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Arthur Garfield Hays Papers
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Held at: Princeton University Library: Public Policy Papers [Contact Us]
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Princeton University Library: Public Policy Papers. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
Arthur Garfield Hays was born in Rochester, New York on December 12, 1881. His father and mother, both of German descent, belonged to prospering families in the clothing manufacturing industry. After graduating from City College of New York in 1902 and going on to receive his law degree from Columbia in 1905, Hays formed a law firm with two of his former classmates that gained prominence representing German interests in World War I.
Hays was active in civil liberties issues before becoming general counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union in 1920. From this point one can recognize the emergence of what many have called Hays's "dual personality," in which he became a wealthy lawyer who represented the interests of power and fame (his more prominent clients ranged from Wall Street brokers and best-selling authors to notorious gamblers and the Dionne quintuplets)--while at the same time rigorously defending the individual liberty of victims of discriminatory laws.
The list of famous cases in which Hays took part is lengthy, including the Scopes trial (often called the "monkey trial") in 1925 in which a school teacher in Tennessee was tried for teaching evolution; the Sacco and Vanzetti case in which two Italian anarchists in Boston were put to death in 1927 for a murder they denied committing; and the Scottsboro case where eight black men from Alabama were condemned to die in 1931 for allegedly attacking two white women. Hays also attended the Reichstag trial in Berlin on behalf of Georgi Dmitrov, a Bulgarian Communist tried by Nazis in 1933 for burning the Reichstag.
In addition to his work as a lawyer, Hays wrote an astounding number of books and articles. As a gifted writer and eloquent debater, he added his perspective to virtually every individual rights issue of his day. His autobiography, entitled City Lawyer: the Autobiography of a Law Practice (1942), provides a colorful account of his more noteworthy cases, and his articles and book reviews demonstrate his wide-ranging knowledge of a nation and a world experiencing dramatic change in the way individual rights were perceived.
Hays married Blanche Marks in 1908 and divorced her in 1924. They had one daughter, Mrs. Lora Spindell. He married Aline Davis Fleisher in 1924, who died in 1944. They also had a daughter, Mrs. Jane Butler. After more than four decades at the center of the individual rights debate, Hays died of a heart attack on December 14, 1954.
Consists of correspondence, case files, speeches, articles, books, news clippings, and photographs which document Hays's career as a New York City lawyer and general counsel for the ACLU beginning in 1920. Case files comprise the single largest series of this collection and include correspondence, court papers, legal briefs, and other items related to particular court cases in which Hays was a participant. The bulk of this material concerns the numerous legal motions filed in many high-profile cases involving Hays, such as labor disputes in the coal mining districts of Pennsylvania and West Virginia (1922-1935), including the Anthracite Coal Strike of 1922; right to strike cases taken against Jersey City, NJ, mayor Frank "Boss" Hague; John Strachey's deportation case; the Emerson Jennings vs. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania conspiracy case; the Jehovah's Witnesses and the right not to salute the American flag; the case of Stanley E. Faithful vs. the DAILY MIRROR and other newspapers on charges of libel conerning the circumstances of his daughter's death (much of the material collected by Hays's brother Alan); and cases relating to communism and sedition in the 1940s.
For preservation reasons, original analog and digital media may not be read or played back in the reading room. Users may visually inspect physical media but may not remove it from its enclosure. All analog audiovisual media must be digitized to preservation-quality standards prior to use. Audiovisual digitization requests are processed by an approved third-party vendor. Please note, the transfer time required can be as little as several weeks to as long as several months and there may be financial costs associated with the process. Requests should be directed through the Ask Us Form.
This collection was processed by Clement C. Doyle and Shawn O'Neil (members of Princeton's Class of 1995) during the 1994-1995 academic year. Finding aid written by Clement C. Doyle and Shawn O'Neil (members of Princeton's Class of 1995) during the 1994-1995 academic year.
People
- Faithful, Stanley E.
- Hague, Frank (1876-1956)
- Hays, Alan S.
- Jennings, Emerson
- Scopes, John Thomas (1900-1970)
- Strachey, John (1901-1963)
Organization
- American civil liberties union
- Watch tower Bible and tract society
- United States. Congress. House. Special Committee on Un-American Activities (1938-1944)
- Mayor's Commission on Conditions in Harlem (N.Y.)
Subject
- Anthracite Coal Strike, Pa., 1922
- Civil rights -- Puerto Rico. -- 20th century
- Civil rights -- United States -- 20th century
- Coal mines and mining -- Pennsylvania. -- 20th century
- Coal mines and mining -- West Virginia. -- 20th century
- Communist trials -- United States -- 20th century
- Labor disputes -- Pennsylvania. -- 20th century
- Labor disputes -- West Virginia. -- 20th century
- Lawyers -- New York (State) -- New York. -- 20th century
- Sacco-Vanzetti Trial, Dedham, Mass., 1921
- Labor union meetings -- Pennsylvania. -- 20th century
- Labor union meetings -- West Virginia. -- 20th century
- Trials (Libel) -- New York (State) -- New York. -- 20th century
- Trials (Sedition) -- United States -- 20th century
- Trials -- United States -- 20th century
- Publisher
- Public Policy Papers
- Finding Aid Author
- Clement C. Doyle; Shawn O'Neil
- Finding Aid Date
- 1997
- Sponsor
- These papers were processed with the generous support of the National Historical Publications and Records Commission and the John Foster and Janet Avery Dulles Fund.
- Access Restrictions
-
Collection is open for research use.
- Use Restrictions
-
Single copies may be made for research purposes. To cite or publish quotations that fall within Fair Use, as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission is required. For instances beyond Fair Use, it is the responsibility of the researcher to determine whether any permissions related to copyright, privacy, publicity, or any other rights are necessary for their intended use of the Library's materials, and to obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders, if they have not already done so. Princeton University Library's Special Collections does not charge any permission or use fees for the publication of images of materials from our collections, nor does it require researchers to obtain its permission for said use. The department does request that its collections be properly cited and images credited. More detailed information can be found on the Copyright, Credit and Citations Guidelines page on our website. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us through the Ask Us! form.
Collection Inventory
No arrangement action taken or arrangement information not recorded at the time of processing.
Series 1, Correspondence, 1915-1955, is arranged chronologically and primarily documents the scheduling (and not content) of Hays's speaking engagements and housekeeping details related to his writings. There are occasional letters to editors and other memoranda regarding issues of substance. The most significant segment of this series are those files identified as relating to Hays's involvment with the ACLU.
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No arrangement action taken or arrangement information not recorded at the time of processing.
Series 2, Case Files, 1921-1956, is arranged alphabetically by case name and includes correspondence, court papers, legal briefs, and other items related to particular court cases in which Hays was a participant. The bulk of this series consists of material regarding the numerous legal motions filed in many high-profile cases involving Hays such as labor disputes in the coal mining districts of Pennsylvania and West Virginia (1922-1935), including the Anthracite Coal Strike of 1922 and right to strike cases taken against Jersey City, NJ mayor Frank "Boss" Hague; John Strachey's deportation case; the Emerson Jennings vs. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania conspiracy case; the Jehovah's Witnesses and the right not to salute the American flag; the case of Stanley E. Faithful vs. the Daily Mirror and other newspapers on charges of libel concerning the circumstances of his daughter's death; and cases relating to communism and sedition in the 1940s. Hays work in various organizations is also represented in this series, including his service on the Mayor's Commission on Conditions in Harlem (formed after police killed a Harlem man under suspicious conditions) and the Committee for Fair Play to Puerto Rico (organized to investigate civil liberties after the Ponce massacre of 1937 in which police killed fifty demonstrating civilians). The general and miscellaneous portions of this series contain printed materials such as briefs, motions, appeals, and petitions for various cases.
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From title page: At the Commission to Investigate the Massacre of Ponce, Puerto Pico, the 21st of March 1937, re: Investigation of the Affairs Happened in Ponce, Puerto Rico, the 21st of March, 1937 Between Members of the Nationalist Party and Members of the Puerto Rican Insular Police - Stenographic Record, 471 Pages
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No arrangement action taken or arrangement information not recorded at the time of processing.
Series 3, Speeches, 1923-1954, is arranged alphabetically by speech and contains the text of various speeches that Hays delivered. Subject matter of speeches is as wide-ranging as the cases he worked on, but are colored with personal anecdotes, human history, and current events. Topics include prejudice, strike breaking, the Reichstag Fire, war and civil liberties, fascism, the Dies Committee, politics and political races, and the status of working women.
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Series 4, Articles, 1915-1952, is arranged alphabetically by title and consists of numerous articles and book reviews written by Hays. Several items are original manuscripts and are not dated, nor is there any indication whether they were ever published. The articles pertain to scores of civil liberties issues and demonstrate Hays's persistent willingness to have his liberal perspective made known to the public. Topics include civil liberties, religious freedom, the Sacco and Vanzetti trial, loyalty laws, the Ku Klux Klan, the Scottsboro Seven Trial, the Rosenberg Case, and anti-communism.
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No arrangement action taken or arrangement information not recorded at the time of processing.
Series 5, Books, 1925-1942, is arranged alphabetically by title, and contains final drafts of manuscripts for Hays' books. Included are Let Freedom Ring (an account of civil liberties cases of the twenties), This Talk of Capitalism (which warns against treading upon democracy in the name of America's increasingly popular economic system), Democracy Works (a defense of America's system of government, 1939), and City Lawyer (described above, 1942).
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No arrangement action taken or arrangement information not recorded at the time of processing.
Series 6, News Clippings, 1927-1954, is arranged alphabetically by subject, and details famous cases in which Hays was involved (Scopes, Sacco and Vanzetti, Scottsboro, and others). These clippings are taken from several different media sources, many of which were compiled in scrapbooks by Hays or his staff. The material often features reporting that compares Hays to other contemporary commentators.
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No arrangement action taken or arrangement information not recorded at the time of processing.
Series 7, Alan Hays Material, 1930-1941, arranged alphabetically by case name, contains the casework done by Arthur Garfield Hays's brother Alan in the case of Stanley E. Faithful v. The Daily Mirror in which Faithful sued several newspapers for libel regarding the suspicious nature of his daughter's death.
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Series 8, Photos, 1925-1935, arranged topically includes photographs of Hays, and people and places related to certain cases in which he was involved, including the Scopes Trial.
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