Converted to EAD3 : Encoded Archival Description (EAD), Version 3 : Release: 1.1.1 : Release Date: 2019-12-16. Validating against latest version of schema.
Contact information: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mss.contact
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/mm78014472
Collection material in English
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the LC Catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically.
The papers of Harold H. Burton, mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, United States senator, and associate justice of the United States Supreme Court, were given by Justice Burton to the Library of Congress between 1959 and 1963. Additional material was given in 1965 by his son, William S. Burton.
The papers of Harold H. Burton were arranged and described in 1963. Additional material received in 1965 was incorporated into the collection in 1966. The collection was reprocessed in 2001.
Most photographs have been transferred to the Library's Prints and Photographs Division where they are identified as part of these papers.
Copyright in the unpublished writings of Harold H. Burton in these papers and in other collections of papers in the custody of the Library of Congress has been dedicated to the public.
The papers of Harold H. Burton are open to research. Researchers are advised to contact the Manuscript Reading Room prior to visiting. Many collections are stored off-site and advance notice is needed to retrieve these items for research use.
Government regulations control the use of security classified items in this collection. Manuscript Division staff can furnish information concerning access to and use of classified material.
A microfilm edition of part of these papers is available on five reels. Consult reference staff in the Manuscript Division concerning availability for purchase or interlibrary loan. To promote preservation of the originals, researchers are required to consult the microfilm edition as available.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container or reel number, Harold H. Burton Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
The papers of Harold Hitz Burton (1888-1964) span the years 1792 to 1965, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1935 to 1964. The collection includes diaries, correspondence, reports, legal case files, speeches and writings, newspaper clippings, and printed matter relating chiefly to Burton's service as associate justice of the Supreme Court and United States senator from Ohio. The material is organized in the following series: Diaries, General Correspondence, Senate File, Supreme Court File, United States Court of Appeals File, Speeches and Writings File, Miscellany, Classified, and Oversize.
Burton's diaries begin in 1941 and continue through 1963 covering his service as senator and associate justice. They are a rich and comprehensive record of his personal activities, the work of the Supreme Court, and conversations with members of the Court and numerous other government figures.
The General Correspondence briefly treats Burton's life and career in Cleveland, Ohio, prior to his election to the United States Senate. During this period he practiced law, was active in community activities, and served in various city government offices climaxing in his election as mayor. Notable topics in the correspondence are community affairs, family matters, Burton's association with local and statewide Republican party affairs, aspirations for a federal judgeship, and the Townsend Plan. Correspondents include Owen Brewster, John W. Bricker, Burton's personal secretary Earl E. Hart, William Hitz, and Robert A. Taft. This period of Burton's career is documented additionally by political speeches and radio broadcasts in the Speeches and Writings File.
The Senate File represents Burton's one term in the United States Senate where he established himself as a moderate Republican. He served on several Senate committees, including the Special Committee Investigating the National Defense Program which brought him into close contact with its chairman, Harry S. Truman. Burton later would become President Truman's first appointee to the Supreme Court. The Committees file documents his work on this committee and his extensive travels to Alaska, the West Coast, and the Middle East. Other committees represented in the file include Immigration, District of Columbia, Commerce, and Appropriations. The correspondence for the Senate years is grouped into four types: campaign, departments and agencies, general, and legislative. The campaign correspondence relates to party workers and organizations throughout Ohio during his Senate election in 1940. Correspondence with government departments and agencies includes appeals for constituents, especially for those in military service. Burton's legislative interests included hospital construction, foreign relations, and establishment of the United Nations. Noteworthy in the general correspondence are copies of Burton's semiannual constituent reports and accompanying responses. Correspondents include Styles Bridges, Harry Flood Byrd (1887-1966), Frank J. Lausche, Donald R. Richberg, Harry S. Truman, and Henry Agard Wallace.
The Supreme Court File documents the judicial activities of Burton and his fellow justices from 1945 to 1958. Material covering this aspect of his career is organized by correspondence, a case file, and a miscellany file. Among the legal material and correspondence are letters, notes, and memoranda from the various members of the Court, most frequently Felix Frankfurter. Others justices represented, some in the correspondence file and others in notes and memoranda retained in the legal files, are chief justices Harlan F. Stone, Fred M. Vinson, and Earl Warren and associate justices William J. Brennan, Tom C. Clark, William O. Douglas, John M. Harlan, Robert H. Jackson, Sherman Minton, Frank Murphy, Stanley F. Reed, and Charles E. Whittaker. Other correspondents include Owen Brewster, John W. Bricker, J. Edgar Hoover, and Harry S. Truman.
The Supreme Court
case file
contains conference lists, docket sheets with conference votes and brief notes on the justices' positions, bench and certiorari memoranda prepared by Burton's law clerks for study and recommendation, opinions, and studies on individual cases. Though not a prolific opinion writer, Burton saved most of the drafts of the various stages of his opinions along with comments in memoranda or actual annotations by his colleagues on the Court on their copies of opinions which they returned to him. Burton generally retained files on an average of ten to fifteen cases per term, usually the ones in which he wrote a majority, dissenting, or concurring opinion. His specific fields of interest, and the areas in which he was frequently assigned to write the majority opinions, were labor law and state claims versus federal claims. Included in his case files is material related to such landmark cases as
Upon retiring from the Court in 1958, Burton frequently sat on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, where he was active until his health failed in 1962. The United States Court of Appeals File documents the cases in which he wrote opinions for this court as well as other cases in which he participated. The opinions are similar to those for the individual cases on the Supreme Court, although less in number and in detail.
The Speeches and Writings File covers all periods of Burton's career and contains handwritten and typed drafts and printed copies of his articles, speeches, and statements. A group of articles relates to the Supreme Court and its history, and political speeches document Burton's tenure as mayor of Cleveland. Although the subject file in the series contains speeches and articles as well as pertinent research material covering his years in Cleveland, the Senate, and the Court, a chronological file contains the most comprehensive compilation of Burton's speeches and writings.
The Miscellany series is composed primarily of newspaper clippings and printed matter related to Burton's career and interests. A set of unbound scrapbooks of autographed material includes letters from Harry S. Truman and members of the Supreme Court. Also included is biographical material and genealogical information on the Hitz family. Oversize material includes maps pertaining to Burton's trips with the Senate Special Committee Investigating the National Defense Program, broadsides, and photographs.
The collection is arranged in nine series:
Bound volumes.
Arranged chronologically.
Available on microfilm. Microfilm shelf no. 17,858
Letters received and copies of letters sent.
Arranged alphabetically by name of person or organization or by topic and chronologically or alphabetically therein.
Letters received and copies of letters sent.
Grouped in campaign, departments and agencies, general, and legislative catagories. Arranged alphabetically by name of person or organization or by topic and chronologically or alphabetically therein.
Reports, memoranda, correspondence, maps, and printed matter.
Arranged alphabetically by name of committee or topic and chronologically or alphabetically therein.
Campaign material, election statistics, reports, minutes, legal files, voting record, and petitions.
Arranged alphabetically by topic, type of material, or name of organization and chronologically therein.
Letters received and copies of letters sent.
Grouped chronologically by the Court's annual October Term with a final group pertaining to Burton's retired status on the Court. Arranged thereunder alphabetically by name of person or organization or by topic and alphabetically or chronologically therein.
Printed, typed and handwritten copies of opinions, copies of circulated opinions, memoranda by justices and law clerks (including bench and certiorari memoranda), briefs, notes, transcripts, reports, docket sheets, and conference lists.
Grouped chronologically by the Court's annual October terms. Arranged alphabetically within each term by type of material or docket and chronologically or numerically by docket number therein. Material for individual opinions is filed alphabetically by type of material.
Printed and bound opinions, statements from the bench, notes, lists, Court budgets and statistics, hearing lists, case assignments, notes and memoranda from other justices, correspondence, reports, and newsletters.
Arranged alphabetically by type of material, topic, or name of organization and chronologically therein.
Printed, typed, and handwritten copies of opinions, circulated opinions, notes, briefs, memoranda, reports, and transcripts.
Grouped chronologically by the court's annual September terms with individual cases arranged numerically by docket number therein.
Handwritten, typed, and printed copies of articles, speeches, statements, and radio broadcasts, a book, notes, printed matter, and research material.
Organized alphabetically by articles, book, a chronological file, political speeches, radio broadcast file, and a subject file and arranged chronologically or alphabetically therein.
Appointment calendars, biographical and family material, newspaper clippings, notes, reports, minutes, printed matter, and scrapbooks.
Arranged alphabetically by type of material and chronologically therein.
Reports and correspondence.
Arranged and described according to the series, containers, and folders from which the items were removed.
Broadsides, maps, photographs, and bound material.
Arranged and described according to the series, containers, and folders from which the items were removed.