Collection inventory

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Francis J. Duggan Papers

An inventory of his papers at the Pan Am Flight 103/Lockerbie Air Disaster Archives at Syracuse University.


Finding aid created by: Cara A. Howe
Date: 2011

Biography

Frank Duggan

Francis J. Duggan (1938-2017) was an alumnus of St. John's college and law school in New York City. He was a presidential appointee at the Labor Department during the Ford and Reagan Administrations, serving as Assistant Secretary of Labor under President Reagan. Duggan worked on the Labor Committee in the Senate and in the offices of former Senator Charles Mathias (R-MD), and Representative William Steiger (R-WI). He was also the Director of Operations of the Legal Services Program in the Office of Economic Opportunity.

Duggan was an assistant vice president for the Association of American Railroads from 1977-1987. He served on President George H.W. Bush's Presidents Commission on Aviation Security and Terrorism between 1989-1990, which first put him in contact with the families of Pan Am Flight 103 victims. Duggan had also been Chairman of the National Mediation Board from 2000-2004 and Chairman of the Transnational Law Group from 2004-2009.

Duggan represented the Victims of Pan Am Flight 103, Inc. as a pro bono advisor and attorney and was the president of the board from 2008-2017. He was an officer of the Transportation Section of the Federal Bar Association and served as the editor of TRANSLAW.

Scope and Content Note

The Francis J. Duggan Papers span the years 1984-2010, with the bulk of materials dating from the mid-1990s. Most of the materials in the collection relate to Duggan's legal work as an attorney and advisor for the families of victims of Pan Am Flight 103. The collection contains series for: Articles, Multimedia, Correspondence, Memorabilia, Photographs and negatives, and Subject files.

The Articles series is ordered chronologically and contains clippings from 1984-2010. There are three subseries to this series: General, Book reviews, and Journals, with the bulk of the series being made up of general articles. These provide an excellent timeline for the crash and the subsequent legal proceedings.

The Multimedia series contains a miniature recording cassette that is neither labeled nor dated and it is unclear what the content of the cassette might be.

Correspondence is a large part of the Papers. It is ordered by correspondent and arranged alphabetically. Notable correspondents include Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, and Abd-El Basset Al Megrahi and Lamina Fheima.

Memorabilia consists of three buttons, created and distributed by the Victims of Pan Am Flight 103, Inc.

Photographs and negatives are included in the collection and range in date from 1989-2001. Frank Duggan is pictured along with other members of the 1989 President's Commission on Aviation Security and Terrorism and members of the plaintiff's committee for the families of the victims may be seen.

Subject files are divided into five subseries: General, Court cases, Law firms, Legislation, and People. The Court Cases subseries provides documents outlining the case for government involvement in the trials of Megrahi and Fhimah and other relevant legal materials. The Law Firms subseries is heavily devoted to Kreindler & Kreindler and Sonneschein, Nath & Rosenthal, two firms that represented many of the families. Legislation directly relating to airline security, terrorism, compensation for victims' families, and other relevant topics are presented. People represented include some of the Syracuse University victims. General subject files are also included.

Restrictions

Access Restrictions:

There are no access restrictions for this collection.

Use Restrictions:

Written permission must be obtained from the Pan Am Flight 103 Archives and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

Related Material

Victims of Pan Am Flight 103, Inc. and Families of Pan Am 103/Lockerbie group materials were removed from this collection.

The Pan Am Flight 103 Archives contains additional materials and information related to the Francis J. Duggan Papers. Related collections include:

Pan Am 103 Publications Collection

Pan Am 103 Anniversaries Collection

Pan Am 103 Clippings Collection

Pan Am 103 College of Law Collection

Victims and Families Collections

Selected Search Terms

Names

Duggan, Francis J.

Subjects

Pan Am Flight 103 Bombing Incident, 1988.
Terrorism -- Government Policy -- United States -- Case Studies.
Terrorism -- Government Policy -- United States -- History.
Terrorism -- Government Policy -- United States.
Terrorism -- History -- 20th Century.
Lockerbie (Scotland)

Types of Material

Articles.
Buttons (information artifacts)
Correspondence.
Legislation (declaration of laws)
Photographs.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Francis J. Duggan Papers,
Pan Am Flight 103/Lockerbie Air Disaster Archives
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Gift of Frank Duggan in 2005.

Processing Information

The Francis J. Duggan Papers is processed.

Arrangement

Materials are arranged either alphabetically or chronologically within each series.

Table of Contents

Articles

Multimedia

Correspondence

Memorabilia

Photographs and negatives

Subject Files

Inventory