Byrd staffers must sort throug

WASHINGTON - Robert C. Byrd was known for many things - his mastery of Senate rules, his oratorical skills, his ability to quote long passages of poetry from memory. At one time, he was apparently also considered quite the looker. "If you ever decide you've had enough of the Senate (which would be the country's loss) you can always model men's wear for Brooks Brothers," one female admirer wrote Byrd in April 1978. "What a super model you'd make."

Byrd's correspondent was none other than Abigail "Dear Abby" Van Buren, who wrote to Byrd, then 61, to compliment his "perfectly stunning" photograph in Time magazine.

The Dear Abby mash note is one of thousands of letters, photographs and other memorabilia that fill drawers and closets and filing cabinets in Byrd's cluttered office in the Hart Senate Office Building and his hideaway in the Capitol.

In the coming days, his staff will embark on the long task of sorting through it all to archive what is one of the largest collections in congressional history.

Lancel Bags

Staffers sorting through the files have unearthed a country music set list from Byrd's 1977 recording session at the Library of Congress (he was an accomplished fiddler), his handwritten notes on the history of the Roman Senate, countless drafts of legislation, floor speeches, videocassettes, recipes from his late wife, Erma, and mementos from every hollow of West Virginia.

By law, aides have just two months to close the office of a senator who resigns or dies in office. This week Byrd's aides received instructions from the secretary of the Senate and sergeant at arms laying out every detail of the job, including how to scan and save papers, close state offices, dispose of the office's potted plants and determine what gets shipped to West Virginia before his offices in the U.S. Capitol and Hart Building are made available to other members. (No word yet on who will get the space. The competition - especially for Byrd's Capitol digs - is likely to be fierce.)

"It's a pretty big process," said Senate Archivist Karen Paul. "We've developed checklists to help manage aspects of this. It isn't like 30 years ago when people could just put papers in a box and just ship it off."

Byrd's office declined to comment, citing the emotional toll on the senator's family and staff in the past 10 days. But Capitol Hill staffers familiar with the process of closing congressional offices describe a grueling 60 days packed with memories of their boss, mentor and friend and uncertainty about their own future.

"You're dismantling a lifetime of work," said Ray Smock, a former House historian. "You could be working very hard, and doing very well in the course of moving things around and all of seiko replica a sudden you come across a photograph and you'll pause and start to look at it, and you'll start to reflect and you're overwhelmed with emotion."

As House historian, Smock helped close several offices in the 1980s and 1990s. He's now executive director of the Robert C. Byrd Center for Legislative Studies at Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, which the senator established to house his records. A four-member staff has already amassed 800 cubic feet of boxes and anticipates another 2,000 cubic feet to arrive by September.

The daily grind of congressional work leaves little time for staff to think of the potential future value of a lawmaker's documents, Smock said. "That's when people like me come in," he said.

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