Constituent Mail Analysis Project

About CMAP | Use of Correspondence Management Systems by the Senate | Data Description

In the mid-1970s, Congress embraced automated word-processing systems as the answer to the increasing volume of constituent inquiries. Senate facilities were literally unable to handle the mountains of constituent mail. During a hearing before the Senate subcommittee that oversaw computer services in the Senate, Senator Alan Cranston estimated that in 1979 his office alone received 10,000 to 15,000 letters per week. Members sought a faster way to send high-quality responses to constituents and a more cost-effective way to keep constituents apprised of member activities. They also wanted to reduce staff time spent on producing, filing, and retrieving correspondence and to institute more managerial control over the mail process.

The constituent mail function was automated first by using word processing and then by using increasingly more complex correspondence management systems. Building on the systematization and standardization provided by word processing, correspondence management systems offered sophisticated word processing; the capability of inserting selected, approved paragraphs; personalized salutations and closings; personalized text; the ability to create targeted mailing lists; correspondence records; mail count on issues; automatic filing; and correspondence tracking.

Starting in the early 1970s, the Senate Computer Center developed the first database systems--the Automated Indexing System (AIS) and Senate Mail File (SMF). AIS was designed to store the basic identification information about a document (name or subject, date, staffer, city, document number, etc.) and then to provide lists of the correspondence sorted by any of those fields. The goal was to end the time-consuming practice of maintaining carbon copy cross-reference files and to facilitate faster filing and retrieval time. The correspondence was filed by a system-generated document number. Name and topic indexes to the Senator's correspondence were generated periodically from the AIS so that the staff could locate a letter by name or topic. The SMF was a centralized database of correspondent names and addresses that could be used to create labels or for follow up mailings. Initially, the information about constituents and correspondence in these databases was typed in manually, but with the adoption of Senate's Correspondence Mail System (CMS) in 1978, the information was downloaded in batch files from the CMS system to the AIS and SMF.

CMS was designed to "perform centralized indexing, filing, and retrieval functions and maintain central indexes and mailing lists in accordance with Senate rules." Like the AIS, it produced indexes. In addition, it included a topic listing that allowed for easier cross-reference for letters with multiple topics. CMS could produce reports to help office managers summarize the opinions expressed in incoming mail and to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of office staff in responding to mail. In the late 1980s, CMS was upgraded and renamed the Constituent Services System (CSS). In 1991 the Senate Mail System (SMS) was developed to replace CSS, the SMF, and the AIS with a single database. CMAP provides access to records created by Senator Nunn's staff using CMS and CSS.

In 1994, the Senate Computer Center decided to stop supporting SMS and began the process of moving all the Senate offices still using SMS to stand-alone correspondence management systems developed by outside vendors. These systems were designed for local area networks (LANs) and located in the Senators' DC offices. The transition to the new systems was completed in 1996. Approved systems included InterAmerica's CapitolCorrespond, Intelligent Solutions, Inc.'s Quorum, and Electronic Data Systems' Quick Response. Because these new systems resided in the Senators' offices, they gave both more control and more responsibility to Senators and their staff. Reports were designed and generated in the Senators' offices by staffers, and those Senators interested in having a mail file for mass mailings had to maintain it themselves.

When a Senator left office, the Senate Computer Center sent a copy of selected data fields from the correspondence management systems to his or her designated repository. The files were created using proprietary software that the repositories could afford neither to purchase nor maintain, so the data was sent in a flat, fixed-field ASCII format. Prior to 1996, the files were transferred using 7" magnetic reels, 9" magnetic reels, or data tape cartridges. Starting in 1996, the files were sent to the repositories on CD-ROMs.

For more information about the implementation of automated correspondence management systems in the Senate, please see the following:

• Benson, James K. "Letters to Congressmen as Sources for Research: A Report on the Constituent Correspondence of Congressman Clark MacGregor." Paper prepared for the Minnesota Historical Society, Summer 1976.
• Benson, James K. "Political Research on Constituent Mail: A Report on Problems and Prospects." Paper prepared for the Minnesota Historical Society, Summer 1976.
• Frantzich, Stephen E. "The Implications of Congressional Computerization." Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science 13 (February/March 1987).
• Frantzich, Stephen E. Congressional Applications of Information Technology. ([Washington, DC]: Office of Technology Assessment, [1985]).
• General Accounting Office. The Senate Should Explore Other Word Processing Alternatives to Improve Cost Effectiveness and Productivity: Report by the Comptroller General to the Chairman, Committee on Appropriations, United States Senate. (Washington, DC: U.S. General Accounting Office, 1980).
• Lucas, Lydia. "Managing Congressional Papers: A Repository View." American Archivist 41 (July 1978): 275-280.
• Nelson, Naomi. "From 'Robo' Letters to E-mail: The Evolution of the Constituent Mail Function in the Senate." Congressional Papers Roundtable Newsletter, Society of American Archivists. April 1995.
• Nelson, Naomi. "Taking a Byte Out of the Senate: Reconsidering the Use of Correspondence and Casework Files." Provenance 15 (1997): 37-62.