Papers of Walter Holden Capps (May 5, 1934 – October 28, 1997), Professor of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Representative of the 22nd district of California in the United States House of Representatives in 1997.

Walter Holden Capps (May 5, 1934 - October 28, 1997), American politician, Democratic Party member of the United States House of Representatives, was elected to the 105th Congress, serving from January 3, 1997, until his death of heart attack at Dulles Airport on October 28, 1997. Capps earned an MA (1963) and PhD (1965) from the Yale Divinity School. Capps was Visiting Scholar a the Center for the Study of New Religions, Graduate Theological Union, 1982-1983, Mansfield College, Oxford University, 1971, and the Warburg Institute, University of London, 1968-1969. From 1963 to 1996, Walter Capps taught in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, focusing on the role of ethics in American public life. Capps first taught "Religion and the Impact of Vietnam" in 1979. Featuring first hand accounts of Vietnam veterans, this course was the first of its kind and would attract national attention. Capps' name lives on in the Walter H. Capps Center for the Study of Ethics, Religion and Public Life at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

65.24 linear feet (25 cartons, 2 oversize boxes, plus 370 videocassettes, 5 DVDs, 86 audiocassettes, 11 audiotape reels)

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