Director of Muskie Archives and Special Collection Library Kat Stefko; Bates' Muskie Oral History Project recently won the Elizabeth B. Mason Major Project Award, from the Oral History Association, for excellence in an oral history project. The Muskie project comprises some 400 interviews.

Asked to describe her job as an archivist, Katherine Stefko’s stock reply is, “I’m paid to read other people’s mail.” The joke is revealing. Director of archives and special collections at Bates, Stefko oversees the delicate work of gathering documentary materials that reveal the details — sometimes very personal — of history.

The Muskie Archives houses nationally significant holdings relating to the late Ed Muskie ’36. You’ve called him the hero of the 1968 presidential campaign, running with Hubert Humphrey.

It was the first time a presidential candidate advertised himself as having chosen a VP who could step up and be president. There was this fabulous political ad that Humphrey put out with the image and sound of an electrocardiogram and the line, “Who is your choice to be a heartbeat away from the presidency?”

We have film showing Muskie inviting a heckler to the stage. Muskie basically said to him, “I’ll give you 10 minutes to tell people your ideas, but in exchange your group has to be quiet and listen to my ideas.” He was extraordinarily genuine in wanting to understand everyone’s opinions before formulating a policy.

By extending that respect, he really gained a lot of ground with the antiwar protesters. Many political observers speculate that had the election been even a week or two later, Humphrey and Muskie would have come from behind to win.

You recently had vice-presidential scholar Joel Goldstein at the archives researching a book.

By necessity, archivists have to be generalists, so having somebody there with dedicated time to read through and make connections within the Muskie Papers has been incredible.

He has become a huge fan of Muskie, and wrote a lot of op-eds during this election year drawing parallels between the ’68 and 2008 campaigns. Goldstein has been particularly impressed by Muskie’s ability to inspire and sustain civil discourse.

You have a broad collecting mandate, between representing Muskie and other Bates people, and then officially documenting the College’s history.

We collect externally and internally — that’s important to realize. External to Bates, that’s usually me. I spend quite a bit of time working with alumni, their families, and other donors.

It’s always better if you talk to a person about their papers, because nobody can tell a story like the person who lived it. Also, giving one’s papers to an archives is not necessarily an easy thing to do — “Here’s my mail, make it publicly available.”

I talk to people about the historical importance of their materials. And I try to foster confidence so they understand that as an archivist, I’m ethically motivated to do the right thing, balancing the privacy needs of our donors with the research interest of our patrons.

What’s the on-campus process?

Internally, Pat Webber, the College archivist, works with people on campus to make sure that their records of historical value are preserved in the archives. We are authorized to collect from College offices, but there are other records being created at Bates with permanent value. So he goes to student-organization meetings in the evening to talk about the importance of their records.

The Outing Club, for instance, is celebrating its 90th anniversary in 2010, so they and their adviser, Judy Marden, have been thoughtful, with Pat’s encouragement, about their records. Last summer we received all their historic records.

How else do you interact with alums?

We get quite a few casual visits during Reunion and Homecoming Weekend. We’ve offered a historic film festival where we’ve shown old films from the collection, and those have been quite popular.

Whenever possible we try to instill in alumni that we really want material that tells the personal side, the unofficial version of Bates’ history — scrapbooks, letters home to Mom and Dad expressing what it was like to adjust to college in Lewiston. These are the types of materials that support cultural and social history, and they can make the past seem real to today’s students.

Who laid the groundwork for the collections of College records?

Harry Rowe ’12, who worked at the College for about half a century, was the unofficial College historian. Bursar Norm Ross ’22 was a diligent record keeper. And he passed the baton to Bernie Carpenter as treasurer. They did a great deal to make sure that early records survived. We’re extraordinarily lucky to have as extensive a historical record as we do.

How is technology changing what you do?

The speed of obsolescence creates monetary challenges. Where a piece of paper, even a black and white photograph, can live happily on a shelf for 500 years, an 8-inch floppy drive is already obsolete.

We’re constantly thinking about getting things into a stable format — by today’s standards — and then developing a strategy to deal with it when that format becomes obsolete.

And something I’ve been thinking about is that kids don’t keep diaries anymore — they keep blogs. How can we thoughtfully collect and preserve blogs? I don’t have an answer yet, but I know it’s something that we need to do.

Interview by Doug Hubley, photograph by Phyllis Graber Jensen

The Maine memorial service for Muskie is scheduled for 1 p.m. in the Bates Chapel. The public is invited to attend.

Muskie, a 1936 Bates graduate, died March 26 at age 81 in a Washington hospital following a heart attack. A funeral Mass was held March 30 in Bethesda, Md., and he was buried at Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington.

The service will be conducted by the Most Rev. Joseph Gerry, Roman Catholic bishop of Maine. The eulogists will be Gov. Angus King, Bates President Donald W. Harward, former U.S. Rep. and U.S. District Judge Frank M. Coffin, businessman and longtime Muskie supporter Shepard Lee, former U.S. Sen. George J. Mitchell, Sen. William S. Cohen and Muskie’s son Stephen.

Also in attendance will be members of Muskie’s family, including his wife, Jane; and members of Muskie’s 1936 Bates class. Muskie had been planning to attend his 60-year reunion at Bates in June.

Following the service, the public is invited to take guided tours of the Edmund S. Muskie Archives on the Bates campus. The archives contains records of Muskie’s 32-year career in public life, from his days as a young Maine legislator to his service as secretary of state in the Carter administration and his campaigns for president and vice president.

In 1978, Billings represented Senator Muskie at the Law of the Sea negotiations in Geneva where, over a 12-day period and after extensive meetings with the U.S. and other delegations, treaty modifications were made which resulted in the protection of U.S. environmental laws.

In 1978, Billings staffed the “Muskie Mission” to the People’s Republic of China, a 17-day, nine-member Congressional trip of meetings and briefings in Shanghai, Peking, Hunan Province and Canton. Billings drafted the report to the President on the mission.

In 1979, Billings accompanied Senator Muskie on a special Presidential mission to Lisbon, Madrid, NATO, Warsaw, Kracow and Bonn. He participated in Muskie’s meetings with heads of state of the countries visited and also drafted reports to President Jimmy Carter on that mission.

As executive assistant to the Secretary of State, Billings traveled throughout the world with Secretary Muskie. In eight months, he participated in official visits to Brussels, Vienna, Ankara, Kuala Lampur, Mexico City and London, and was a part of the official party with President Carter in the state visit to Rome, the Economic Summit in Venice and the Ohira funeral in Tokyo.

Billings also participated in meetings with 55 foreign ministers and chiefs of state during the Secretary’s two-week participation in the United Nation’s deliberations in October 1980.

A 1959 graduate of the University of Montana at Missoula, Billings also did graduate work there. Subsequently, he worked as a reporter and organizer for farm groups in Montana and California, and for three years as a lobbyist for American Public Power Association in Washington, D.C.

He served on the Democratic Party Platform COmmittee Staff in 1968 and co chaired a Democratic National Committee task force on energy and the environment.

Billings received the 1990 Association of Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies’ Environment Award for outstanding environmental service. In 1981, he received the Philip A. Hart award from the Urban Environment Conference for his contributions to improvement in the quality of the urban environment.

A founding member of the Montgomery County Green Democrats, he is a member of the Montgomery County Democratic Forum.

“From the day in 1932 when he first set foot on the Bates campus, Ed Muskie projected the intelligence and dignity the nation later was to know and respect so well. The death of Senator Muskie robs the world of an eloquent speaker for the dispossessed, for a clean environment and for decency in public life. His legacy is everywhere we look; and, as former President Jimmy Carter said during the dedication of the Muskie Archives in 1985, Ed Muskie should have been president of the United States. Although he fell short of that goal, Senator Muskie never lost the respect of all who knew him, including his political adversaries. Not to be forgotten as we contemplate the public man is his devotion to his family and his college. On behalf of the Bates community I convey condolences to Jane Muskie and their children. We have lost one of the giants of our time.”

1932-36: At Bates: Varsity debater; class president as junior and senior; student council, serving as vice president and secretary-treasurer; member of Politics Club; Ivy Day speaker; runs track as a freshman.

1936: Graduates from Bates, cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, with degree in history and government. Enters Cornell Law School, graduating in 1939.

1950: President of College Club, honorary service organization of Bates alumni (now College Key).

1953: President of Kennebec Bates Club (alumni).

1955 (Commencement): Receives honorary doctor of laws degree from Bates.

1956-66, 1970-88: Member of Bates’ Board of Trustees.

1960: Receives Distinguished Alumnus Award from Delta Sigma Rho-Tau Kappa Alpha Forensic Society in recognition of his debate career at Bates.

1980: Muskie announces he will donate his papers and memorabilia to Bates, which says it will build Edmund S. Muskie Archives. When completed in 1985, it is largest archive devoted to a political figure who was not a president.

1981: Receives lifetime appointment as Oren B. Cheney Distinguished Lecturer in Government (named for founder of Bates).

1985 (Sept. 28): Joins former President Carter for dedication of Muskie Archives.

1989: Muskie takes part in annual “Report of the Secretaries of State” conference held at Bates and taped for PBS telecast.

1989: Bates inaugurates annual Edmund S. Muskie Environmental Lecture.

1989-1995: Participates in college’s annual Muskie Summer Scholars program for high-school students.

1994: Participates in Bates seminar marking 40th anniversary of the Maine election of 1954, in which he was elected governor.