The Supreme Court Historical Society

Res Gestae 1977

THE SOCIETY REPORT

The Supreme Court Historical Society

WILLIAM H. PRESS

As the year 1977 draws to a close, substantial Society development and accomplishment progress is noted. Of perhaps greater significance are several goals which will be reached during the next few months.

It is just about two and a half years since the Supreme Court Historical Society became operational. Its Second Annual Meeting was held at the Supreme Court on May 17, 1977. The 'dinner was again a sell-out.

There was one major and overwhelming misfortune early this summer when SCHS Chairman Justice Tom C. Clark died in New York. Tributes to him as a great national leader appear elsewhere in this Yearbook, but let it be recorded here that he was one of the key founders of the Supreme Court Historical Society, a dedicated officer who devoted countless hours to our development. He will be greatly missed and can not be fully replaced.

The Honorable Robert T. Stevens, Vice-President of SCHS since its organization has been elected Chairman for the remainder of Justice Clark's term. Trustee Fred M. Vinson, Jr. was selected as a Vice-President. Earlier this year Trustee Whitney North Seymour was also selected a Vice-President to succeed Sol M. Linowitz when he resigned after being named Ambassador to negotiate the new Panama Canal Treaty.

Membership in SCHS has not grown as much as the trustees had hoped. The total as we go to press numbers approximately 2000 and there are indications that the growth rate is increasing.

Financial records for the last fiscal year July 1, 1976–June 30, 1977 have been fully audited by a responsible Washington firm of CPA's. During the year, revenues totalled $150,684, expenses were $131,193 and the excess revenues of $19,491 increased the Society's fund balance to $221,827.

During calendar year 1977 three major highly consequential enterprises were begun.

1. On January 1, 1977 the Society inaugurated a five-year research project entitled "Documentary History of the Supreme Court of the United States, 1789-1800." Dr. Maeva Marcus is the editor and James R. Perry is the assistant editor. Approximately one half the cost of the project this year, or $25,000, is a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. The Documentary History will be published by the Columbia University Press.

2. On January 1 the Society also began operating the Kiosk inside the main entrance to the Supreme Court Building. The number of publications, mementos and souvenirs sold has been increased. It appears that our retail volume during this fiscal year will reach about $75,000. A new committee chaired by Dr. Melvin M. Payne has been formed to select items to be sold to the public and to members at a discount.

3. Students at the William and Mary Law School during the last year formed a student chapter of the Supreme Court Historical Society and spent most of a day at the Supreme Court last spring. Pursuant to their recommendations, the Board of Trustees has now authorized the formation of chapters in all law schools and has assigned the task to a new committee chaired by Chief Judge Edward D. Re of the U.S. Customs Court in New York City.

All of our committees have been active during the year. Three special ones have been given important assignments.

The Oral History Committee, Erwin N. Griswold, Chairman, submitted a report outlining the basis for beginning oral history projects.

The Yearbook Advisory Committee, Merlo J. Pusey, Chairman, recommended new techniques and some content' selections for the 1978 Yearbook.

The Documentary History Advisory Committee, Patricia C. Acheson, Chairperson, has provided recommendations to Dr. Maeva Marcus, Editor.

The Society has a fundamental interst in acquiring memorabilia and historically important material for exhibit and now reports a number of additions to its collection. Gail Galloway, the Court's Curatorial Coordinator, with whom exhibit material is deposited, has prepared an article following this one which describes most of the items in our collection. Let it be noted here that President Elizabeth Hughes Gossett's goal of exhibiting a copy of the U.S. Constitution in the Supreme Court Building has been accomplished. An exact replica of the Constitution provided by the Archivist of the United States is now most attractively displayed on the ground floor.

Naturally, potential historic publications are and will be constantly under study by SCHS. Dr. Swindler continues to chair the Publications Committee which has responsibility for Yearbooks. A number of other publications such as "Magna Carta Documents" are in preparation. The publication of a "Calendar of Opinions of Supreme Court Justices" has been approved and will be compiled by Patricia Evans, research librarian of the Supreme Court Library. Work on this calendar has begun and it is hoped that final suitable arrangements will be completed without delay.

What is probably the major SCHS publication project to the general public is just getting started. "AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF THE SUPREME COURT" will be written and marketed under contract with Monument Press. This 224-page book containing 54 pages of illustrations will be sold by the Society and also through commercial outlets. SCHS will outline and determine the book's contents and copyright the volume.

For the record we report that the Smithsonian Associates magazine carried excellent articles about the Supreme Court in the January and February 1977 issues. A most attractive informal picture of the Justices was featured on the cover of the January issue. This cover and both articles have been reprinted by SCHS and may be purchased at the Kiosk or through the mail.

On September 20 the Supreme Court Historical Society and the National Gallery of Art sponsored a reception and preview of EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER LAW–the film series produced by the Bicentennial Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States in cooperation with WQED, Pittsburgh. These presentations of the Mar-bury, McCulloch, Gibbons and Burr cases will be shown on public television and are available for distribution to schools and colleges. They are significant elements of our current efforts to better inform the general public about the branch of government they understand the least.

During the year 1977 there was one meeting of 'the Board of Trustees and five meetings of the Executive Committee on January 13, March 9, May 19, September 20 and December 13.

CLASSES OF MEMBERSHIP

Individual Annual Membership

$5 STUDENT–for students only–nonvoting membership

$25 INDIVIDUAL–minimum full voting membership

$50 ASSOCIATE–for individuals wishing to pay something more than the minimum

Annual Memberships for Individuals, Firms,

Foundations and Organizations

$100 CONTRIBUTING

$1000 SUSTAINING

$2500 PATRON

Life Memberships for Individuals, Firms, Foundations and Organizations

Life membership may be paid at once, or over a period of not more than 10 years. Life status will be reached after full payment has been made.

$5,000 SPONSOR

$10,000 MAJOR SPONSOR

$50,000 BENEFACTOR

Non-member readers are invited to join the Supreme Court Historical Society in any of the above classes for which they qualify by writing the Chairman, Membership Committee, Supreme Court Historical Society, 1511 K Street, N.W., Washington, DC

20005 designating the class of membership desired and enclosing a check for one year's dues. Dues year begins the first day of the month following receipt of payment. The Society's telephone number is (202) 347-9888.

A Tour of Society Acquisitions

Gail Galloway

A large oak-panelled, high-ceilinged room in the Supreme Court is a perfect setting for period pieces of antique furniture acquired by the Supreme Court Historical Society. A fifteen-foot mahogany dining table is prominent in the center of the room. The table, a gift of Mrs. Lita Annenberg Hazen, is attributed to Duncan Phyfe, circa 1790. In harmony with the table are 16 Sheraton chairs, 14 side and 2 arm. The mahogany chairs, attributed to Slover and Taylor of New York, circa 1795, are also a gift of Mrs. Hazen.

The inside wall of the dining room is enhanced by a Sheraton mahogany drop leaf dining table, circa 1800-1810, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Hennage, and a Sheraton mahogany carved sideboard with the original lion-head brasses, attributed to John and Thomas Seymour, circa 1800-1810.

The panelled walls to the right are embellished by two related Massachusetts Hepplewhite mahogany secretaries, circa 1780-1800. A Philadelphia mahogany musical grandfather clock, circa 1775-1790, chimes every quarter hour. The clock and secretaries are being acquired by the Historical Society.

Antique brass andirons, circa 1810, inscribed "0. W. Holmes" are in use in the dining room fireplace. The andirons descended to Justice Holmes from his father, the author of the Autocrat of the Breakast Table. The Justice later gave them to Justice Felix Frankfurter. Joel Barlow presented the andirons to the Historical Society.

A small period room in the Court is the setting for a Sheraton mahogany sofa, circa 1800. The sofa, with turned and reeded legs and solid mahogany panelled back, is a gift of Mr. and Mrs. Hennage.

Chief Justice Oliver Ellsworth's Connecticut maple corner chair with applied writing arm, circa 1770-1775, was donated to the Society by Theodore N. Harley of Pittsburgh. The corner chair was used by several generations of Ellsworths. The Chief Justice's' son, William Wolcott Ellsworth, Governor of Connecticut, reportedly wrote state documents upon the arm of the chair. The chair and one of the Hepplewhite secretaries were pictured in the January 1977 issue of the Society's newsletter.

A pair of gilt framed mirrors were accepted by the Society from the Executor of the Estate of John M. Bennett of San Antonio, Texas.

With the assistance of the Society, the Court succeeded in acquiring a portrait of each former Justice. Gregory Stapko of McLean, Virginia was commissioned to paint an oil portrait of Justice Tom Clark and the "missing Justices" Horace Gray, James Iredell, Rufus Peckharn, Noah Swayne, William Paterson, Horace Lurton, Stanley Matthews, John Catron, Robert Trimble, Benjamin Curtis, Alfred Moore and William Cushing. A second copy of the Gilbert Stuart portrait of Chief Justice John Jay was painted for exhibition on the ground floor of the Court. Portraits of Henry Brockholst Livingston and William Moody have recently been commissioned. These portraits are hanging in the exhibit halls in chronological order of appointment to the Court.

Justice Hugo Black's portrait by C. J. Fox dominates the reading room of the library. An oil portrait of Justice William 0. Douglas by Elek Kanarek was accepted by Mrs. Gossett from Mr. Justice and Mrs. Douglas in a ceremony witnessed by many members of the Society and the Court.

Portraits of Chief Justice Warren Burger and Justice Harry A. Blackmun are other recent acquisitions of the Society.

Many items relating to Justice John Marshall Harlan have been received from his descendent, Mrs. Frank Dillingham. The gift is composed of an oil portrait, two plaster relief bust portraits and an individual photograph of the Justice, in addition to three photographs of the Court, circa 1888, 1892 and 1894.

Photographs of the Hughes Court and one of the Warren Court, gift of Mrs. William T. Gossett, are hanging in various offices of the Court. The years represented are 1930, 1939, 1940, and 1965. Also exhibited in the building is a photograph of the Fuller Court, 1903, signed by the Justices, gift of Judge Roger Robb.

New York cartoonist Jack Rosen donated original caricatures of Justices Douglas, Byrnes and Hughes.

On display in the Court is the framed invitation from President and Mrs. George Washington to Justice and Mrs. William Cushing. A gift of Mrs. George Maurice Morris in memory of her husband, the invitation attracts a great deal of attention as does a copy of the Constitution which was given to the Society by the National Archives.

Documents which will be exhibited include a plat map, circa 1819, signed and sealed by Chief Justice John Jay, gift of the Sack Foundation; letter dated 1826 addressed to Justice Smith Thompson from Justice Joseph Story, gift of W. Neale Lanigan, Jr.; affidavit served on John Marshall in 1805, donated by William W. Becker; engraving of "The Old Supreme Court Chamber" depicting the Northern Securities Case of 1903, gift of DeForest Billyou; and Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newpaper dated 1868 portraying Chief Justice Salmon Chase having dinner with a group of Senators after the adjournment of the Court of Impeachment, which was purchased by the Society.

The Interpreter, a rare book of legal terms and phrases dated 1637, was presented to the Society by Harvey T. Reid, a Trustee.

Acquisitions in use in offices of the Court include Walter Welch's gift of a French carriage clock, brass with porcelain face, circa 1890-1900, with "Oliver Wendell Holmes" engraved on the bottom; tortoise shell box from the desk of Oliver Wendell Holmes, gift of H. Graham Morison and identified by a former Holmes clerk, Thomas Corcoran, as having been used by the Justice.

A Philadelphia sterling silver tea pot, circa 1800, was presented to the Society in honor of Chief Justice Warren Burger by his law clerks. A three piece tea service of Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Hieken and Mrs. Charles Snyder, is frequently used for serving tea to guests of the Chief Justice.

Mrs. Gossett has generously given the Society many items belonging to her father, Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes. The gold framed marriage certificate of Chief Justice and Mrs. Hughes is hanging in the Curator's Office. The certificate is signed by the clergyman, the Chief Justice's 'father. In the Hughes collection are valuable photographs, diplomas, medals and correspondence.

The American Revolution Bicentennial Administration has donated four sets of Franklin Mint Series: set of Commemorative Stamps, set of Silver Medallions, set of Pewter Medallions and set of Pewter Plates.

CONTRIBUTORS

Lauson H. Stone is a New York attorney and the son of Chief Justice Harlan F. Stone.

William F. Swindler is editor of the Yearbook and contributes an annual article.

Thomas E. Baynes is a member of the faculty of Nova University Center for the Study of Law, and was a Judicial Fellow, 1976-77.

Jeffrey B. Morris was a Judicial Fellow, 1976-77, and continues at the Court for 1977-78 as research associate in the office of the Administrative Assistant to the Chief Justice.

E. Barrett Prettyman, Jr. is a District of Columbia attorney and author of a 1961 book, Death and the Supreme Court.

Eberhard B. Deutsch is a New Orleans attorney who has written a number of popular articles on legal history.

Charles Henry Butler was a Reporter for the Court and author of the book, A Century at the Bar of the Supreme Court of the United States.

Robert W. Langran is chairman of the department of political science at Villanova University.

C. Waller Barrett is a student of legal history who lives in Charlottesville, Va.

J. Myron Jacobstein is Law Librarian at Stanford University.

Joan S. Howland is reference librarian, Stanford Law Library.

William H. Press is Executive Director of the Supreme Court Historical Society.

Gail Galloway administers the Curator's Office in the Supreme Court.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

American Bar Association for permission to reprint the article on the Langles cenotaph by Eberhard Deutsch which originally appeared, in part, in the ABA Journal.

Dialectic Literary Society Collection at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, for the photograph of their portrait of George Edmund Badger.

Gibbs Art Gallery, Charleston, South Carolina, for the photograph of William Smith.

Elaine Kern, of the firm of Deutsch, Kerrigan and Stiles, New Orleans, for the photographs of the Langles cenotaph.

Library of Congress for the photographs of Rutherford B. Hayes, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, John Sherman, George Woodward and the Signing of the Constitution.

Maryland Historical Society, for the photograph of Hezekiah Niles.

National Geographic Society for the photographs used to introduce the departments "De Minimis" and "The Supreme Court in Current Literature."

National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution for the photographs from their collection of Theodosia Burr Alston, William Peter Van Ness and General James Wilkinson.

New Jersey Historical Society for the photograph of Aaron Burr.

New Orleans Blueprint Company for the print of the front page of the "Daily Picayune" of July 7, 1898.

Ohio Historical Society for the photograph of Harman Blennerhasset.

Supreme Court of the United States, Office of the Curator, for the cover portrait, formal individual and group photographs of past Supreme Court Justices and selections from their collection of cartoons.

H. Stewart Treviranus for photographs of portraits from the collection at the United States Department of Justice of the following Attorneys General: Felix Grundy, Henry D. Gilpin, John J. Crittenden, Hugh S. Legare, John Nelson, John Y. Mason, Isaac Toucey, Reverdy Johnson, Caleb Cushing, Edward Bates and Ebenezer Hoar.

WQED, Pittsburgh for pictures of the characters from the film series "Equal Justice Under Law."

PUBLICATIONS of the Supreme Court Historical Society

The primary objective of the Supreme Court Historical Society is to provide a broad selection of informative material to the public generally as well as to the professional and scholarly world. The Society has initiated or projected a number of publications programs to implement this process, which are described in the following prospectus:

I. Periodicals

Newsletter of the Supreme Court Historzcal Society, issued quarterly; primarily for members and others tlirectly interested in the Society program

Yearbook, issued annually; intended for general readers, featuring articles and illustrations on persons and events in the history of the Court

II. Special Studies, primarily for professional and scholarly researchers

Collections of the Supreme Court Historical Society, issued occasionally; selected historical materials annotated and reprinted in more readily accessible form; the first number, expected to be published during the winter of 1977-78, is:

Magna Carte Documents, a collection of materials illustrating the development of the Great Charter as an element of the medieval English constitution and subsequently a frame of reference for modern English and American constitutional principles

Contributions of the Supreme Court Historical Society, issued occasionally as original research into selected areas of Supreme Court history is completed. The continuing research program on the DocumentaTy History of the Supreme Court, 1789-1800, will be a prototype for such volumes.

Service Publications, issued occasionally as work is completed. These are intended as a service to scholars and researchers. In 1978 this series is expected to feature a Calendar of Opinions of Supreme Court Justices, 1789-1900.

III. General Publications, occasionally published in cooperation with another agency or distributed by the Society through arrangement with another agency.

Magna Carta and the Tradition of Liberty, an illustrated booklet prepared in cooperation with the U.S. Capitol Historical Society and supported by the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration

Equal Justice Under Law, an illustrated booklet published by the Federal Bar Association and distributed by the Association and the Society