Background and report files

The Temporary State Commission on Revision and Simplification of the Constitution was created by Chapter 814 of the Laws of 1956 to initiate studies, inquiries, surveys, or analyses in order to propose to the legislature revision of the state constitution. In this it continued studies undertaken by the Special Legislative Commission on the Constitutional Convention and by the Special Legislative Committee on the Revision and Simplification of the Constitution. It became known as the "Peck Commission" after its head, David W. Peck (former Presiding Justice of the Appellate Division, First Department).

The commission was set up in 1956 to prepare issues for a constitutional convention in 1958. The convention was turned down in a referendum when republicans promised to continue revision through the commission. Pertinent to the bulk of this series, the commission received an additional appropriation of $160,000 by Chapter 141 of the Laws of 1960 and was required to report to the governor and legislature on March 31, 1961.

B1364-92: These draft articles, background material, and consultant's work papers and study outlines represent work of the commission in collecting and compiling data and in studying and reporting on proposals for constitutional revision. Areas of study and reform convered by the records include housing; civil sevice; gubernatorial succession; bribery of public officers; suffrage; corporations; civil defense; canals; and divorce.

Additional background materials are extensive and cover work engaged by several prior constitutional conventions and state constitutional commissions.

The bulk of the series includes material dated from 1959 to 1961, specifically draft texts of changes to articles of the state constitution; commission memoranda and subcommittee reports and memoranda; and copies of commission resolutions proposing new or revised articles to the constitution, and memoranda in support of resolutions proposed by the assembly and senate.

Also of special note are copies of extensive staff project studies from the Temporary State Commission on the Constitutional Convention (dated 1957) prepared to give historical, constitutional, and legal background and evolution of the state's military establishment and civil defense; correspondence and newspaper clippings (dated 1957-1961) documenting the 1959 New York State Constitutional Convention, including miscellany relating to the 1915 and 1938 constitutional conventions; copies of staff reports and various published reports relating to special issue areas pertinent to article revision, including assorted pamphlets, correspondence, vote tabulations, and other material from the 1915 and 1938 constitutional conventions; and the report (photostatic copies), members and officers list, and typescript copy of the journal and documents of the New York State Constitutional Convention of 1890.

B1364-99: This accretion consists of newspaper clippings, pasted in binders, that comprise a chronology of actions by and public reactions to the Peck Commission. Clippings trace the commission from its inception to presentation of its final report to the governor and legislature on March 31, 1961. There is no attribution on the binders to show who collected and arranged the clippings.

B1364-92: Rough container list.

There are no restrictions regarding access to or use of the material.