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George Wharton Pepper Papers
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Held at: University of Pennsylvania: University Archives and Records Center [Contact Us]3401 Market Street, Suite 210, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the University of Pennsylvania: University Archives and Records Center. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
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George Wharton Pepper - distinguished Philadelphia lawyer and U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania - was born in Philadelphia on March 16, 1867 to George Pepper, a physician, and Hitty Markoe Wharton. His parents were descendents of two old and socially prominent Philadelphia families. Pepper's birthplace and first residence, 1215 Walnut Street, evidences the extent of his family's wealth; at the time, an address on Walnut Street was a statement of financial and social success.
Pepper's father, who graduated from the College of the University of Pennsylvania in 1862, died in 1872, when Pepper was only five years old. Thereafter, his mother assumed responsibility for his early education. From a young age, Pepper's poor eyesight prevented him from attending school; consequently, he was taught at home, first by his mother and later by a tutor. Home-schooling provided the opportunity for Pepper's mother, a deeply religious woman, to instill in her son a strong religious conviction. Through her, he became and would remain an active parishioner at St. Mark's, an Episcopal Church still located in Center City, Philadelphia.
In 1883, with his eyesight vastly improved, Pepper entered the University of Pennsylvania, where he became an extremely active participant in athletics, drama, and student government. According to the 1887 Record, Pepper was class president the first term of his freshman year. He was a member of the Record committee and involved in a number of social organizations. He participated in a wide variety of sports, ranging from crew to football, cricket, and baseball. Most notably, he was a four-year member of the football team and captain of the same for three of his four years. He was editor-in-chief of both the student newspaper, The Pennsylvanian, and a student literary magazine, the University Magazine, before the two merged to become the Daily Pennsylvanian.
Additionally, Pepper was a member of Philo and played the part of Dikaiopolis in the College's production of The Acharnians, a Greek play by Aristophanes. At the conclusion of his senior year, Pepper was named Spoon Man, the first of four honor awards given during Hey Day to senior men. Pepper received his Bachelors of Arts in 1887, graduating first in his class.
Following graduation, Pepper immediately entered the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He worked for the prestigious Philadelphia law firm Biddle and Ward while in school and graduated, again first in his class, in 1889. Upon graduation, Pepper received two awards from the Law School: the Sharswood Essay Prize and the P. Pemberton Morris Examination Prize. His prizewinning essay, "The Borderland of Federal and State Decisions," was cited by Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis nearly fifty years later in the landmark Erie Railroad v. Tompkins opinion. Pepper also was selected to deliver the Law School's commencement address. His topic, "The Rights of Married Women," proved rather prescient. One year later, on November 25, 1890, Pepper married Charlotte Root Fischer, the daughter of George P. Fischer, a Yale professor and dean of the Yale Theological School. They had three children.
Over the next twenty years, Pepper developed an increasingly successful private law practice while also teaching at the University of Pennsylvania and editing and writing legal reference works. After four years as a teaching fellow at Penn, he became the Algernon Sydney Biddle Professor of Law in 1893, a position that he held until 1910. In 1907 he received an honorary degree from Penn. Following his retirement from teaching, which was a result of his expanding private practice, Pepper became a trustee of the University from 1911 until his death in 1961.
His work in both the classroom and at the bar concentrated primarily on constitutional and corporate law. At the Law School, he taught classes on the nuances of corporations, partnerships, and insurance. He advocated that law students work by induction from the examination of judicial decisions instead of listening to lectures or studying textbooks. In 1895, at a meeting of the Pennsylvania Bar Association, Pepper presented a paper on legal education and admission to the bar that became a focal point for later reforms.
Pepper's publications while at Penn were both practical and scholarly. He compiled, in collaboration with William Draper Lewis, the massive Digest of Decisions and Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania Law, 1754 - 1898 (1898 - 1906). In addition, he authored The Way: A Devotional Book for Boys (1909), A Voice from the Crowd (1915), and Men and Issues (1924). For several years, Pepper also served as the editor of the American Law Register and Review.
Politically, Pepper's party affiliation changed abruptly in the last years of the nineteenth century. A Democrat prior to 1892, Pepper had voted for Grover Cleveland in 1888. In his mid-twenties, however, Pepper changed his views and became henceforth a loyal and conservative Republican. The same year that he resigned from the faculty of the University, Pepper served as counsel to Chief Forester Gifford Pinchot, who had been dismissed after publicly accusing Secretary of the Interior Richard Ballinger of mismanaging coal lands in Alaska to assist corporate interests. Pepper's involvement in a national political event catapulted his political career, making him an even more popular speaker and well-regarded leader on the national level. In 1915, he gave the coveted Lyman Beecher Lecture series at Yale University; at the time, Pepper was the first layman ever invited to deliver the lectures on religion.
With the outbreak of the war in Europe, Pepper increasingly turned his attention to foreign affairs. He became a leader in the national preparedness movement and served on the Pennsylvania Council of National Defense from 1917 to 1919. He was also a member of the First Provisional Training Regiment at Plattsburg and traveled frequently during the war to rally troops and speak at mass patriotic meetings. Following the war, Pepper was a leading and vocal opponent of President Woodrow Wilson's Versailles peace treaty, criticizing the settlement's harsh treatment of defeated nations. He also opposed America's unconditional entry into the League of Nations, an organization he felt interfered too strongly in the affairs of European nations. Pepper found the use of force to preserve the status quo particularly dangerous and cautioned, in many speeches delivered throughout the Northeast, that the United States should encourage only peaceful settlement of disputes between foreign nations.
Immediately following the war, Pepper sat on the Pennsylvania Commission on Constitutional Revision. He also assumed a greater role in the national Republican Party; from 1922 to 1928, he served as a Republican national committeeman from his state. After Senator Boies Penrose died on December 31, 1921, Pennsylvania Governor William C. Sproul appointed Pepper to fill the vacancy. Pepper, who had earlier declined to serve as a federal appellate judge and as mayor of Philadelphia, accepted the appointment, persuaded by Sproul's promise to support him in the 1922 special election for the remaining four years of Penrose's term. On January 9, 1922, Pepper was sworn in as Pennsylvania's junior senator. The contrast between the deceased senator and his new replacement was stark; Penrose was one of the last and most powerful of Pennsylvania's Republican "bosses." Pepper, on the other hand, was more reform-minded and rejected the influence-peddling methods favored by his predecessor.
During his five years in the Senate, Pepper applied his experience as a corporation lawyer to problems of government and politics. In 1922, only a few months after assuming office, he helped mediate the settlement of the anthracite coal workers' strike. His success with the strike negotiations boosted his political reputation; in the Pennsylvania primary in May, Pepper easily defeated his Republican challenger and went on to crush his Democratic opponent in November.
While in the Senate, Pepper served on the Military Affairs, Naval Affairs, and Foreign Relations committees. He was also chairman of the committees on Banking and Currency and the Library of Congress. He was actively involved in questions of international affairs, authoring a resolution that would separate U.S. involvement in the World Court from the country's involvement in the League of Nations. His proposal, however, was later eviscerated by subsequent acts of Congress. In the final year of his term, Pepper was appointed by the U.S. Supreme Court to represent the plaintiffs in Myers v. United States. The case, which concerned the right of the president to remove an executive official without the approval of Congress, further propelled Pepper into the national limelight.
Pepper lost the 1926 Republican senatorial primary, an election he had expected to win. In what turned into an expensive and vicious campaign, Philadelphia "boss" William S. Vare triumphed in a three-way race that also included Governor Gifford Pinchot. Although Pepper carried sixty-two of Pennsylvania's sixty-eight counties, he could not overcome the political influence of Vare in his home city of Philadelphia. Running on an anti-prohibition platform, Vare's successfully clinched the Republican nomination but was immediately criticized for campaign fraud. The U.S. Senate opened an investigation into Vare's campaign expenses and possible false ballots, and, after Vare's victory in the general election, continued to look into charges of corruption. In 1929, Vare was barred from taking his Senate seat because of excessive campaign expenditures; the newly-elected Governor John Fisher appointed Joseph Grundy, one of his strongest supporters, to fill the vacancy.
Following his defeat in the Republican primary, Pepper returned to his law practice in Philadelphia. He never again sought public office but continued to be a vocal figure on political issues of the day. In 1936, Pepper, who was an open critic of President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, was one of the leading lawyers in United States v. Butler, the Supreme Court case that declared the Agricultural Adjustment Act unconstitutional. He was also a member of the platform committees at the 1940 and 1948 Republican National Conventions.
In addition to his continued political interest, Pepper also resumed his active involvement in the Episcopal Church. Before his time in the Senate, Pepper had been a delegate to many General Conventions of the Protestant Episcopal Church. For the rest of his life, he continued to promote all movements for Christian Unity. He was also an avid supporter of the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. and remained extremely active in Philadelphia's Protestant churches.
Until his death in 1961, Pepper continued to practice law and to serve professional organizations. He remained for the rest of his life a Trustee of the University of Pennsylvania and the Carnegie Foundation. For many years, he was the director of the American Law Institute and for a time its president. He was a former president of the Pennsylvania Bar Association and chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association.
In his post-Senate career, Pepper published five books: The Way; a devotional book for boys (1909), In the Senate (1930), Family Quarrels (1931), Philadelphia Lawyer (1944), and Analytical Index to the Book of Common Prayer (1948). His autobiography, Philadelphia Lawyer, was hailed by critics as one of the best literary achievements of the year. It serves both as a memoir of his life and as an informal history of United States and Pennsylvania history in the early twentieth century.
Pepper died on May 24, 1961 at the age of 94 at his home, Hill House, in suburban Devon, PA. He left a legacy as a distinguished lawyer and politician and one of Philadelphia's greatest sons.
Biographical Manuscripts
The biographical manuscripts series contains typed rough drafts of material collected by Charles J. Reinhardt for his planned biography of Pepper's life up to 1933. Reinhardt, a former Bulletin staff member and later Senator Pepper's legislative secretary in Washington, D.C., originally organized the manuscripts into binders that were arranged into 21 books and housed in 8 boxes. For most of the material, Reinhardt wrote introductions and table of contents explaining the documents.
Books 1 and 2 contain narratives of Pepper's life written by Reinhardt, covering Pepper's ancestry, boyhood, early education, and life until 1933. These two books also include background history of both Philadelphia and the nation during that period.
Reinhardt originally positioned an index of books 3 to 17 at the beginning of Book 3.
Books 3 to 17 document anecdotes, speeches, articles, programs, and pamphlets from throughout Pepper's life. The books are in narrative form and include original documents that relate to every activity. Reinhardt separated the material into four major time periods: 1900 - 1910; 1910 - 1915; 1915 - 1920; 1920 - 1932. The bulk of the material lies within the last seventeen years, 1915 - 1932. The arrangement of the books is unclear; Reinhardt seems to have arbitrarily divided the material into books, which are not arranged by chronology or by subject matter. The material does seem to be roughly grouped by Pepper's involvement in various political, social, and religious organizations, committees, or projects.
Book 18 contains summaries of Philadelphia and national history and political events from 1867 to 1932. Reinhardt compiled the material to assist Pepper in writing his autobiography.
Book 19 consists of several folders of additional material, including speeches, programs of official dinners, newspaper clippings, and political cartoons compiled by Reinhardt for possible inclusion in Pepper's autobiography.
Book 20 contains four drafts of narratives of political religious and social anecdotes relating to Pepper's career. Reinhardt wrote the drafts for publication either as stand-alone articles or chapters in Pepper's autobiography.
Book 21 contains campaign materials - speeches, addresses, pamphlets, newspaper clippings - pertaining to the 1932 presidential election and the Republican Party's endorsement of Hoover.
Correspondence
The original chronological arrangement of this series was changed during processing. The correspondence series is now divided into four sub-series: by date, by subject, and by correspondent.
The sub-series arranged by date contains general correspondence that covers a broad range of political, religious, and cultural topics. This sub-series is the smallest in volume.
The sub-series organized by subject is arranged alphabetically between folders and chronologically within each folder. The sub-series consists of correspondence relating to a specific topic or event. Most of the topics relate to Pepper's involvement in Pennsylvania and national politics and his connection to the Episcopal Church. This sub-series contains close to half of the material in the correspondence series.
The sub-series organized by correspondent is arranged alphabetically between folders and chronologically within each folder. The series consists of correspondence between Pepper and a single individual or married couple that spans from one to thirty-two years. Topics that appear frequently in this sub-series include Pepper's legal activities, his political views regarding local, national, and international affairs, his involvement with the Episcopal Church, and his many speaking engagements. Some of the material relates to Pepper's personal life, although the bulk of the correspondence pertains to his professional activities. Coupled with the sub-series arranged by subject, this sub-series comprises the majority of the correspondence collection.
All correspondence sub-series contain newspaper clippings, pamphlets, speeches, invitations, and reports that relate to content in the correspondence.
Speeches
The speeches series is arranged chronologically. Some of the folders do not contain copies of Pepper's speeches but instead include only supplementary material relating to the given address. Among the folders that do contain copies of the designated speech, most also contain related documents and objects, including correspondence relating to the address, hand-written drafts, research notes, newspaper clippings, programs, invitations, seating arrangements, note cards, and memorabilia from the event. Topics that appear frequently in Pepper's speeches include the U.S. involvement in the First World War, the National Preparedness movement, the League of Nations, the role of the Episcopal Church, and the Republican Party. Also included is material pertaining to the Lyman Beecher lectures that Pepper gave at Yale University in 1915.
Writings and Publications
The writings and publications series are arranged chronologically by year and alphabetically within each year. These include articles, book reviews, memorials, introductions to books, statements, responses, and commentary published or written for publication. Most folders contain typed drafts, correspondence relating to the publication, and copies of the designated article. Some folders also contain clippings and hand-written notes. Pepper made frequent contributions to the Saturday Evening Post, the American Bar Association Journal, The Shingle, and various daily newspapers. Also included is a scrapbook containing reviews and clippings relating to Philadelphia Lawyer.
Subjects
The original arrangement of this series was changed during processing. The subject series is now divided into four sub-series: political issues, law practice and legal issues, religious matters, senate campaigns, the University of Pennsylvania, family materials, and miscellaneous. The folder contents in this series varies and may include related correspondence, drafts, memos, notes, clippings, photographs, and printed matter.
The political issues sub-series contains materials relating to Pepper's career as a politician and are arranged alphabetically by topic. Within each topic folders are arranged alphabetically according to the folder's contents. Topics that appear frequently include Codification and Revision of Laws, The Citizens Committee for Reorganization of the Executive Branch of Government (The Hoover Commission), the Neutrality Act of 1939, and the Permanent Court of International Justice (World Court).
The law practice and legal issues sub-series contains materials relating to Pepper's career as a lawyer and are arranged alphabetically by topic. Within each topic folders are arranged alphabetically according to the folder's contents. Topics that appear frequently include The Bricker Amendment, and Declaration on Segregation, "Recent Attacks upon the Supreme Court of the United States: A Statement by Members of the Bar".
The religious matters sub-series contains materials relating to Pepper's religious activities arranged alphabetically by topic. Within each topic folders are arranged alphabetically according to the folder's contents. Materials relating to the Stonemen's Fellowship, and the National Cathedral make up the greater part of this sub-series. Also included is a scrapbook of Episcopal Church affairs of 1906-1907.
The miscellaneous sub-series contains folders that were originally kept together and unfit for the politics, law, or religion sub-series and is arranged alphabetically by topic. It contains preparatory materials for speeches, reprints of speeches, works by others, and materials relating to Pepper's father, George Pepper.
The senate campaigns sub-series includes correspondence, drafts, clippings, and printed matter and is arranged alphabetically between materials relating to the 1922 senatorial appointment and election campaign, and the 1926 re-election campaign. Most of this sub-series consists of congratulatory letters following Pepper's appointment to the senate and his subsequent senatorial special election campaign. Also included are materials related to immediate issues he was facing in 1922, namely the coal strike and, the national railway shopmen's strike. The bulk of this series is correspondence, but it also includes drafts, memos, clippings, various printed matter, and campaign memorabilia. Also included is a flag presented to Pepper upon his appointment to the senate; a scrapbook of clippings and a scrapbook of photos, letters, and memorabilia from the 1922 senatorial election campaign; and a scrapbook of clippings and a scrapbook of correspondence from the 1926 senatorial election. The University of Pennsylvania sub-series is arranged alphabetically by topic or organization and consists of materials relating to Pepper's various roles at the University of Pennsylvania. Included are materials related to the Committee on Honorary Degrees, the Committee of Seven to resurvey the administrative organization in 1944, the General Alumni Society, Pepper's trusteeship from 1911-1961, the Development Fund from 1947-1956, and the University of Pennsylvania Fund from 1924-1948.
The family materials sub-series is arranged alphabetically and includes a prayer book and guest book from Pepper's 50th Wedding Anniversary, genealogy data, and the gust book and photographs from the Pepper family reunion of October 19th, 1947. Also included is correspondence with various family members including correspondence with Pepper's sister-in-law, Mary DePree of Sussex, the wife of Major General DePree who was being held as a prisoner of war in Germany during World War II, Family Letters of 1834-1941 compiled by George Wharton Pepper, large genealogy charts, and Some notes on the early family history of the Peppers of Philadelphia with genealogical charts by William Carleton Watts, July 1948.
Artifacts
The artifacts series is arranged alphabetically. In the artifacts series, the number under the folder column in the database refers to the item number. Most of these items are medals awarded to Pepper. Also included are gavels, trophy cups, two sets of drawings and poems by Pepper for the Farmers' Club, the Pepper spoon, and academic regalia.
Certificates, Awards, and Honors
This series consists of a scrapbook containing diplomas, diplomas for honorary degrees, commendations, military service certificates, college report cards; certificates to practice law in municipal, state, and federal district courts including supreme courts; membership certificates for learned societies, appointments to federal commissions, and George Pepper (1840-1872) diplomas.
This collection documents George Wharton Pepper's political and legal careers and his involvement in the University of Pennsylvania Alumni Society and religious organizations. It also includes biographical materials, awards and citations, and genealogical materials.
The personal records of George Wharton Pepper are sorted into seven series: biographical manuscripts, correspondence, speeches, writings and publications, subjects, artifacts, and certificates, awards, and honors.
• The biographical manuscripts series have been kept as Charles J. Reinhardt originally arranged them, into 21 books, which are roughly in chronological order.
• The correspondence series is divided into three sub-series: by date, by subject, and by correspondent. With the exception of the correspondence sub-series arranged by date, each sub-series is arranged alphabetically between folders.
• The speeches series is arranged chronologically.
• The writings and publications series is arranged chronologically by year and alphabetically within each year.
• The subjects series includes the following sub-series: political issues, law practice and legal issues, religious matters, miscellaneous, family materials, University of Pennsylvania, and senate campaigns. Within this subject series, the politics, law, religion, miscellaneous, family materials, and University of Pennsylvania sub-series are arranged alphabetically according to topic. The senate campaigns sub-series is divided between the 1922 and the 1926 campaigns and arranged alphabetically within each of those two years.
• The artifacts series are arranged alphabetically by type of artifact.
This collection was accessioned by the University Archives in four pieces: accessions 1971:26 and 1981:28 from Van Pelt Library, and accessions 1982:62 and 1988:01 from George Wharton Pepper III. The Van Pelt holdings had been acquired from George Wharton Pepper, sr., and his estate in five installments from 1955 to 1963.
This collection documents George Wharton Pepper's political and legal careers and his involvement in the University of Pennsylvania Alumni Society and religious organizations. It also includes biographical materials, awards and citations, and genealogical materials.
The personal records of George Wharton Pepper are sorted into seven series: biographical manuscripts, correspondence, speeches, writings and publications, subjects, artifacts, and certificates, awards, and honors.
--The biographical manuscripts series have been kept as Charles J. Reinhardt originally arranged them, into 21 books, which are roughly in chronological order.
--The correspondence series is divided into three sub-series: by date, by subject, and by correspondent. With the exception of the correspondence sub-series arranged by date, each sub-series is arranged alphabetically between folders.
--The speeches series is arranged chronologically.
--The writings and publications series is arranged chronologically by year and alphabetically within each year.
--The subjects series includes the following sub-series: political issues, law practice and legal issues, religious matters, miscellaneous, family materials, University of Pennsylvania, and senate campaigns. Within this subject series, the politics, law, religion, miscellaneous, family materials, and University of Pennsylvania sub-series are arranged alphabetically according to topic. The senate campaigns sub-series is divided between the 1922 and the 1926 campaigns and arranged alphabetically within each of those two years.
--The artifacts series are arranged alphabetically by type of artifact.
People
- Coxe, Elizabeth Sinkler
- Pepper, Hitty Markoe Wharton
- Pepper, George
- Pepper family
- Coolidge, Calvin
- Wharton, Geo. M. (George Mifflin)
- Roosevelt, Theodore
- Pepper, George Wharton
- Biddle, Anthony J. Drexel (Anthony Joseph Drexel)
Organization
- Stonemen's Fellowship
- Permanent Court of International Justice
- League of Nations
- United States. Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government (1947-1949)
- United States. Congress. Senate
- Episcopal Church
- University of Pennsylvania. Law School
Place
Occupation
- Publisher
- University of Pennsylvania: University Archives and Records Center
- Finding Aid Author
- Deborah Singer and Desiree Price
- Finding Aid Date
- July 2006, June 2009
- Access Restrictions
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Access to collections is granted in accordance with the Protocols for the University Archives and Records Centers.