LOUISVILLE, Ky.—For two dozen years, Romano L. “Ron” Mazzoli represented Kentucky’s 3rd Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Now, the University of Louisville’s Archives and Records Center is preserving his records and honoring his service in a collection of his papers and a reading room opening today in Ekstrom Library.
The project, which documents Mazzoli’s political career and personal life through papers and oral histories, is made up of 632 boxes of material including his correspondence with constituents, legislative research, work on highly charged issues such as military base closures and abortion and more than 65 hours of interviews with him and 30 colleagues.
Also among the memorabilia are family and personal items, campaign buttons, videos and newspaper clippings.
“It’s gratifying to know the issues upon which I worked as a member of Congress and earlier as a Kentucky state senator are deemed sufficiently important by UofL and its archive experts to be preserved for the future use of students, researchers and scholars,” Mazzoli said.
Mazzoli, a UofL alumnus, served 12 terms in Congress from 1971 to 1995. The former Democratic congressman is perhaps best known for writing the landmark Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.
“He is a statesman in the truest sense of the word—a man of great skill who has made important contributions to society while maintaining the values he learned in his beloved hometown,” said UofL President James Ramsey. “We are honored to steward his collection so future generations can learn from his experience and wisdom.”