Ex-Congressman Joe Crowley Donates Papers To Queens College

FLUSHING, QUEENS - Former U.S. Representative Joe Crowley donated his congressional papers to Queens College, his alma mater, on Thursday. The collection documents his 30 years of public service and will be made available for research purposes at the college's Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library.

“Queens College was a bedrock of my education and young life,” Crowley said in a statement. “It is my hope that students, faculty and the public will benefit from an inside view of how Washington, D.C. works on behalf of all Americans."

Crowley's collection includes framed copies of the Affordable Care Act with the original signatures of President Barack Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, featuring a handwritten note from Pelosi and a commemorative pen used in the signing; the Senate Good Friday Agreement signed by Hillary Clinton; framed photographs of Crowley with President Bill Clinton, Governors Hugh Carey, Mario Cuomo and George Pataki, and Secretary Clinton; a championship boxing belt from the Belfast Beltway 2014 Boxing Classic; and a Queens County St. Patrick's Day Parade 40th Anniversary sash naming Crowley “Gael of the Year.”

"What better embodiment of the Queens College motto, We Learn So That We May Serve, than Joe Crowley, who has dedicated his life to service, and what a great gift to our students for whom these materials will hopefully serve as inspiration for careers of great distinction," Queens College President Félix V. Matos Rodríguez said in a statement.

The library is also home to the collections of Congressmembers Benjamin S. Rosenthal and Gary Ackerman, New York State Assembly Speaker Saul Weprin and Queens Borough President and Queens College alumna Helen Marshall.

Crowley was ousted from his congressional seat representing northern Queens and the eastern Bronx by newcomer Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in a Democratic primary election in June.

(Lead image: Joseph Crowley, at left, signs the deed gifting his congressional papers to Queens College as President Félix V. Matos Rodríguez looks on. Photo by Andy Poon, used with permission)