![[logo]](http://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaead/logos/lva.jpg)
Library of Virginia
The Library of Virginia© 2001 By the Library of Virginia.
Funding: Web version of the finding aid funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Processed by: Jay Gaidmore, 15 October 1999
There are no restrictions.
There are no restrictions.
Dr. H. Norton Mason Papers, 1793-1968. Accession 27922, Personal Papers Collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.
Gift of Dr. H. Norton Mason, 7 February 1973.
Dr. Hatley Norton Mason, Sr., was born on September 5, 1880 in Charlotte, North Carolina. He graduated from the University of Virginia medical school in 1904 and began practicing medicine in Richmond in 1905. During his long medical career, he served on the staff and board of the Johnston-Willis Hospital and the Retreat for the Sick hospital and taught at the Medical College of Virginia. He was credited with opening MCV's first pediatric ward.
In 1902, he served as medical officer for the 1st Virginia Regiment during the railway strike and during World War I served as chief medical examiner for the 5th Naval District, U.S. Marine Corps. He was also a member of the Richmond Light Infantry Blues and served with the Selective Service Bureau during World War II.
Active in Confederate Veterans groups, he served as surgeon-in-chief for the Sons of Confederate Veterans and commander of the Stonewall Jackson camp. During the early 1960's, he was president of the Defenders of State Sovereignty and Individual Liberties, the most powerful segregationist organization in Virginia and comparable to the White Citizens' Councils in other areas of the South.
He was married to Frances Lockert Bemiss, who died in 1974. She was the author of John Norton & Sons - Merchants in Virginia and London and My Dearest Polly, a collection of letters from Chief Justice John Marshall to his wife. Dr. Mason died from cancer in Richmond in 1978.
Papers, 1793-1968 (bulk 1952-1968), including brochures, clippings, correspondence, editorials, medals, newsletters, pamphlets, photographs, postcards, programs, and publications relating to segregation, integration, conservative and liberal issues, Confederate veterans groups, Civil War history, and Virginia history.
Organized into the following series: I. Correspondence; II. Segregationist and Other Right Wing Literature; III. Integration Literature; IV. Confederate Veterans and Civil War Material; V. Miscellaneous; VI. Photographs; VII. Medals.
Includes correspondence that discusses efforts to prevent desegregation, the growing power of the federal government, and the usurpation of a states' rights. Correspondents include David Rankin Barbee, Landon C. Bell, R. Carter Pittman, George Melton, Judge Walter B. Jones of Alabama, and Senator Harry F. Byrd, Sr.
Arranged chronologically.
Consists of literature that supports segregation and a conservative ideology. Includes the Dan Smoot Report and literature from: Alert American Association, American Council of Christian Layman, Paul Barringer, Aldrich Blake, Defenders of the American Constitution, Defenders of State Sovereignty and Individual Liberties, James J. Kilpatrick, Ku Klux Klan, Minutemen, R. Carter Pittman, and White Citizens' Councils.
Arranged alphabetically.
Consists of literature that supports integration and equality of the races. Includes literature from the Citizens Committee for Civil Rights, Friends of the Mississippi Project, the Richmond Afro-American, Southern Conference Educational Fund, Inc., and Doxey A. Wilkerson.
Arranged alphabetically.
Includes programs of United Confederate Veterans reunions, and the Confederate Veteran and the U. D. C. Magazine. Also consists of material concerning Jefferson Davis and the Casemate Museum at Fort Monroe, Hampton, Virginia, and the dedication of Confederate memorials. Of note is a CSA Medical Circular dated 1863 outlining hospital procedures, and City of Richmond 25 cent notes dated 1862.
Includes publications and literature relating to Virginia history, Civil War history, and legal and legislative issues. Noteworthy are guides to the City of Richmond, photocopies of letters from John Marshall to his wife, and a memoir from Dr. Mason Graham Ellzey about his Civil War experiences.
Includes photographs of unidentified Confederate veterans and various Virginia scenes, including Colonial Williamsburg and Mount Vernon. The latter originated from the Virginia Chamber of Commerce. Also, includes postcards depicting the Petersburg battlefield, Robert E. Lee, and Virginia landmarks.