Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

Papers of Louis I. Jaffé, Accession #9924-b, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

This addition to the Louis I. Jaffé Papers was a gift from Mrs. Louis I. Jaffé on 12 February 1975.

Biographical/Historical Information

Louis I. Jaffé was born in Detroit, Michigan, February 22, 1888, the son of Phillip and Lotta Maria (Kahn) Jaffé. When Jaffé was twelve years old, his family moved to Durham, North Carolina, and he graduated from high school there in 1907. In 1911, he received an A.B. degree from Trinity College (now Duke University).

While a student at Trinity, Jaffé edited The Chronicle, a campus weekly, and was associate editor of The Archive , a college monthly. After graduation, he joined the staff of the Durham Sun, but left a short time later to become a reporter and assistant city editor for the Richmond Times- Dispatch .

In 1917, Jaffé was commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the Field Artillery Section, Officer's Reserve Corps of the United States Army. He was re-commissioned in the Aviation Section 1918, and again in 1919 with the Service of Supply. He was honorably discharged in France, March 29, 1919, and was commissioned as Inspector in the American National Red Cross with rank of Captain. He served on the Red Cross Commission to the Balkans from April to July, 1919, and was director of the Red Cross News Service in Paris from July to October, 1919. He was made a Chevalier of the State of Roumania, and honor bestowed in recognition of his work there with the Red Cross Commission.

After the war, Jaffé went to Norfolk to become editor of the Virginian-Pilot , a position he held from 1919 until his death in 1950. He was prominent among Virginia liberal journalists and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1929 for an editorial deploring a lynching which took place in Houston, Texas, on the eve of the Democratic National Convention.

In one of his last editorials, dated February 25, 1950, concerning the "mercy killing" of the Boothe bill for desegregation of Virginia public transportation he wrote: "The Virginia Democratic organization makes haste slowly in the field of social-political reform...It is still too uneasy about the impact of de-segregation on common carries to give the proposal anything like an official blessing. That will come later-after a longer look at this highly desirable reform, and possibly after another shove or two from the Supreme Court of the United States."

Scope and Content

This addition to the Louis I. Jaffé Papers, 1818 (ca. 1919-1974), consists of ca. 1471 items (1.3 shelf ft.), including Jaffé's correspondence files "A" through "D," photographs, and several miscellaneous items. The correspondence contains information on a wide variety of topics including the role of a free press and its relations to political partisanship, prohibition, the Virginia anti-lynching bill, promotion of better race relations, the teaching of evolution, and the economy.

Jaffé's correspondence with Harry Byrd contains 11 items and includes discussion of Byrd's consolidation program, his support of the anti-lynching bill, state and federal politics and expansion of the state franchise.

Other items of possible interest include a signed autograph letter from Gertrude Stein to M.A. Agelasto, 1934 [Nov. 11]; a typed manuscript (copy) article on J.J. Lankes   by [Louis Jaffé] with holograph comments on the sides and top by Robert Frost, 1941 Nov. 9; The Book Dial, vol. VI, no. 4, which contains articles and woodcuts by J.J. Lankes  , 1931 June 1-1932 April 10, with woodcuts enclosed; and a collection of bookplates, 1930-1942 and n.d., and Christmas cards, 1934-1950, by J.J. Lankes  .

Arrangement

The correspondence file is alphabetically arranged in boxes one through four. Correspondence designated as "brief or less important" by Mrs. Jaffé has been grouped alphabetically within general folders. Each general group precedes the folders designated for separate individuals.

The correspondence file is followed by a miscellaneous section in box 4. The miscellaneous correspondence is alphabetically arranged and is followed by the miscellaneous items, also arranged alphabetically. The photographs are at the end of box 4.