HARRISBURG — The University of Pittsburgh will take on a big role in preserving and exhibiting the late Arlen Specter’s massive collection of papers, photographs and recordings from a career in public office that spanned five decades, the school said Monday.

Philadelphia University will maintain ownership of the 2,700-box archive, while the two schools plan to collaborate on educational programming, exhibitions and access to it. The University of Pittsburgh said its library system will organize and manage the Arlen Specter Collection for four years and store it for 30 years.

“Over the course of his distinguished career, Sen. Arlen Specter played a key role in some of the most significant political events of recent American history. He also was a good friend to Pitt, to Pittsburgh, and to the region that we call home,” Pitt Chancellor Mark Nordenberg said in a statement.

Specter, Pennsylvania’s longest-serving U.S. senator, died in October at 82.

Before he died, he donated his papers to Philadelphia University to establish the Arlen Specter Center for Public Policy, a $5 million project that includes the restoration of the two-century-old Roxboro House. Construction began in December and is scheduled to be complete by February 2014.

Philadelphia University will likely house a portion of the collection at the new center, possibly materials that are related to an ongoing exhibition or a symposium, spokeswoman Debbie Goldberg said.