Administrative Information

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Preferred Citation

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

Acquisition Information

This addition to the Jaffé   collection was presented to the Library by Mrs. Louis   I. Jaffé   of Norfolk, Virginia on April 29, 1980.

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, 1920-1949, consists of ca. 900 items (2 boxes), chiefly Jaffé's   alphabetical correspondence files "O" through "R." The correspondents include Virginia governors John Garland Pollard, George C. Peery, James H. Price, and U.S. Senator A. Willis Robertson. Other correspondents include newspaper and magazine editors and writers; state and national government officials; local merchants, businessmen, lawyers, officials, and clergy; and authors. An item-by-item annotated listing of the correspondence was prepared by Mrs. Jaffé   and is available upon request. Topics discussed in the correspondence include politics, literature, journalism, local development, state projects, and social issues.

The correspondence and newspaper clippings regarding Jaffé's   Pulitzer Prize for the best editorial of 1929 consists of 316 items, and is the largest exchange in this section of his papers. It includes the official letter announcing the award, letters and telegrams of congratulation, a copy of the winning editorial, newspaper and magazine clippings of articles praising Jaffé  , and other related items. Jaffé   received letters of congratulation from Harry F. Byrd, Sr., French Strother, Edwin A. Alderman, Edwin Mims, and E. Griffith Dodgson, among others.

There is also an oversized certificate appointing Jaffé   as a representative for Virginia at the Press Congress of the World in 1931.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged alphabetically. Each letter "O" through "R" has one or two general folders followed by individual folders for the major correspondents. The material within the general folders is arranged alphabetically by correspondent, and chronologically for each individual. The material within the individual folders follows a chronological arrangement. Two of the folders, "Poll Tax Newspaper Clippings," and "Pulitzer Prize Newspaper Clippings," do not contain any correspondence.