OLIN GIVES PAPERS TO COLLEGE

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 25, 1993                   TAG: 9303250296
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
OLIN GIVES PAPERS TO COLLEGE
Tradition has dictated that retiring members of Congress or those voted out of office donate documentation of their legislative work to an institution or organization.
Caldwell Butler, William Wampler and Richard Poff are among former Virginia congressmen who have bestowed their papers upon universities and colleges.
And Friday, Rep. Jim Olin, who retired last year from the 6th Congressional District seat, will join their ranks. A whopping 100 boxes holding holding 10 years' worth of Olin's congressional work officially will pass from his hands into the Roanoke College archives.
One hundred boxes?
"I thought it would be a good idea to put the papers someplace where someone could make use of it," Olin said. "A huge amount of effort and thought goes into what I've worked on for 10 years. It's worth having around somewhere.
"If you don't do something like this, you end up with papers in the attic."
What may have ended up stashed and forgotten now are labeled the "James R. Olin Papers." They include letters from constituents, files tracking the progress of legislative issues - particularly those related to agriculture and the environment - campaign records and documentation of his travels to the Soviet Union and Central America.
One hundred boxes?
"People are absolutely free to go in and make use of it, to write about it - or write nothing," Olin said.
Three interns spent nearly five months sifting through the paperwork, tossing potentially compromising correspondence and case files and keeping what might prove useful, Olin said.
It will take Roanoke College one to two years to catalog the papers, said Archivist Linda Miller.
"But we're hoping with this we'll get the benefit of his 10 years' experience in Congress," she said.
Delivery of the boxes began in November, in no particular order, Miller said.
"We need to figure out what's in each box and then reorganize them by category," she said.
One hundred boxes?
"It's a long process, some of it tedious," Miller said. "You find yourself getting lost in this."

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB