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Harold Hitz Burton papers

 Collection
Identifier: M024

  • Staff Only
  • Please use the Collection Organization section below to place requests.

Scope and Content

The collection consists of professional correspondence; documents concerning judicial opinions, including memoranda, drafts, and printed opinions; speeches and notes; clippings; ephemera; and photographs. Notable correspondents include Thomas C. Clark, William O. Douglas, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Felix Frankfurter, Harry S. Truman and Earl Warren.

Dates

  • Creation: 1927-1965, undated

Creator

Access Restrictions

No restrictions.

Biographical/Historical Note

Harold Hitz Burton (Bowdoin 1909) was born in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, on June 22, 1888. His father, Alfred Edgar Burton (Bowdoin 1878), Dean of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Bowdoin Overseer (1905-1935), accompanied Robert E. Peary on several North Pole expeditions. His mother, Gertrude Hitz, was daughter of the first Swiss Consul General to the United States. Burton's older brother, Felix Arnold Burton (Bowdoin 1907), designed the Alpha Delta Phi House (1924) and the Class of 1907 Gateway at Bowdoin. After graduating from Harvard Law School, Burton practiced corporate law in Cleveland, Ohio, and elsewhere. He served as an Ohio State Legislator (1929); Mayor of Cleveland (1935-1940); U.S. Senator from Ohio (1941-1945); and Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1945-1958). He taught for two years at Western Reserve University (1923-1925) and was a member of the Board of Overseers of Bowdoin College (1936-1964). In 1958 he was awarded the Bowdoin Prize. Burton married Selma Florence Smith in 1912. They had four children: Barbara, William (Bowdoin 1937), Deborah, and Robert (Bowdoin 1943). Harold Hitz Burton died of Parkinson's disease on October 28, 1964, in Washington, D.C.

Extent

2 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Harold Hitz Burton's papers comprising professional correspondence; documents concerning judicial opinions, including memoranda, drafts, and printed opinions; speeches and notes; clippings; ephemera; and photographs.

Arrangement

Organized into five series: Correspondence, 1933-1968, n.d.; Judicial Opinions, 1945-1957, n.d.; Speeches, 1927-1960, n.d.; Miscellaneous Material, 1918-1963, n.d.; and Photographs, 1943-1957, n.d.

Note

Seventy-six volumes from Harold Hitz Burton's library are cataloged separately as part of the George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives' rare book holdings.

Title
Guide to the Harold Hitz Burton Papers
Date
2011
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives, Bowdoin College Library, Brunswick, Maine 04011 Repository

Contact:
3000 College Station
Brunswick Maine 04011 USA
(207) 725-3288