The collection documents Dave Camp's personal life and political career including his 12 terms in the United States House of Representatives (1991-2014). The papers include a scrapbook detailing Camp's early political career; personal correspondence; campaign materials such as surveys, debate notes, campaign ads, and interview clips; written, annotated, and recorded speeches; and photographs with constituents and at various district events.
The bulk of the collection covers Camp's congressional papers comprised of office files such as schedules, reports, issue briefing books, correspondence, legislative planning documents, year-end accomplishments, and photographs; legislative and committee files including bills sponsored or co-sponsored by Congressman Camp, floor statements, and other legislative materials documenting late 20th and early 21st century American economic and health policy; and press files including press releases, press clips, op-ed articles, and recorded media appearances on national and local Michigan radio and television.
The collection includes 425 pieces of audiovisual material, described in the Container Listing at the item level.
David Lee Camp was born July 9, 1953 in Midland, Michigan, one of six children, to parents Norma Nehil and Robert D. Camp. Known as Dave, Camp attended a Catholic elementary school and H.H. Dow High School, graduating in 1971. He studied at Western Michigan University (1971-1972), the University of Sussex, England (1973-1974), and earned a Bachelor of Arts, Magna Cum Laude, in economics and business administration from Albion College, Michigan (1975). In 1978, Camp graduated from the University of San Diego Law School with a Juris Doctor.
After law school, Dave Camp returned to Midland and joined the law firm Riecker, Van Dam & Barker. He became active in the local community, helping found the Child Protection Council and aiding Republican candidates run for state and national office. From 1980 to 1984, Camp served as special assistant to Michigan's attorney general and from 1985 to 1987 he worked as an administrative assistant to U.S. Congressman Bill Schuette.
In 1988, Dave Camp ran for the Michigan House of Representatives, serving one term (1989-1990) as state representative for the 102nd district. In 1991, Camp ran and was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives first serving Michigan's 10th district (1991-1993), and, after redistricting, the 4th district until his retirement in January 2015.
During his 24 year tenure in Congress, Camp served on numerous committees including in leadership roles. Representative Camp served on the Committee on Agriculture, Homeland Security including Chairman of the Subcommittee on Infrastructure and Border Security, the Joint Committee on Taxation serving as Chairman (2011 and 2013) and Vice Chairman (2012 and 2014), and the Ways and Means Committee including as Chairman (2011-2015). Camp was also appointed to several committees chartered to address American fiscal and healthcare policy such as the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (2010) and the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (2011-2012). While in office, Camp worked on noteworthy legislation including the Welfare Reform Act of 1996, adoption legislation, healthcare, and economic policy notably the Tax Reform Act of 2014.
Dave Camp married Nancy Keil, at the time an attorney for Dow Chemical, in 1996 and together they have three children. In 2012 Dave Camp was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins large B-cell lymphoma; during his treatment Representative Camp did not miss a single House vote and announced in December 2012 he was cancer free. Camp retired from Congress in January 2015 and took a position as a senior policy advisor for PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Washington National Tax Services.
