Administrative Information
Acquisition Information
The papers of John A. Lawrence were given to the Library of Congress by Lawrence between 2016 and 2019.
Processing History
The papers of John A. Lawrence were processed and described by Kathleen O'Neill and Emilia Schrier in 2019. The papers were maintained by Declan Cashman and John Lawrence. The original arrangement and most folder headings were maintained as received. Duplicate materials, materials with personally identifiable information, and extraneous materials that were discovered during the course of processing were removed. Closed materials were filed separately.
In 2021, Lawrence's classified notes were declassified by the Manuscript Division's Classified Documents Officer. The notebooks containing these notes were returned to their appropriate chronological place in the Meeting Notes series from which they were separated. The National Security Classified Information series was removed.
Digital files were received by the Library in two separate transfers in July 2016. The initial transfer included materials from the donor's MacBook Air, flash drive, and external hard drive. The subsequent transfer included materials from the donor's iPad. All devices were still in active use; therefore, Lawrence maintained custody of the devices, was present during both transfers, and identified which files would be transferred to the Library. The files from the Macbook Air were accessed via iTunes. The external hard drive contained files from Lawrence's chief of staff workstation and office shared drive. Lawrence selected a subset of these files for transfer to the Library. The files from the iPad were not accessible via iTunes and had to be uploaded to DropBox and then downloaded to an external hard drive. All files were copied to an external hard drive with the directories and folder hierarchy largely maintained as received.
In the initial transfer, a single digital ID number was assigned to each transfer source. Checksums and an inventory for all files from each transfer source were generated using Bagger (v2.8.1). During processing and for administrative purposes, the email archive and miscellaneous audio files were assigned new digital ID numbers then bagged separately from their original source location. Files were scanned for viruses and no viruses were identified. Any zipped files were unzipped using WinZip or StuffIt. Duplicates, extraneous materials, temp files, and system files were removed during the course of processing. The email is currently unprocessed and not available to researchers.
Related Material
Related materials in the Mansucript Division include the papers of Nancy Pelosi (see http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms017015).
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Audio recordings accessed via the MacBook Air (OS El Capitan 10.11.3) were created with the native Voice Memo app on an iPhone 5 or 6. Audio recordings from the iPad (Model A1455 EMC2609) were created with Voice Record Pro (v. 1.0.1). All audio files are in .m4a file format. Lawrence's chief of staff files were created in a Windows OS (version unknown) and are primarily .doc, .docx, and .jpgs with some .html and .wpd files. The email .pst file, though currently unavailable, can be accessed in Outlook or viewed with a file viewer tool.
Digital Files
Digital files were received as part of the papers of John A. Lawrence from a variety of transfer sources. A single digital ID number was assigned to groups of files based on their original transfer location, specific file format, or subject. Use the digital ID number to request access copies of the files. Access to digital content is available onsite only in the Manuscript Reading Room and requires advanced notice. Consult reference staff in the Manuscript Division for more information.
Preferred Citation
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container or digital ID number, John A. Lawrence Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.