University of Pennsylvania Finding Aids

Harry Dixon Jr. (1944-2006), a lawyer from Nebraska, wanted to form an organization with the dual purpose of providing Congress with expert and unbiased views on legislation and creating an institution that could keep the bankruptcy community aware of legislative activities affecting them. In February 1982, Dixon incorporated under Nebraska law this new organization which was to be called the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI). The records of the American Bankruptcy Institute document two main areas of the organization: the history and operating activities of the American Bankruptcy Institute and the organization's professional activities, publications, and research on bankruptcy related issues. The materials date from 1982-2013, with the bulk from 1985-1996. Materials are largely in paper format, comprising correspondence, memos, facsimiles, resumes/c.v., financial records, by-laws, articles of incorporation, certificates, lease agreement, newsletters, marketing materials, clippings, press releases, scripts, white papers, meeting files which typically include agendas, minutes, and sign-in sheets, committee files, conference and seminar material, Library of Congress reports, information bulletins, Congressional reports, records, and bills, court records, briefs, procedures, Congressional hearing testimonies and remarks, publications, monographs, and other related printed matter. The records also include audiovisual materials such as photographs, VHS tapes, audio cassette tapes, DVDs, and CDs. The strengths of the American Bankruptcy Institute records are the documentation of the Board of Directors files; ABI conference and seminar files; ABI's effort to expand membership; Committee files; and the organization's analysis of bankruptcy legislation from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s. Extensive areas of analysis by ABI include the U.S. Trustee Program which include numerous oversight hearings; Chapter 7 Substantial Abuse; Chapter 12 Family Farmer Bankruptcy; additional bankruptcy judgeships; the Bankruptcy Amendments and Federal Judgeship Act of 1984 (BAFJA) including the Bankruptcy Survey Project conducted by the ABI after the law (BAFJA) went into effect; judicial salaries; leveraged buyouts (LBO); pension plans and retirement benefits; proposed amendments to bankruptcy rules and forms; significant Supreme Court cases; S. 1985 National Bankruptcy Review Commission Act, S. 1559 Bankruptcy Technical Corrections Act, and testimonies before various Congressional committees from 1989-1996.

Henry J. Sommer is one of the leading figures in bankruptcy, consumer law, and civil rights. Born in 1949 in Rochester, New York, Sommer received his JD cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1974. After graduating from Harvard, he worked for Community Legal Services in Philadelphia as Project Head of its Consumer Law Project until 1996. In addition to his role with Community Legal Services, Sommer has lectured at University of Pennsylvania Law School and worked as editor-in-chief of Collier on Bankruptcy. The Henry J. Sommer Papers, 1975-2005, include National Bankruptcy Conference papers, materials from Continuing Legal Education seminars and other meetings at which Sommer lectured, copies of published manuscripts and articles written by Sommer, videotapes of Sommer and colleagues holding seminars that educated practitioners about the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978, and related materials.

Judge Bihary received her Juris Doctorate from the University of Michigan Law School in 1975. From 1987-2002, she served as a judge for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Northern District of Georgia. In 2003, Judge Bihary was sworn in as Chief Judge of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Northern District of Georgia. She served this position from 2003 until her retirement in May of 2012. The Judge Joyce Bihary Papers, 1999-2009, includes materials created, collected, and received by Judge Bihary from two periods of her career. First, materials from the 1999 Debtor Education Program in Atlanta, Georgia which contains information regarding American bankruptcy in the mid to late 1990's. Second, the collection includes information regarding the proposed mortgage "cramdown" legislation specifically referencing H.R. 1106 during 2008-2009. These are materials gathered by judges for the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges to weigh in on issues presented by the proposed bills. The collection is comprised of videotapes, memorandums, correspondence with attachments, emails, scholarly articles, studies, and reports, a Government Accountability Office (GAO) Report, and instructional materials on financial management which include guides and manuals.