratic Party and later lost a bid for reelection.

Other portions of the Specter archives will be made available as they become ready, the university said.