Conditions Governing Use:

Before publishing quotations or excerpts from any materials, permission must be obtained from the Manuscripts and Rare Books Librarian, and the holder of the copyright, if not Swem Library. Series VII: Addressee Copies, 1944-1966, available only on microfilm.

Conditions Governing Access:

Collection is open to all researchers. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, such as the Virginia Public Records Act (Code of Virginia. § 42.1-76-91); and the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (Code of Virginia § 2.2-3705.5). Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. If sensitive material is found in this collection, please contact a staff member immediately. The disclosure of personally identifiable information pertaining to a living individual may have legal consequences for which the College of William and Mary assumes no responsibility.

Acquisition Information:

Gifts

Biographical Information:

Absalom Willis Robertson was born in Martinsburg, Berkeley County  , W. Va. 27 May 1887. He graduated from the University of Richmond where he also received his law degree. He practiced law in Rockbridge County  , Va. He served in the Virginia State Senate, 1916-1922 and as an officer in the U. S. Army during World War I. He was the Commonwealth's Attorney for Rockbridge County   and was named as Chairman of the Virginia Commission of Game and Inland Fisheries. Robertson was a Congressman from 1933 to 1946. He served in the United States Senate from 1946 to 1966. He was defeated in the Democratic primary of 1966 and died in 1971.

Scope and Contents

This collection is housed off-site. At least 72 hours advanced notice is required for retrieval.

Papers, 1921-1967, of A. Willis Robertson, U. S. Congressman and Senator from Virginia. Chiefly his senatorial office files, 1946-1966. Robertson was a conservative Democrat, serving at the same time as Harry F. Byrd, Sr.

Subjects in the collection include national defense, agriculture, taxation, banking, government employees, the Moral Rearmament movement,anti-Communism, Vietnam, segregation, wildlife conservation, national parks, the humane slaughter of animals and the humane treatment of research animals. The papers were kept in the same order as they were in Robertson's office files. The legislative files consist of correspondence arranged by Congressional session. The miscellaneous subject files are arranged by year as are the invitations. The addressee copies which are Robertson's copies of letters sent to correspondents are indexed to the legislative files. They are arranged alphabetically by groups of years. The speech material is arranged by subject and contains background information on cities, counties   and individuals within the commonwealth. The speech files are in chronological order. There are news releases in both the news release files and in the speech files.

A People magazine article about Pat Robertson, son of A. Willis Robertson, and a lawsuit over Pat Robertson's war record, dated March 14, 1988 is filed at the beginning of box 1.

Arrangement of Materials:

The collection is arranged into 15 series.

Related Material

See; William Harris Gaines, III, "611 Votes: The 1966 Virginia Democratic Senatorial Primary (Honors Thesis, College of William and Mary, 1974).

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Agendas (administrative records)
• Agriculture--United States
• Agriculture--Virginia--History--18th century
• Animal welfare--United States
• Banks and banking--United States--History
• Civil service--United States
• Communism--Post 1945
• Correspondence
• Democratic Party (U.S.)
• Financial records
• National parks and reserves--Law and legislation
• National parks and reserves--United States
• National parks and reserves--Virginia
• Reports
• Resolutions (administrative records)
• Sound Recordings
• Speeches
• Taxation--United States
• United States Congress
• United States--Politics and Government
• Vertical Files
• Video recordings
• Vietnam War, 1961-1975
• Virginia State Senate
• Virginia--Politics and Government
• Wildlife conservation--United States
• World War, 1914-1918