Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education

The Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education was established in 2002 to promote a better understanding and appreciation of the United States Congress. Located within a 2-hour drive from Washington D.C., the Byrd Center is situated on the campus of Shepherd University.

In the mid-1990s, colleagues and friends of Senator Robert C. Byrd established the Congressional Education Foundation, Incorporated, with the goal of developing an institution that would study the history of the United States Congress, using Senator Byrd's extensive papers as well as the archived collections of other West Virginian congressional representatives as a foundation for research and public, educational programming. Under the planning of the foundation, a connection with Shepherd University was forged to locate the Byrd Center on its campus in West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle, a region accessible to both the state and the nation's capitol city. Construction of the center, which was built as part of an expansion and modernization of the campus' Ruth Scarborough Library, was completed in 2002 and dedicated by Senator Byrd.

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