Donna F. Edwards Papers
Donna F. Edwards is an alumni of Wake Forest University and the University of New Hampshire School of Law. She is the first black woman elected to Congress from Maryland, where she served as a representative for Maryland's 4th district from 2008 to 2017. This collection includes letters, information on congressional trips, photographs, budget documents, and information regarding committees that she staffed.
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Summary Information
- Repository
- Z. Smith Reynolds Library Special Collections and Archives
- Title
- Donna F. Edwards Papers
- Date
- circa 2008-2016 (inclusive)
- Extent
- 6.92 linear feet / 5 record cartons, 1 half-document box
- ID
- MS863
Biographical and Historical Note
Donna F. Edwards was born in Yanceyville, North Carolina, on June 28, 1958. She is an alumni of Wake Forest University (1980), where she earned degrees in English and Spanish; she studied in Salamanca, Spain, while at Wake Forest. She also attended New Hampshire School of Law (1989). A member of the Democratic party, Edwards was elected to the U.S. House as a representative for Maryland's 4th district, serving from 2008 to 2017. She was the first black woman elected to Congress from the state of Maryland.
While in Congress, Edwards served on the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, the Committee on Standards and Official Conduct, the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, and the Committee on Science, Space and Technology, where she served as the lead Democrat on the Subcommittee on Space. She also ran for U.S. Senate in Maryland in 2016 but lost. Beginning in January 2017, she spent some time traveling around the United States in an RV. In July 2017, Edwards announced that she had been diagnosed with the autoimmune disease multipe sclerosis. She was a Senior Fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law in 2017. Edwards has one son, Jared.
Collection Overview
This collection follows Edwards' time in Congress, approximately 2008 to 2016. It includes letters, information on congressional trips, photographs, budget documents, and information regarding committees on which the congresswoman served.
Administrative Information
- Publication Information
- Finding aid prepared by Olivia Field with Riley Richards and Stephanie Bennett, 2018 February
- Access Restrictions
- The collection is open for limited research. The collection may be displayed, reviewed, and studied for academic purposes, but may not be published for 10 years following the date of gift, December 8, 2016, or the death of the donor, whichever comes first.
- Copyright Notice
- The nature of the WFU Z. Smith Reynolds Library Special Collections and Archives means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. The Archives and Special Collections of ZSR Library claims only physical ownership of most materials. The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to the U.S. Copyright Law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.
- Preferred Citation
- Donna F. Edwards Papers (MS863), Z. Smith Reynolds Library Special Collections and Archives, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, USA.