Administrative Information

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Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

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

Acquisition Information

This addition to the Jaffé Papers was a gift from Mrs. Louis I. Jaffé on 12 March 1976.

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

The additional papers Louis I. Jaffé consist of 540 items from Jaffé's "F" and "G" files, 1916-1950, including correspondence with Douglas Southall Freeman, Junius P. Fishburn, Carter Glass, Samuel Gompers, and James Forrestal. Jaffé discussed politics, race relations, journalism, and other matters with his correspondents.

Arrangement

The correspondence file is arranged alphabetically, with the individually labeled folders following the general "F" and "G" files. The material within the folders is arranged chronologically.