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A Guide to the Clerk's Correspondence and other Records, 1918-2006 Clerk's Correspondence and other Records 00028513

A Guide to the Clerk's Correspondence and other Records, 1918-2006

A Collection in the
Supreme Court of Virginia Archives, Virginia State Law Library
Accession Number 00028513


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Virginia State Law Library, Supreme Court of Virginia Archives

Virginia State Law Library
Supreme Court of Virginia
100 North Ninth Street
Richmond, Virginia 23219
URL: http://www.courts.state.va.us/courtadmin/library/home.html
Email: LawLibrary@vacourts.gov
Phone: (804) 786-2075

© 2011 By The Virginia State Law Library. All rights reserved.

Processed by: Catherine G. OBrion

Repository
Supreme Court of Virginia Archives, Virginia State Law Library
Accession Number
00028513
Title
Clerk's Correspondence and other Records, 1918-2006
Physical Characteristics
5.8 cu. ft. (13 boxes)
Creator
Virginia. Supreme Court. Office of the Clerk.
Language
English

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research.

Use Restrictions

Because the library is not open to the general public, researchers should contact the library to arrange access to the collection.

Preferred Citation

Clerk's Correspondence and other Records, 1918-2006, Accession #00028513, Supreme Court of Virginia Archives, Virginia State Law Library, Richmond.

Acquisition Information

These records were transferred from the Clerk's office to the State Law Library in 2006.

Portions of the collection were found in other files after the collection was initially processed and interfiled or added in 2012 and 2013.

Historical Information

The Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia was created by an act of the new General Assembly in 1779. Its jurisdiction was primarily appellate, and its members were elected by the legislature. The Constitution of 1870 required that annual sessions be held away from Richmond in the localities of Wytheville, Staunton, and Winchester. This mandate from the days of horse and buggy travel continued into the twentieth century, with sessions being held in Staunton as late as September, 1970.

By Constitutional amendment in 1928, the number of justices was increased from five to seven and the title of the presiding officer of the Court was changed from President to Chief Justice. At the same time, the amendment significantly increased the power given the Supreme Court by permitting the Court to prescribe forms and to regulate the practice of Virginia's courts. The Constitution of 1971 changed the name of the Court to its present title of Supreme Court of Virginia.

Although the Supreme Court of Virginia possesses both original and appellate jurisdiction, its primary function is to review decisions of lower courts, including the Court of Appeals, from which appeals have been allowed. Virginia does not allow an appeal to the Supreme Court as a matter of right except in cases involving the State Corporation Commission, certain disciplinary actions against an attorney, and review of the death penalty.

The Court's original jurisdiction is limited to cases of habeas corpus (ordering one holding custody to produce the detained person before the Court for the purpose of determining whether such custody is proper), mandamus (ordering the holder of an office to perform his duty), prohibition (ordering a public official to stop an action), and actual innocence (based on biological testing). The Supreme Court also has original jurisdiction in matters filed by the Judicial Inquiry and Review Commission relating to judicial censure and retirement, and removal of judges.

The Supreme Court of Virginia Clerk's Office receives, processes, and maintains permanent records of all appeals and other official documents filed with the Court. The Clerk also maintains records of qualified attorneys and other administrative records.

Maury B. Watts was appointed Clerk in 1933 and served until his death in 1952. Howard G. Turner served from 1952 to 1977, Allen L. Lucy from 1977 to 1984, and David B. Beach from 1984 to 2003. Patricia Harrington was appointed in 2003.

The Special Court of Appeals was established by the General Assembly to relieve congestion of the high court docket by adjudicating cases assigned to it by the state Supreme Court. It met from 1924 to 1928.

The Judicial Council was established by the General Assembly in 1928. It was relatively inactive between 1936 and 1947, when Chief Justice Hudgins revitalized it.

Scope and Content

The collection contains correspondence files of the Office of the Clerk, Supreme Court of Virginia, documenting the Clerk's role in managing the records of the Court, maintaining communication with justices in their offices across the state, and managing administrative issues, especially during the period 1933 to 1952. The collection also contains records documenting the ceremonial history of the court.

Arrangement

The collection is organized into the following series: Special Court of Appeals records, 1924-1928; Judicial Council correspondence, 1930-1935; 1946; clerk's correspondence with justices, 1917-2005; clerk's general correspondence, 1929-1981; subject files documenting court ceremonies (investitutures, portrait presentations, memorials), anniversaries, and building dedications, 1925-2006; justices' speeches, 1931-1975; court publications, 1983; clippings, 1972; and miscellaneous records, 1936-2005.

Index Terms

    Persons:

  • Agee, G. Steven (George Steven), 1952-.
  • Archer, Margaret.
  • Beach, David Bernard.
  • Brown, John, 1830-1901.
  • Browning, George Landon, 1867-1947.
  • Buchanan, Archibald Chapman, 1890-1979.
  • Burks, Martin Parks, 1851-1928.
  • Butts, William Davis.
  • Campbell, Preston White, 1874-1946.
  • Carrico, Harry Lee, 1916-.
  • Carrington, Paul, 1733-1818.
  • Carrington, Wirt Johnton Turner, 1845-1928.
  • Chichester, R.H.L. (Richard Henry Lee), 1870-1930.
  • Chinn, Joseph William, 1866-1936.
  • Cochran, George Moffett, 1912-2011.
  • Compton, A. Christian (Asbury Christian), 1929-2006.
  • Crump, Beverly, b. 1854.
  • Eggleston, John William, 1886-1976.
  • Epes, Louis Spencer, 1882-1935.
  • Fox, Leo.
  • Gordon, Thomas Christian, 1915-2003.
  • Gregory, Herbert Bailey, 1884-1951.
  • Hade, Karl Robert.
  • Harman, Alexander Marrs, 1921-1996.
  • Harrington, Patricia Leas.
  • Harrison, Albertis Sydney, 1907-1995.
  • Hassell, Leroy Rountree, 1955-2011.
  • Holt, Henry Winston, 1864-1947.
  • Hudgins, Edward Wren, 1882-1958.
  • Hunton, Eppa, 1855-1932.
  • I'Anson, L. Warren (Lawrence Warren), 1907-1990.
  • Keenan, Barbara Milano, 1950-.
  • Keith, James, 1839-1918.
  • Kinser, Cynthia D. (Cynthia Diana Fannon), 1951-.
  • Koontz, Lawrence Larkins, 1940-.
  • Lacy, Elizabeth Bermingham, 1945-.
  • Lemons, Donald W., 1949-.
  • Lucy, Allen L.
  • Mercer, James, 1736-1793.
  • Miller, Willis Dance, 1893-1960.
  • Moncure, William A., 1863-1947.
  • Nurnberger, Robert.
  • Ozlin, Thomas W.
  • Peery, George Campbell, 1873-1952.
  • Poff, Richard Harding, 1923-2011.
  • Powell, Lewis F., 1908-1998.
  • Prentis, Robert Riddick, 1855-1931.
  • Russell, Charles Stevens, 1926-.
  • Sims, Frederick Wilmer, 1862-1925.
  • Smales, W.W.
  • Smith, Alfred C.
  • Smith, Charles Henry.
  • Smith, Lemuel Franklin, 1890-1956.
  • Smith, W. Worth.
  • Snead, Harold Fleming, 1903-1987.
  • Spratley, Claude Vernon, 1936-1967.
  • Staples, Abram P. (Abram Penn), 1885-1951.
  • Stephenson, Roscoe Bolar, 1922-2011.
  • Taylor, George, active 1785-1810.
  • Thomas, John Charles, 1950-.
  • Thompson, W. Carrington (William Carrington), 1915-2011.
  • Tucker, St. George, 1752-1827.
  • Turner, Howard G., 1910-1992.
  • Watts, Maury B., 1879-1952.
  • Whiting, Henry Hudson, 1923-.
  • Whittle, Kennon Caithness, 1891-1967.
  • Whittle, Stafford Gorman, 1849-1931.
  • Corporate Names:

  • Appeals Press (Richmond, Va.)
  • Judicial Council of Virginia.
  • Richmond Association of Attorneys' Wives (Richmond, Va.).
  • Virginia State Bar Association. Committee on Organization of the Bar.
  • Virginia State Bar Association. Committee on Portraits.
  • Virginia. Art Commission.
  • Virginia. Court of Appeals.
  • Virginia. Special Court of Appeals.
  • Virginia. Supreme Court. History. 20th century.
  • Virginia. Supreme Court. Office of the Clerk.
  • Virginia. Supreme Court. Office of the Executive Secretary.
  • Subjects:

  • Clerks of court -- Virginia.
  • Court administration -- Virginia.
  • Court rules -- Virginia.
  • Courts -- Virginia.
  • Judges -- Virginia -- Biography.
  • Judges -- Virginia -- Portraits.
  • Judicial opinions -- Virginia -- History -- 20th century.
  • Judicial process -- Virginia.
  • Judicial records -- Virginia.
  • Lawyers -- Virginia.
  • Martinsville Seven Trial Martinsville, Va., 1949.
  • Genre and Form Terms:

  • Booklets -- Virginia -- Richmond.
  • Building plans -- Virginia -- Richmond.
  • Ceremonies -- Virginia -- Richmond.
  • Clippings (information artifacts) -- Virginia.
  • Correspondence -- Virginia -- Richmond.
  • Dedications (ceremonies) -- Virginia -- Richmond.
  • Invitations -- Virginia -- Richmond.
  • Memorandums -- Virginia -- Richmond.
  • Oaths -- Virginia.
  • Obituaries -- Virginia.
  • Portraits -- Virginia -- Richmond.
  • Presentations (cultural ceremonies) -- Virginia -- Richmond.
  • Resolutions (administrative records) -- Virginia -- Richmond.
  • Souvenir programs -- Virginia -- Richmond.
  • Special libraries (institutions) -- Virginia -- Staunton.
  • Special libraries (institutions) -- Virginia -- Wytheville.
  • Speeches -- Virginia -- Richmond.
  • Transcripts -- Virginia -- Richmond.
  • Added Entry - Corporate Name:

  • Virginia. Supreme Court of Appeals.

Contents List

Special Court of Appeals records, 1924-1928
Box-folder 1-1 to 1-4
4 folders

Special Court of Appeals records contain correspondence, 1924-1928; recommendations and endorsements, 1924; a draft order designating the first session of the court, 1924; and argument dockets, 1926-1927.

  • Box-folder 1-1
    Correspondence, 1924-1928

    Correspondence regarding the organization of a Special Court of Appeals, 1924-1928, is comprised of the correspondence of Justice Frederick Walker Sims, Court President, 1924-1925, and Justice Robert Prentis, Chief Justice, 1925-1931, with other justices, judges, and legislators. It documents the establishment of a Special Court of Appeals in Virginia and selection of candidates for the Court. Correspondents include state Senators Robert J. Noel, Alfred C. Smith, and W. Worth Smith, Jr., Delegates George A. Bowles, Charles Henry Smith, and Thomas W. Ozlin, Speaker of the House of Delegates; Louis S. Epes, State Corporation Commission; Eppa Hunton, Jr., and Richmond Judge Beverley T. Crump.

    Chronological.

  • Box-folder 1-2
    Recommendations and endorsements, 1924

    This folder contains recommendations and endorsements from bar associations for judges nominated to serve on the Special Court of Appeals: Judge A.T. Browning; Judge Douglas Dabney; Edward W. Hudgins; and Judge Howard W. Smith.

  • Box-folder 1-3
    Draft order designating the first session of the court, 1924
  • Box-folder 1-4
    Argument dockets 1924; 1926-1927

    This folder contains two argument dockets, 1926-1927; and three letters pertaining to instructions for correcting and printing the dockets, 1924 and 1926. One docket lists the style of cause, appellants' counsel, and appellees' counsel; one docket lists style of cause, court, and judge.

Judicial Council correspondence, 1930-1935; 1946
Box-folder boxfolder: 1-5 and 1-6
2 folders

Judicial Council correspondence contains correspondence of Chief Justice Prentis, President of the Judicial Council and M.B. Watts, Clerk of the Supreme Court and Secretary of the Judicial Council, 1930-1935; 1946.

These letters document the organization and administration of the Judicial Council and the Council's work in seeking recommendations from lawyers and judges for changes to statues regulating the practice of law in Virginia. Correspondents include individuals invited to join the Council, representatives of Judicial Councils from other states, and Virginia attorneys and judges proposing changes in laws. The correspondence includes an exchange between Herbert G. Cochran, Norfolk Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court Judge, and Chief Justice Prentis, 1931, regarding a request for the Council's help with the Virginia State Bar Association's Committee on Organization of the Bar; and a letter from Chief Justice Campbell to Governor Peery, 1935, requesting re-appropriation for the Council in the Governor's budget for 1936.

Chronological.

Clerk's correspondence with justices, 1918-2005
Box-folder 1-7 to 5-6
6.5 boxes

Correspondence with justices pertains mostly to day-to-day administrative issues, suggestions for editing and copy-editing opinions, and management of court documents. Some letters from justices to the Clerk include rationales for decisions or opinions, references to court policies, concerns about declining health, and personal matters. The largest correspondence files in the collection contain correspondence between the Clerk and Chief Justice Holt, 1928-1947; Chief Justice Edward Hudgins, 1930-1958; Justice Gregory, 1933-1951; and Justice C. Vernon Spratley, 1936-1977.

Alphabetical.

  • Box-folder 1-7
    Justice George Landon Browning, 1944-1948
    1 folder
  • Box-folder 1-8
    Justice Archibald Chapman Buchanan, 1957-1991
    1 folder
  • Box-folder 1-9
    Judge Martin Parks Burks, 1917-1928
    1 folder

    One letter to Judge Stafford G. Whittle accepting appointment to the court, and several letters to Judge Robert Riddick Prentis, 1917-1928. A photograph of Judge Burks found with the letter was separated and cataloged with other photographs of justices.

  • Box-folder 1-10 to 1-11
    Justice Preston White Campbell, 1933-1945
    2 folders

    Correspondence includes references to plans for a new state library and supreme court building, 1938; acqusition of a portrait of Judge Frederick W. Sims, who served on the court from 1916 to 1925; an exchange about Chief Justice Campbell's preference for employing his wife as his stenographer, at no charge to the state, 1936; about the organization of the Virginia State Bar, 1937; and the state art commission and its jurisdiction over the court's acceptance of portraits, 1941.

  • Box-folder 1-12
    Chief Justice Harry Lee Carrico, 1941-1996
    1 folder
  • Box-folder 1-13
    Justice R.H.L. Chichester, 1926, 1928
    1 folder
  • Box-folder 1-14
    Justice George Moffett Cochran, 1969
    1 folder
  • Box-folder 1-15
    Justice Asbury Christian Compton, 1974-1999
    1 folder
  • Box-folder 1-16 and 1-17
    Chief Justice John William Eggleston, 1935-1975
    2 folders

    Includes references to the law library in Staunton, 1959-1960.

  • Box-folder 1-18
    Justice Louis S. Epes, 1933
    2 folders

    Contains correspondence among justices and between Chief Justice Preston Campbell and Governor John Garland Pollard's about reductions in staff due to the state budget shortfall in 1933.

  • Box-folder 2-1
    Justice Thomas Christian Gordon Jr., 1972-1978
    1 folder
  • Box-folder 2-2 to 2-5
    Justice Herbert Bailey Gregory, 1933-1951
    4 folders
  • Box-folder 2-6
    Justice Alexander Marrs Harman, Jr., 1969-1988
    1 folder
  • Box-folder 2-7
    Justice Albertis Sydney Harrison Jr., 1954-1987
    1 folder

    Includes a broadside from Harrison's campaign for Attorney General and a postcard from his campaign for Governor in 1961.

  • Box-folder 2-8 to 3-3
    Chief Justice Henry Winston Holt, 1928-1948
    8 folders

    The series includes one file of correspondence pertaining to portraits of St. George Tucker and Justice Joseph Chinn, a memorial plaque for Judge Paul Carrington, and a portrait of St. George Tucker. Also included are three folders of Chief Justice Holt's personal correspondence with his children and friends, 1936-1947.

  • Box-folder 3-4 to 4-8
    Chief Justice Edward Wren Hudgins, 1930-1961
    14 folders

    This correspondence includes letters regarding the Judicial Council of Virginia, 1947-1958, including letters from Chief Justice Hudgins protesting legislation pending in 1954 to require the General Assembly's approval of rules adopted by the Judicial Council affecting the practice of law in Virginia. Also included are Hudgins' letters regarding the admission of foreign attorneys, i.e., not members of the Virginia Bar, to practice in Virginia, 1937-1957; a folder of letters and petitions protesting the Court's decision against a petition to appeal, on the basis of racial prejudice, the verdict in the Martinsville Seven case, 1949, and one letter in support of the Court's decision; and a letter, 1947, from Chief Justice Hudgins to Maury B. Watts, recommending that Margaret Webb, his law clerk, be allowed to take the full state bar examination.

    A file of personal correspondence, 1941-1950, includes a letter from Senator A. Willis Robertson, 1947, responding to Hudgins' inquiry about legislation to help tobacco farmers and protect archaeological findings in the section of the Roanoke River Basin to be flooded by construction of the Buggs Island Dam. The collection also contains correspondence (4 items) between the Clerk's office and Margaret Hudgins, wife of Chief Justice Hudgins, about his portrait, in 1934; and his health, in 1944.

  • Box-folder 4-9
    Chief Justice Lawrence Warren I'Anson, 1958-1993
    1 folder
  • Box-folder 4-10
    Justice Willis Dance Miller, 1946-1961
    1 folder

    Includes Justice Miller's copy of a program from the memorial service for John Johnston Parker, Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit, 1958 Apr. 22.

  • Box-folder 4-11
    Justice Richard Harding Poff, 1927-1973; 1978; 1988
    1 folder
  • Box-folder 4-12
    Chief Justice Robert Riddick Prentis, 1919; 1927-1931
    1 folder

    The correspondence includes two letters from Judge Frederick Sims elaborating on recent opinions; correspondence pertaining to Justice Prentis' appointment to the U.S. Board of Mediation, 1929; and letters about legal opinions.

  • Box-folder 4-13
    Justice Charles Stevens Russell, 1982
    1 folder
  • Box-folder 4-14
    Justice Frederick Wilmer Sims 1918
    1 folder
  • Box-folder 4-15
    Justice Lemuel Franklin Smith, 1946-1957
    1 folder
  • Box-folder 4-16
    Justice Harold Fleming Snead, 1948; 1956-1974
    1 folder

    The file contains letters pertaining to Snead's appointment to the Court in 1956 and his departure in 1974. Also is a personal letter from Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell thanking Justice Snead for a dinner given in his honor by the Court in 1972. The correspondence includes biographical information about Justice Snead forwarded by the Clerk's office to the Virginia Law Review, 1974.

  • Box-folder 4-17 to 5-1
    Chief Justice Claude Vernon Spratley, 1937-1978
    6 folders

    Correspondence between M.B. Watts, Clerk, and Justice C. Vernon Spratley, 1936-1969, pertains mostly to Watts' editorial suggestions, research questions, and research advice, and some correspondence about Justice Spratley's law clerks in the early 1940s. Correspondence between Howard G. Turner, Clerk, and Justice Spratley, 1953-1978, pertains mostly to management of court documents, hiring of law clerks, and court ceremonies.

  • Box-folder 5-2
    Justice Abram Penn Staples, 1951
    1 folder

    The files contains Justice Staples' petition for retirement in 1951.

  • Box-folder 5-3
    Justice William Carrington Thompson, 1983
    1 folder
  • Box-folder 5-4
    Justice Henry Hudson Whiting, 1997; 2005
    1 folder
  • Box-folder 5-5
    Justice Kennon Caithness Whittle, 1951-1965
    1 folder
  • Box-folder 5-6
    Justice Stafford Gorman Whittle, 1920-1922
    1 folder
Clerk's general correspondence, 1929-1981
Box 5-7 to 8-3 and 13-1 to 13-8
3.0 boxes

Clerk's general correspondence, 1926-1989, contains administrative correspondence, 1925-1989; correspondence regarding court anniversaries, 1979-1980; regarding portraits, 1926-1978, and integration of the Virginia State Bar, 1938-1948.

  • Box-folder 5-7 to 5-15 and 13-1 to 13-2
    Administrative correspondence, 1929-1989
    15 folders

    This series includes a folder of letters of application for the position of clerk, 1933, and a letter from Maury Watts about the position, 1933 (Box 13, folder 1); an exchange with Newport News attorney William Davis Butts asking about access to the State Law Library for African Americans, 1950; and correspondence, 1979-1980, from the Virginia State Bar about unauthorized practice of law.

    Chronological.

  • Box-folder 5-7
    Correspondence between M.B. Watts and W.W. Smales, 1941-1950
    1 folder

    Smales was the Clerk of the Supreme Court of Appeals in Staunton.

    Chronological.

  • Box-folder 5-8
    Correspondence re: court court budgets, 1938-1949
    1 folder

    Smales was the Clerk of the Supreme Court of Appeals in Staunton.

    Chronological.

  • Box-folder 5-9 to 5-11
    Correspondence re: cases in the hands of the Court, 1925-1968
    3 folders

    Pertains mostly to procedural issues; includes a booklet, "Rules of the Supreme Court of Appeals of the State of Virginia," 1928, with the signature, "M.B. Watts" on the cover.

    Chronological.

  • Box-folder 5-12 to 6-7
    General correspondence, "C" 1935-1967
    8 folders

    This correspondence pertains to applications for admission to the bar, certificates of good standing, filing of court records.

    Chronological.

  • Box-folder 6-8 to 6-9 and 13-2
    Costs of briefs taxed, 1933-1935
    3 folders

    These records Document the assignment of costs for filing of court documents.

    Includes one folder of "monies usually paid to clerk paid to L.S. Epes, 5/16/33 to 7/15/33" (box 13, folder 2).

    Chronological.

  • Box-folder 7-1
    Correspondence regarding court anniversaries, 1979-1980
    1 folder

    Correspondence pertains to plans for celebrating the bicentennial of the court's establishment in 1779 and the court's first session in 1780. Included is a copy of the proceedings of the 1979 celebration, and letter from Justice Lewis Powell with corrected galley proofs of his remarks for publication.

    Chronological.

  • Box-folder 7-2 to 7-3
    Correspondence regarding management of portraits, 1926-1978
    2 folders

    Correspondence pertains to commissioning of portraits of justices and copies of portraits for the Court, restoration of portraits, loans, gifts and provenance of portraits, and protocol for the commissioning and hanging of portraits.

    The correspondence documents the Court's acquisition of portraits who served before the Virginia Bar Association began donating portraits of each justice to the Court. It pertains to acquisition of portraits of George Wythe (served 1779-1788); James Mercer (served 1781-1788, 1789-1793); Spencer Roane (served 1795-1822), Drury Hinton (served 1883-1894); Joseph Kelly (served 1915-1924; 1925); Jessie West (served 1922 to 1929); Robert R. Prentis (served 1916-1931); and Louis Epes (served 1929-1935). Correspondence also documents the commissioning and presentation, in 1963, of copies of portraits by artist Robert Nurnberger of portraits of John Blair (served 1779-1789), William Fleming (served 1781-1824), William T. Joynes (served 1866-1882), Francis T. Brooke (served 1811-1851), and Robert Stanard (served 1839-1846).

    Correspondents in this series include Violet McDowell Pollard, Division of the Budget, State Capitol; William Young, conservation and restoration specialist; Robert L. Nurnberger, Chief Justices Edward Hudgins, C. Vernon Spratley, and John W. Eggleston; Philip N. Stern, Chairman and Secretary of the Art Commission of Virginia; Governor Mills E. Godwin, William M. Blackwell, Chairman, Virginia Bar Association Committee on Portraits, Judge John N. Kenna, West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals; D.V. Chapman, Jr., and H.E. Gassman, Superintendents, Grounds and Buildings, Commonwealth of Virginia; and Leo Fox, alias Charles J. Fox. Fox was a purveyor of portraits copied from photographs by an anonymous painter and sold as originals.

    Chronological.

  • Box-folder 7-4 to 7-8
    Correspondence with Clerk's office and Library, Staunton 1953-1965
    5 folders

    Primarily correspondence between Howard G. Turner, Clerk, and Margaret Archer, Librarian of the State Law Library in Staunton. Includes an inventory of the furnishings and books in the offices and library of the Supreme Court of Appeals in Staunton, 1953.

    Chronological.

  • Box-folder 7-9
    Correspondence re: closing of the State Law Library at Wytheville, 1946-1947
    1 folder

    Includes lists of books loaned to the Wythe County Circuit Court and transferred to the State Law Library in Richmond; and a copy of the contract, 1902, for rent of the Courthouse at Wytheville.

    Chronological.

  • Box-folder 7-10
    Correspondence re: bonds of clerks and deputy clerks, 1933-1949
    3 folders
  • Box-folder 13-3 to 13-8
    Correspondence regarding integration of the Virginia State Bar, 1938-1949
    6 folders

    Contains memos, letters, reports, and proposed legislation pertaining to the integration of the Virginia State Bar. Includes a stenographic report (transcript) of a meeting of the Committee of Forty on Bar Integration at Sweetbriar College, July 1938, and a "meeting before the meeting." Alson contains the printed report of the Committees on Integration of the Virginia State Bar, September 8, 1938; and recommendations and suggestions from members of the bar in response to the report, October 1938.

  • Box-folder 8-1 to 8-3
    Correspondence, M.B. Watts and Wirt Johnson Turner Carrington, 1923-1926
    3 folders

    Maury B. Watts, Clerk of the Supreme Court of Virginia from 1933 to 1954, was associated with Appeals Press, in Richmond, which published Carrington's book, A History of Halifax County, in 1924. The correspondence pertains to marketing and sales of the book.

Subject files: investitures, 1965-2005
Box 8-4 to 9-7
25 folders

This series contains subject files documenting swearing-in ceremonies and investitures. It contains invitations, programs, oaths of office, transcripts of ceremonies, speeches and remarks, and sometimes seating charts and ceremony planning notes.

Alphabetical.

  • Box-folder 8-4
    Justice George Steven Agee, 2003 Mar. 5
  • Box-folder 8-5
    David Bernard Beach, Clerk, 1984 Oct. 31
  • Box-folder 8-6 to 8-7
    Justice Harry Lee Carrico, 1962 Feb. 2; 1981, 1991
  • Box-folder 8-8
    Justice George Moffett Cochran, 1974 Oct. 1
  • Box-folder 8-9
    Justice Asbury Christian Compton, 1974 Oct. 1
  • Box-folder 8-10
    Justice Thomas Christian Gordon, Jr., 1965 Feb. 17
  • Box-folder 8-11
    Karl Robert Hade, Executive Secretary, 2005 Sep. 12
  • Box-folder 8-12
    Justice Alexander Marrs Harman, 1969 Oct. 1
  • Box-folder 8-13
    Patricia Leas Harrington, Clerk, 2003 Aug. 27
  • Box-folder 8-14
    Justice Albertis Sydney Harrison, Jr., 2003 Aug. 27
  • Box-folder 8-15 to 8-16
    Justice Leroy Rountree Hassell, Sr., 1989 Dec. 28l 2003 Feb. 11
  • Box-folder 8-17
    Chief Justice Lawrence Warren I'Anson, 1974 Oct. 1
  • Box-folder 8-18
    Justice Barbara Milano Keenan, 1991 Jul. 2
  • Box-folder 8-19
    Justice Cynthia Dinah Fannon Kinser, 1997 Jun. 27
  • Box-folder 8-20
    Justice Lawrence Larkins Koontz, Jr., 1995 Aug. 16
  • Box-folder 8-21
    Justice Elizabeth Bermingham Lacy, 1989 Jan. 4
  • Box-folder 9-1
    Justice Donald Wayne Lemons, 2000 Apr. 4
  • Box-folder 9-2
    Justice Richard Harding Poff, 1972 Aug. 30
  • Box-folder 9-3
    Justice Charles Stevens Russell, 1982 Mar. 5
  • Box-folder 9-4
    Justice Harold Fleming Snead, 1969
  • Box-folder 9-5
    Justice Roscoe Bolar Stephenson, Jr., 1981 Mar. 2
  • Box-folder 9-6
    Justice John Charles Thomas, 1983 Apr. 25
  • Box-folder 9-7
    Justice William Carrington Thompson, 1980 Feb. 1
Subject files: portrait presentations and memorials, 1925-2005
Box-folder 9-8 to 11-8

This series contains materials documenting portrait presentations and memorial ceremonies honoring justices and other officers of the Supreme Court of Virginia. The files contain invitations, programs, transcripts of ceremonies, including remarks; printed memorials, resolutions of appreciation (legislative and judicial), and in some cases planning notes, seating charts, and newspaper clippings.

Alphabetical.

  • Box-folder 9-8
    David Beach, Clerk, 2003 Jun. 6
  • Box-folder 9-9
    Justice George Landon Browning, 1940; 1948 Jan. 9
  • Box-folder 9-10
    Justice Archibald Chapman Buchanan, 1965-1980
  • Box-folder 9-11
    Justice John Alexander Buchanan, 1921, circa
  • Box-folder 9-12
    Justice Preston White Campbell, 1954, 1959
  • Box-folder 9-13
    Chief Justice Harry Lee Carrico, 1990; 2001
  • Box-folder 9-14
    Justice Joseph William Chinn, 1941
  • Box-folder 9-15
    Justice George Moffett Cochran, 1989 Apr. 20
  • Box-folder 9-16
    Justice Asbury Christian Compton, 2000, circa
  • Box-folder 9-17
    Chief Justice John William Eggleston, 1965; 1969 1976 Oct. 7
  • Box-folder 9-18
    Thomas Christian Gordon, Jr., 2003-2004
  • Box-folder 9-19
    Justice Herbert Bailey Gregory, 1952 Apr. 21
  • Box-folder 10-1
    Justice Alexander Marrs Harman, Jr., 1987
  • Box-folder 10-2
    Justice Albertis Sydney Harrison, Jr., 1984 Oct. 12
  • Box-folder 10-3
    Chief Justice Henry Winston Holt, 1947-1948
  • Box-folder 10-4 to 10-5
    Chief Justice Edward Wren Hudgins, 1958-1959
  • Box-folder 10-6
    Justice Lawrence Warren I'Anson, 1983 Jun. 15
  • Box-folder 10-7
    Judge James Keith, Court President, 1925 Oct. 30
  • Box-folder 10-8
    Allen L. Lucy, Clerk, 1984
  • Box-folder 10-9
    Judge James Mercer, 1978 Apr. 20
  • Box-folder 10-10
    Justice Willis Dance Miller, 1961 Apr. 17
  • Box-folder 10-11
    Justice Richard Harding Poff, 2005 Nov. 1
  • Box-folder 11-1
    Justice Lemuel Franklin Smith, 1957 Mar. 4
  • Box-folder 11-2
    Chief Justice Harold Fleming Snead, 1982 Jun 4
  • Box-folder 11-3 to 11-4
    Justice Claude Vernon Spratley, 1977 Jun. 9
  • Box-folder 11-5
    Justice Abram Penn Staples, 1952 Apr. 21
  • Box-folder 11-6
    Justice W. Carrington Thompson, 2005 Nov. 1
  • Box-folder 11-7
    Howard G. Turner, Clerk, 1977; 1992
  • Box-folder 11-8
    Maury B. Watts, Clerk, 1952-1953
  • Box-folder 11-9
    Justice Henry H. Whiting, 2005 Nov. 1
  • Box-folder 11-10
    Justice Kennon Caithness Whittle, 1968 Oct. 14
Subject files: court anniversaries and building dedications, 1941-1943; 1979-2006
Box 11-11 to 12-1
7 folders

This series contains programs, speeches, transcripts, and correspondence documenting celebrations of court anniversaries and building dedications.

Chronological.

  • Box-folder 11-10
    Dedication of Building, Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia, 1941 Jan. 6
    1 folder

    Program and addresses.

  • Box-folder 11-11
    200th anniversary, establishment of the Supreme Court of Virginia, 1979 Aug. 30
    1 folder

    Programs and speeches.

  • Box-folder 11-12
    200th anniversary, first session of the Virginia Supreme Court, 1980
    1 item

    Henrico County Circuit Court order commemorating the anniversary.

  • Box-folder 11-13
    Dedication of the Supreme Court of Virginia Building, 1981 Dec. 4
    1 item (2 copies)

    Program.

  • Box-folder 11-14
    200th anniversary of the establishment of the federal judiciary, 1990
    1 folder

    Correspondence and transcript of ceremony.

  • Box-folder 11-15
    225th anniversary, establishment of the Virginia Supreme Court, 2004 Dec. 9
    1 folder

    Programs, draft speeches, transcript, invitation, and certificate of recognition.

  • Box-folder 12-1
    230th anniversary, enactment of Virginia's first Constitution, 2006 Nov. 2
    1 folder

    Invitation and program.

Subject files: court admission ceremonies, 1977-1978; 1980-1983
Box-folder 12-2
1 folder

This series contains programs from admission ceremonies, held at the Hotel John Marshall in Richmond, for attorneys at law qualifying to practice in the Supreme Court of Virginia and all courts in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Justices' speeches, 1931-1975
Box 12-3
1 folder

Speeches honoring individuals or explaining the functions of the Court.

Chronological.

  • Presentation of Chief Justice Hughes at the dinner tendered him by the Virginia State Bar Association and the Bar Association of the City of Richmond, at the Commonwealth Club, Richmond, 1931 Sep. 29
  • Justice George L. Browning, Address to Virginia State Bar Association meeting in Roanoke, 1943 Aug.
  • Judge Paul Carrington, an Address Delivered by Justice John W. Eggleston of the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia at the Dedication of a Memorial to Him at Mulberry Hill in Charlotte County, 1954 Jun. 26.
  • An Address Delivered at the Dedication of a Bust to George Wythe at William and Mary College, Williamsburg, Virginia, by Justice C. Vernon Spratley, Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia, 1954 Sep. 29.
  • "How the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia Functions," an address by the Honorable Lawrence W. I'Anson, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia, before the Virginia State Bar Association, 1960 Aug. 5.
  • "The Supreme Court of Appeals," an address by Justice Harry Carrico to the Virginia Clerks Association, 1961 Aug. 3
  • Admissions Day Ceremony Remarks by Chief Justice Eggleston, Richmond, Va., 1966 Jun. 9
  • Address by Justice Carrico to the Richmond Association of Attorneys' Wives, 1975 Dec. 7
  • Introduction for Delegate Watkins Abbott, Fourth Congressional District, 1953, circa.
  • Remarks, "Welcome to the Bar," undated
Court publications, 1983
Box 12-4
9 pamphlets.

Informational pamphlets published by the Supreme Court of Virginia: Virginia Courts in Brief, and the Supreme Court of Virginia.

Clippings, 1972; undated
Box 12-5
1 folder

Clippings about the closing of the Supreme Court of Appeals in Staunton in 1972; and photographs of the Judicial Conference, undated, published in the Virginia Bar News.

Miscellaneous records, 1936-2005.
Box 12-6 to 12-9
6 folders

This series contains court orders, architectural plans, and memos.

  • Box-folder 12-6
    Blueprints, alterations to Supreme Court Building, 1958, 1967
    1 folder
  • Box-folder 12-7
    Program, Conference of Chief Justices Visit Virginia, 1950 Sep.
    2 items
  • Box-folder 12-8
    Various court orders, 1942-2005
    10 items
  • Box-folder 12-9
    Various records, 1936-2001
    14 items

    Various court documents and other records filed with records from the Clerk's office. Includes copies, undated, of pages of the Supreme Court of Appeals order book, 1785 and 1810; motions, jury instructions, a biographical sketch of John Blair, originally published in the Virginia Bar Association annual report, 1927; a resolution thanking Justice Hudgins for his assistance furnishing the new court building, 1940; jury instructions, and a memo from Justice Lacy to the other justices about multi-jurisdictional practice, 2001.