Established in 1979 by the Oklahoma Regents for Higher Education and the Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma, the Carl Albert Congressional Research and Studies Center is a nonpartisan institution devoted to teaching and research related to the United States Congress and more broadly to strengthening representative democracy through engaged and informed citizens. Supported by private, foundation, and public funds, the Center has grown into one of the largest and most comprehensive congressional studies centers in the country. In 1982, the Center archives contained 40 collections of congressional papers, and today the collections include the papers of 61 former members of congress, along with the papers of 25 political leaders, congressional staffers, and journalists. The Center is concerned with the health of our modern representative democracy. Its mission embraces three principal functions – teaching, research and public service. The Center offers academic programs in congressional studies at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. Alumni of the Center’s graduate fellowship program are leaders in academia and politics. The Center engages undergraduates in scholarly research, civic engagement activities, and service-learning opportunities at the Oklahoma State Capitol and in the local community. The women’s leadership programs address the underrepresentation of women in politics, public service and other leadership roles through educational programs for women across the state of Oklahoma. The Center promotes original research by faculty members and students into various aspects of politics and the Congress. And the Center’s congressional archive provides a national resource available to historians, political scientists, the media, and public interested in the health of our representative institutions.