New law establishes archive papers from governor, members of Congress

What official papers from his years in office will Gov. John Lynch donate to the state archives?

And what of members of Congress who'll be leaving office, in particular retiring U.S. Sen. Judd Gregg?

Those are questions that New Hampshire residents can ask now that Lynch has signed HB 1415, an act concerning the official records of state governors and members of Congress from the Granite State.

According to an Associated Press article, about half the states in the country have some type of requirements for preserving such documents. Several governors who preceded Lynch, including Craig Benson, Jeanne Shaheen, Stephen Merrill, Judd Gregg, and John H. Sununu, didn't leave any papers for archiving.

The new law makes it mandatory for Lynch and subsequent governors to "donate a selection of official papers and records to the state" in consultation with director of the division of archives and record management. It does get get any more specific than that.

The law goes into effect Sept. 21.

The law is not mandatory for the papers from our members of the U.S. House and U.S. Senate, however.

It specifies only that the archives director "accept the official papers of any member of the New Hampshire congressional delegation who donates his or her papers to the state."

And the law does not specify where the papers are to be kept. The law states that the records "shall be placed in a New Hampshire depository selected" by the governor or member of Congress with the approval of the director, and be "preserved and disclosed under such terms and conditions" as the governor, the member of Congress and archives director deem appropriate.

With Gregg retiring at the end of this session of Congress, he would be first up in deciding what, if any, papers to donate to the state.

What do you think about this law? What kind of official records would you like to see donated? And where should they be archived?