Photo: Andrew Shurtleff, courtesy The Daily Progress

Karin Wittenborg

March 23, 2004 -- The papers of the late State Senator Emily Couric of Charlottesville have been donated to the University of Virginia. Couric’s husband, Dr. George Beller, presented the collection to the U.Va. Library on Saturday, March 20, at 11 a.m. in the McGregor Room of Alderman Library. Couric’s family was in attendance for the ceremony.

A popular and influential figure in Virginia politics who died in October 2001, Couric was a principled legislator who fought for what she believed. She was elected to the Senate of Virginia in 1995, and reelected to a second term in 1999, representing the 25th Senate District of the Commonwealth of Virginia (including Charlottesville, Albemarle, Madison, Green, and parts of Nelson and Orange). Couric was widely considered the likely Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor for the 2001 statewide election before she was diagnosed with cancer. She was also active on a number of community boards and organizations, and served as Chairwoman of the Democratic Party of Virginia.

Highlights of the collection include:

• Constituent correspondence on a variety of issues affecting her district;

• Legislative records, including files on the Advanced Mathematics and Technology Diploma Seal for high school graduates, Commonwealth Neurotrauma Initiative, and her bill requiring insurance companies to cover colorectal cancer screening;

• Video and audio tapes of media appearances and campaign advertisements; and

• Campaign files for her 1995 and 1999 state senate elections, as well as files detailing her campaign for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor.

“We are honored by the family’s decision to donate this important collection to the University Library,” says University Librarian Karin Wittenborg. “The Emily Couric Papers will add to the University’s outstanding resources in twentieth-century political and public affairs, which include the papers of U.S. Senators Carter Glass, Harry F. Byrd (both Sr. and Jr.), Hugh Scott, William B. Spong and Charles Robb.”

“Ms. Couric was a force in Virginia state and local politics, and a tireless advocate for education and health care,” Wittenborg continues. “It is fitting that her papers come to U.Va. where they will be used by researchers working on a host of issues from Virginia politics to women’s studies.”