Collections : [Virginia State Law Library, Supreme Court of Virginia]

Oral history interview of John T. Tucker, III, Norfolk State University Dean, at the Supreme Court of Virginia in Richmond, June 25, 2018. He talks about his family, growing up in Richmond and Henrico County, attending Catholic schools in Richmond and Henrico High School and the University of Virginia and University of Richmond. He discusses his experiences clerking for Judge Lawrence Koontz and the early history of the Court of Appeals, his philosophy of management, working with the judges of the Court of Appeals, and preparing for a second career as a deacon in the Catholic Church.

In this interview, Mrs. Walden discusses her family and her childhood in rural Nansemond County, with a particular focus on her education in a two-room primary school and the Nansemond County Training School, where she graduated in 1938. She also describes the education of her children, who faced educational experiences similar to her own. Mrs. Walden was part of the Parent-Teacher Association, who, with the support of the NAACP, filed a lawsuit for the equalization of schools.

Oral history interview with five of the ten judges who sat on the Court of Appeals of Virginia when it was founded in 1985: James W. Benton, Jr., Sam W. Coleman, III, Barbara M. Keenan, Lawrence W. Koontz, and Norman K. Moon. Moderated by Cassandra Newby-Alexander, Professor of History at Norfolk State University. Recorded at the Community Idea Staions in Richmond. Transcript available.

Commission to Suggest Changes in the Virginia Constitution records documenting the work of the commission from 1926-1927. Contains meeting minutes, correspondence, reports, press release, suggested amendments, drafts, notes, a transcript of public hearing about proposed amendments, a pamphlet summarizing a survey, initiated by the Office of the Governor, of county and city government in other states; newspaper clippings, and two speeches. Contains correspondence between Chief Justice Robert Prentis, Chair of the Commission, and Governor Harry F. Byrd, and with Congressmen R. Walton Moore (8th District), commission member Robert M. Hughes, as well as letters from lawyers, state officials and delegates, commenting on proposed amendments. Also contains correspondence pertaining to press relations and public hearings, printed reports of the commission and drafting committee, a statement from Robert Tunstall, 1926; and a report, "Organization and Management of the State Government of Virginia: Report on a Survey made for the Governor and his Committee on Consolidation and Simplification," issued by the New York Bureau of Municipal Research, January 1927.

The collection contains video recordings of judges' personal remembrances of Chief Justice Hassell, recorded at the Virginia Judicial Conference of Virginia in Roanoke, Virginia, in May 2011 and the Virginia Judicial Conference for District Court Judges in Virginia Beach, Virginia, in August 2011. Two additional interviews were recorded at the Supreme Court Building in Richmond in June 2011. Transcript available.

The collection contains letters to the Supreme Court of Appeals from individuals seeking certification to take the written bar exam, 1897-1909. Most letters include character references from members of the bar in the applicant's local court. For some applicants, the only record is a letter requesting the transfer of the file to Staunton or Wytheville.

State Law Librarian Correspondence, 1932-1979, contains correspondence with Supreme Court of Appeals justices, 1932-1979, as follows: George L. Browning, 1932-1947; Archibald C. Buchanan, 1953-1964; Preston W. Campbell, 1935-1946; Herbert B. Gregory, 1933-1950; Henry Holt, 1935-1947; Edward W. Hudgins, 1931-1958, Willis D. Miller, 1952-1960, Lemuel F. Smith, 1952-1957; C. Vernon Spratley, 1936-1974, and Kennon C. Whittle, 1951-1965. Most of the correspondence pertains to justices' requests for reference materials from the library. A portion of the correspondence from the period 1932-1961, during Lloyd Richards' tenure as state law librarian, is more personal and contains additional information about the court and the justices.

The collection (not comprehensive) contains oaths of office of Supreme Court justices between 1935 and 2012. The collection also contains the oaths taken by Supreme Court Clerk Maury B. Watts, 1937; Deputy Clerk Bryan L. Clarke, 1957; Clerk Allen L. Lucy, 1977; Attorney General Kenneth C. Patty, 1957; and J. Lindsay Almond, Roanoke (city) Hustings Court judge, 1941.