William (Bill) Thomas Collection

The Bill Thomas Collection

William (Bill) Thomas donated his congressional papers and materials to Bakersfield College in November 2006, upon the end of his term in Congress in 2007. The collection is available online, and you can discover the finding aids to guide you through this collection below.

 

Bill Thomas Collection Finding Aids

The scope and summary of the collection will be up in December 2024, however, in the meantime, you can browse the finding aids below. Put in a research request if you would like to request specific documents from this collection digitally. If your request is larger than 5 folders, or if you would like to research the documents in person, email bcarchives@bakersfieldcollege.edu or call (661) 395-4949.

“Archives Acquires Bill Thomas Papers: The William M. Thomas Special Collection”

By Greg Goodwin, Archives Board Member and Founder
2007

The distinguished tradition of BC continues with the addition of the William M. Thomas papers to the Grace Van Dyke Bird Library. To our knowledge, no other community college in the nation has been so honored. Many universities would have liked the collection and must be envious of Bakersfield College. For its part, Bakersfield College has the responsibility to house and manage the papers in a professional manner. To this end the college will create a new Special Collections Room in the library and an archival specialist will be called in to process donated materials. Bill Thomas with grandsons Sebastien and William.

It will be several months before the papers are accessible, and for ten years the permission of Bill Thomas is required to research the collection. But Bill has already told us that he wants the materials to be widely available and he would seldom deny permission, if at all. Why did Bill decide to donate his papers to a community college? In addition to the fact that he taught political science at the college from 1965 to 1974, Bill started his higher education in a community college - Santa Ana. Bill states:

Nearly 130 banker boxes of paper materials have arrived at Bakersfield College, as well as over twenty crates containing bulkier items like plaques and framed photographs. Staff members in both Washington and Bakersfield spent nearly four months assembling and transferring the materials. None of the boxes or crates will be opened until an archival consultant is brought in to ensure proper processing.

Here is a sampling of the materials:

• Eighteen boxes of Health and Medicare papers from 1995 on, including committee and subcommittee reports, legislation, and various administration proposals. Bill was the key player in Medicare reform.
• Five boxes from the House Administration Committee that Bill chaired, including House reforms, handbooks on rules and new member orientations, and campaign finance reform.
• Eighteen boxes from the Ways and Means Committee that Bill Thomas chaired, covering a wide range of issues including pension reform, tax relief, trade, health and energy policy.
• Twelve boxes of Congressional publications, including Deschler's precedents, constitutional analysis, Congressional Biographies (1774-2005), Pictorial Directories from the 98th to the 103rd Congress, and House Journals.
• Eighteen boxes of press materials, including reports on foreign trips, articles from national, state and local magazines and newspapers, and numerous photographs and press releases.
• Thirty-four boxes of legislative issue files, including bills sponsored or co-sponsored by Bill Thomas and his official voting records. The legislation covers a vast array of issues including defense, water, energy, and agricultural topics.
• Fifteen boxes of plaques and awards, including "Watchdog of the Treasury" for various years, "Legislator of the Year, 1999-2000," and even a 1st Place award in California's Chili Cook-off!
• Twenty-two boxes of about 600 videos and audiotapes, including a 16mm film of Bill's first swearing in ceremony from 1979, and his appearances on the floor of Congress and the Ways and Means Committee are included, as well as national, state, and local TV programs in which he appeared.
• Twelve boxes of Congressional Documents, mostly from the Committee on Ways and Means, many of which may not be available online.

A number of the people assembling the historic materials have worked with Bill Thomas from early in his career. Washington staff member Mary Sue Englund, who has worked for Bill since 1982, told us that it was a lot of fun reading memos and seeing photographs from years ago. "There are these great 1979 press releases written by Allan Krauter, then Bill's press secretary (now Legislative Analyst for the County of Kern) that capture the mood in Washington as well as Kern County. "One really interesting thing about this collection," she noted, " is the breadth of national, state, and local issues. It's like having two prisms, one that can be viewed from a Kern County perspective and the other from the nation's capital." There are a number of original items in the collection that have immense historical significance. One is the official vote tally sheet of the contested 2000 presidential election signed by AI Gore. And there are framed pieces of legislation that Bill authored that became law, coupled with the presidential signing pen. The legacy of Bill Thomas to Bakersfield College will not end with the donation of his Congressional Papers. Bill and his wife Sharon (also a community college graduate at the College of the Sequoias) plan to remain in Kern County and play an active role in the life of Bakersfield College.