Call Number:

Ms. Coll. 1015

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Extent:

0.4 linear feet (1 box)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Charles Henry Burr manuscript collection, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania

Date:

1913-1923 (inclusive)

Creator:

Burr, Charles H.‏ (Charles Henry)

Form:

Typescripts, Correspondence, and Essays

Abstract:

Charles Henry Burr, Jr. (1869-1925), was a prominent lawyer in Philadelphia. This collection contains a manuscript for the unpublished "Toward the American Constitution," letters to the editors of Metropolitan and the Public Ledger, and short essays.

Charles Henry Burr, Jr. (1869-1925), was a prominent lawyer in Philadelphia. He earned degrees from Penn Charter School, Haverford College (Bachelor of Arts), and the University of Pennsylvania (Masters of Arts, with a thesis on Contributory Negligence). From 1912 to 1919, he was employed by the legal offices of Thomas Leaming, Philadelphia, and his caseload was largely international, with American cases relating to Germany, Holland, and England. In 1912, he won the Henry M. Phillips Prize of the American Philosophical Society for his essay "The Treaty-Making Power of the United States and the Methods of Its Enforcement." He spent much of World War I in Europe and in 1919, published an account, "German Business Methods in the United States," which focused on a case against the Badische Co. of Germany.

During much of his life, he worked on legal history, especially in collaboration with Professor Morris Jastrow of the University of Pennsylvania on the law codes of Babylonia. He took an active interest also in legal developments and literature in America. He worked for years on a historical study of the American Constitution.

In 1899, Burr married Anna Robeson Brown (1873-1941), a novelist and literary scholar, and was the father of two daughters, Dorothy (born 1900) and Pamela (born 1905). Burr died in Philadelphia in 1925.

The Charles Henry Burr papers contains a manuscript for the unpublished "Toward the American Constitution," letters to the editors of Metropolitan and the Public Ledger, and short essays.

The bulk of the material consists of a manuscript for "Toward the American Constitution," which is an annotated typescript. The manuscript is incomplete: sections six and eight are not present, and it appears that Burr planned to edit the chapters that are included with the "additions" and notes, which follow the existing typescript. It is unclear if Burr intended to write further chapters, or if "XII. Representative Government," was to be the final chapter.

Burr wrote one letter each to the editors of the Metropolitan and the Public Ledger. To the editor of the Metropolitan, Burr wrote regarding George Bernard Shaw's, "The Case for Equality," an address Shaw delivered in 1913. The creation of the League of Nations is the subject of Burr's letter to the editor of the Public Ledger in 1919.

The collection also contains four short essays, mostly undated, on various subjects from the new revenue bill to Goethe. It is presumed that these essays were written by Burr.