Arrangement: chronological.

Papers (bulk dates 1915-1917, 1920, 1933-1946) of O. Max Gardner, primarily documenting his law practice and political career in Washington, D.C. Materials also pertain to Gardner's early practice in Shelby, N.C., and to his business and farm affairs there. The papers comprise mostly political and legal correspondence, with considerable business and very limited personal correspondence; legal documents; financial records; and political campaign materials. Topics include the state and national Democratic Party and government in North Carolina, 1901-1947; Gardner's campaigns for and terms as lieutenant governor and governor of North Carolina; New Deal politics in Washington, D.C.; responses to the National Recovery Act (especially the Wagner Act) and tax legislation by the textile industry, soft-drink industry, aviation industry, and other industries; strikes at the Cleveland Cloth Mills in the 1930s; the 1937 Supreme Court controversy; consolidation of the University of North Carolina; the outbreak of World War II; and United States economic policy.

Researchers, especially those interested in legal cases, should search all years in which relevant documents dated prior to litigation may occur. For additional political papers of O. Max Gardner, see Series 2; for additional legal papers, see Series 3.

Papers, 1906-1911, are letters, legal documents, and miscellaneous items relating to Gardner's law practice in Shelby, N.C.; his work for the State Democratic Executive Committee; and land he and others purchased in Cleveland County, N.C.

Materials, 1915-1917 and 1919-1928, concern Gardner's early political career; his law practice in Shelby, N.C.; and his farming and business interests. Political papers include correspondence, 1916, with administrators at the North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts concerning hiring decisions at the school; correspondence, 1916-1917 and 1919-1920, with supporters during his runs for lieutenant governor and governor; correspondence, 1917 and 1919-1920, as lieutenant governor concerning legislation, public works, and political affairs; correspondence, 1917, relating to the Selective Service Legal Advisory Board; office records of Gardner's 1920 campaign headquarters in Shelby, N.C., and Raleigh, N.C.; and scattered letters, 1921-1928, concerning the 1924 gubernatorial race, the National Democratic Convention, the North Carolina State Fair Association, the North Carolina State Board of Agriculture, and Gardner's nomination for governor in 1928. Legal papers include correspondence with clients and colleagues (including law partners J. A. Anthony and Charles A. Burrus), and deeds, depositions, petitions, and other documents. Business papers are mostly receipts and correspondence with suppliers and buyers for Gardner's lumber, textile, real estate, investment, and farming activities in Shelby, N.C. Correspondents of note are S. B. Alexander, Josiah W. Bailey, William T. Bost, W. T. Chambliss, Hugh Chatham, Josephus Daniels, John W. Hanes, Claude Kitchin, Angus McLean, Odus M. Mull, and Robert Reynolds. There are family letters from Gardner's niece, Mary Ivey Gardner Beck of Morton, Wash., mostly discussing her financial difficulties. Of interest is a letter, 19 July 1927, from O. Max Gardner to his father-in-law, James L. Webb, describing a trip to England and Holland.

Papers, 1929-January 1932, are principally Gardner's correspondence as governor. They discuss legislation, political campaigns and political organizing in North Carolina, and as well as Gardner's future plans. A handful of personal letters are from Fay Gardner, Ralph Gardner, and Bess Gardner Hoey, who wrote giving news of family members. Bess Hoey's letters often discuss the financial difficulties of Mary Ivey Gardner Beck. Much of the correspondence in 1932 is that of Edwin M. Gill on behalf of Gardner (see Series 2.4.4 for similar correspondence). Of note among Gardner's correspondents are Josiah W. Bailey, Charles A. Burrus, Josephus Daniels, John W. Hanes, Angus McLean, Cameron Morrison, and Curtis B. Johnson. Filed with the undated material are a few biographical sketches and brochures.

Almost half of the papers, 1933-1943, are pleas received by Gardner for political patronage or favors. The remaining materials comprise correspondence, legal briefs, clippings, and other items relating to Gardner's work as counsel for the Rayon Manufacturers of America, the Cotton Textile Institute, Inc., the Coca-Cola Company, the Aeronautics Chamber of Commerce of America, the Aviation Corporation, and other clients; correspondence with the managers (including James Gardner) of the Cleveland Cloth Mills; and correspondence with politicians, educators, and others concerning North Carolina politics, national politics, consolidation of the University of North Carolina, the endowment and operation of Gardner-Webb College, and World War II economic policy. Frequent correspondents are Graham Anthony, Josiah W. Bailey, William T. Bost, N. E. Burgess, Harry Byrd, W. J. Carter, Norman Cocke, Josephus Daniels, J. C. B. Ehringhaus, Victor Emanuel, James A. Farley, Walter F. George, Edwin M. Gill, Ben Gossett, Frank P. Graham, John W. Hanes, Robert M. Hanes, Clyde R. Hoey, Baxter Jackson, H. Wiseman Kendall, Thurman Kitchin, Russell Leonard, Harold McGuire, Holt McPherson, Julian S. Miller, Fred W. Morrison, Odus M. Mull, Drew Pearson, W. S. Pepperell, Harry Reimer, Robert Reynolds, George Rogers, Seymour Sheriff, Robert Stevens, Vernon Taylor, Zeno Wall, Lindsay Warren, Lee Weathers, Edwin Yates Webb, James E. Webb, and Robert Woodruff. Occasional family letters were exchanged with Ralph Gardner, Fay Gardner, Bess Gardner Hoey, James Gardner, and Gardner's niece, Mary Ivey Gardner Beck, who wrote concerning financial woes and poor state of the lumber industry in Morton, Wash.

Papers, 1944-1946, are mostly correspondence and other papers relating to the business of the Advisory Board of the United States Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion, Gardner's work as undersecretary of the United States Treasury, and cases handled by Gardner, Morrison & Rogers. Other correspondence is similar to that for 1933-1943 and includes many of the same correspondents. Letters also discuss many of the same topics, including Gardner-Webb College, consolidation of the University of North Carolina, the William Hayes Ackland estate case, North Carolina politics and national politics, operations at the Cleveland Cloth Mills, and Gardner's other business interests in Shelby, N.C. There are scattered family letters from Ralph Gardner, James Gardner, O. Max Gardner, Jr., and Madge Webb Riley that concern family news, finances, and politics.

Arrangement: by type.

Speeches, 1905-1947; publicity items, 1929-1947; correspondence, 1942-1947; and subject files, 1920-1947, pertaining to the political career of O. Max Gardner. Items document most fully Gardner's term as governor of North Carolina and his decision whether or not to run for the United States Senate in 1944. The papers also provide glimpses into his work for the State Democratic Executive Committee, 1908-1915 (Series 2.1); Gardner's thoughts on World War I domestic policies; his term as lieutenant governor, 1916-1920 (Series 2.1); his gubernatorial campaigns, 1920 and 1928 (Series 2.1 and 2.4.4); his work as a lawyer in Washington, D.C., 1933-1942 (Series 2.1, 2.3.1, and 2.4.4); his service as chair of the United States Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion's Advisory Board, 1945-1946 (Series 2.3.1 and 2.4.1); his term as undersecretary of the United States Treasury, 1946 (Series 2.3.2 and 2.4.2); and his brief time as ambassador to England, 1946-1947 (Series 2.3.2 and 2.4.3). Other topics include state and national political races; Gardner-Webb College; consolidation of the University of North Carolina; the textile industry; the William Hayes Ackland estate case; Gardner's business and civic affairs in Shelby, N.C.; and United States economic policy. Important correspondents are William T. Bost, J. Melville Broughton, Don Elias, Walter F. George, Edwin M. Gill, Ben Gossett, Clyde R. Hoey, H. Wiseman Kendall, Holt McPherson, Julian S. Miller, Odus M. Mull, D. Hiden Ramsey, Harry Riemer, Lee Weathers, and R. E. Williams.

Arrangement: by firm.

Files (bulk 1919-1930) from O. Max Gardner's Shelby, N.C., law firm, and files, 1937, 1941-1946, from his Washington, D.C., practice, Gardner, Morrison & Rogers. The Shelby files are principally those of Gardner's partner, Charles A. Burrus. They document family law, debt collection, and estate settlements in Cleveland County, N.C., and surrounding counties, and litigation of corporate cases in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee. The papers include correspondence; research materials; legal documents; and scattered financial records for the firm and for O. Max Gardner, Fay Gardner, and James Gardner (Burrus was a financial representative of the Gardner family). Items relating to Gardner, Morrison & Rogers are primarily billing records and files on the settlement of the William Hayes Ackland estate case. Additional files document litigation relating to the textile industry, railroad industry, utilities industry, and other industries.

Researchers are advised to search all years thought germane to a particular case or individual. Related legal papers are also scattered throughout the chronological files in Series 1.

Arrangement: by type.

Records, 1935-1947, of the Cleveland Cloth Mills, and a subject file, 1931-1947, and correspondence file, 1945-1947, relating to the business and personal affairs of O. Max Gardner. Mill records, maintained separately by O. Max Gardner and James Gardner, document the mill's financing, operations, management, sales, litigation, and eventual sale in 1946, as well as the activities of its New York sales office and of a possible subsidiary, Carter Fabrics Corporation of Greensboro, N.C. Subject and correspondence files document the personal finances of the Gardner family and the operation of the Gardner Foundation, Inc., the Gardner Land Company, and the Sperry Corporation. There is also some information on the World War II service of O. Max Gardner, Jr., and Ralph Gardner; on Ralph Gardner's political career; on James Gardner's death in 1946; and on O. Max Gardner's appointment as ambassador to England.

Arrangement: by individual.

Correspondence and miscellaneous papers (event programs, clippings, etc.), 1905-1959, of Fay Webb Gardner, with scattered correspondence and miscellaneous papers, 1923-1948, of her sons Ralph Gardner, James Webb Gardner, and O. Max Gardner, Jr. Fay Gardner's papers, mostly correspondence, document her role as a political wife; her work with women's organizations in Shelby, N.C., Raleigh, N.C., and Washington, D.C.; her relationships with friends and Gardner and Webb family members in Shelby, N.C., and across North Carolina and in Lousana, Alberta, Canada; O. Max Gardner's political career; tributes to O. Max Gardner; and Fay Gardner's political and civic activities after his death. Other topics in the letters are courtship and marriage; student life at the University of North Carolina and at Yale University Law School; the State Democratic Executive Committee; life in the executive mansion in Raleigh, N.C.; summer camp in Asheville, N.C.; Washington, D.C., politics; the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt; and Ralph Gardner's election to the North Carolina General Assembly, 1939.

A few letters are addressed to Fay's mother, Kansas Webb (Mrs. James L. Webb) and to her aunt, Madge Webb Riley, in Shelby, N.C., from friends and relatives. The papers of Ralph Gardner, James Gardner, and O. Max Gardner, Jr., describe Gardner family events; United States Army training in World War II; North Carolina politics; Gardner-Webb College; the Cleveland Cloth Mills; the Gardner Land Company; and the Cleveland Realty Company.

Arrangement: chronological.

Papers, 1940-1947 and undated, maintained by O. Max Gardner in his capacity as a benefactor and trustee of Gardner-Webb College in Boiling Springs, N.C. (formerly Boiling Springs Junior College), and scattered papers, 1947-1961 and undated, of O. Max Gardner, Jr., and Fay Gardner concerning the school.

The bulk of the papers are O. Max Gardner's correspondence with school supporters and administrators discussing fundraising efforts and, to some extent, staffing decisions and construction and maintenance projects. Letters, along with scattered financial records, including audits and contributors' lists, shed light on the early endowment of Gardner-Webb and on O. Max Gardner's pivotal role in developing it. Additional items include a few legal papers documenting the beginnings of the school, clippings, school bulletins, committee reports, and programs from school events.

Post-1947 items include a few letters of O. Max Gardner, Jr., and Fay Gardner concerning financial support of the college; a handful of school event programs and clippings; and a few items pertaining to the dedication of the O. Max Gardner Memorial Student Building in 1948.

Arrangement: chronological.

Political and business correspondence and scattered financial records, 1930-1931, 1936-1938, 1940, 1942, and undated, of Odus M. Mull of Shelby, N.C. Most items, 1930-1936, pertain to Mull's work with the State Democratic Executive Committee, of which he twice served as chair. Letters after 1936, though having some political content, primarily relate to Mull's interests in the Cleveland Cloth Mills and the Cleveland Realty Company in Shelby, N.C.

Mull's political correspondents include members of the State Democratic Executive Committee, state and federal Democratic Party representatives, and other North Carolina political figures, including Cameron Morrison, Clyde R. Hoey, William B. Umstead, J. Wallace Winborne, W. Kerr Scott, Cale K. Burgess, Robert M. Hanes, O. Max Gardner, and A. J. Maxwell. Topics are State Democratic Executive Committee business and finances; State Democratic Executive Committee organizing efforts; political campaigns, especially that of Clyde R. Hoey for North Carolina governor in 1936; and road and highway improvements. Of particular interest is a series of letters, October 1930, from D. F. Batts, a field organizer, written to Committee Secretary W. P. Horton, reporting Batts's work on getting out the vote for the 1930 North Carolina Congressional elections. Scattered items (mostly bank books, purchase orders, and financial reports by Mull) pertain to the Committee's finances. Also of interest is a 1938 speech on the effect of the liquor question on the Democratic Party.

Mull's business correspondence, late 1936-1942, much of it with O. Max Gardner, discusses the operation of the Cleveland Cloth Mills and the Cleveland Realty Company in Shelby.

Arrangement: chronological.

Correspondence and miscellaneous papers of Isaac C. Griffin of Shelby, N.C., generated in his capacity as chair of the North Carolina State Fuel Administration's Local Fuel Committee for Cleveland County, N.C., and as superintendent of the Shelby Public Schools. Early papers, January 1917-May 1918, pertain to Griffin's wartime service as county fuel committee chair and include correspondence with businessmen and state and town officials, scattered circulars and pamphlets, fuel surveys, fuel supplier reports, and press releases. Papers, June-November 1918, document the operation, staffing, funding, and maintenance of the Shelby Public Schools and include limited correspondence with students and faculty members, textbook publishers, service providers, and state educational officials. A few letters and other items in 1918 relate to programs given by the Men's Bible Class of the First Baptist Church of Shelby.

Arrangement: chronological.

Two picture albums, 1927 and 1928-1933, compiled by Fay Webb Gardner; 168 photographs, 1892-1949 and undated, almost all black and white, including snapshots, portraits, and team, group, and individual photographs; one colored pencil sketch, 1931; and two undated color postcards. The albums document a trip to Germany and England taken by O. Max Gardner and Fay Gardner and Gardner's years as governor of North Carolina. The bulk of the photographs are from 1900-1906, 1929-1939, and 1946. Most of the early photographs are from O. Max Gardner's college years. They document his participation in football, dramatic arts, and academic pursuits at the North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts and the University of North Carolina. The remainder of the photographs pertain to his political and legal career as lieutenant governor and governor of North Carolina, as a lawyer in Washington, D.C., as a member of the Advisory Board of the United States Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion, as undersecretary of the United States Treasury, and as ambassador-elect to England. Gardner family items are scattered throughout.

Note that many other photographs may be found in scrapbooks compiled by Fay Gardner (Series 10).

Arrangement: chronological.

Notebooks, 1900-1924, kept by O. Max Gardner as an undergraduate, 1900-1903, at the North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts; as a law student, 1905-1906, at the University of North Carolina; and during his early political career, 1907-1924. Also included are scrapbooks kept by Fay Gardner that chiefly document O. Max Gardner's political career, the Gardner family, O. Max Gardner's death, and tributes to him.