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Preferred Citation

Jennings C. Wise Papers, mss 00004, Virginia Military Institute Archives, Lexington, Virginia.

Biographical/Historical Information

Jennings Cropper Wise, lawyer and army officer, was born on September 10, 1881 in Richmond, Virginia. He graduated from the Phillip Exeter Academy (New Hampshire) in 1882 and from the Virginia Military Institute in 1902. He subsequently received a law degree from the University of Virginia.

Wise spent the majority of his career in the practice of law, primarily in private practice. He was associated with the firms of Pollard , Wise and Chichester (Richmond, Virginia), and Munn, Anderson and Munn (Washington, DC). In addition, he taught at his alma mater, the Virginia Military Institute (1912-1915) and he served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the AEF during World War I.

Following his retirement in 1954, he concentrated on researching and writing a book ultimately published under the title Sunrise of the Virginia Military Institute as a School of Arms. . He died in 1968.

Scope and Content Information

The Jennings C. Wise Papers consist primarily of incoming and outgoing correspondence from the period 1910-1960. Included are letters dating from his years as Professor and Commandant of Cadets at VMI, from his practice of law, and from his retirement period in which he devoted himself primarily to writing. Wise was passionately interested in the history and future development of VMI and much of the correspondence reflects his ongoing involvement with the school. He often held controversial views and frequently expressed his dismay at what he perceived to be a lessening of military discipline at VMI.

Other items in the papers include memoranda, editorials and articles written by Wise, circulars, notebooks, printed material, and a photograph album (1913-1914) documenting the retirement of the VMI Cadet Battery and the 50th Anniversary of the Battle of New Market, Virginia.