Inventory of the James Robert Hamilton Papers, 1828-1927
Collection Number 3923
Manuscripts Department, University Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Collection Information
- Contact Information:
- Manuscripts Department
- CB#3926, Wilson Library
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Chapel Hill, NC 27514-8890
- Phone: 919/962-1345
- Fax: 919/962-3594
- Email: mss@email.unc.edu
- URL: http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/
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Descriptive Summary
- Repository
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
- Creator
- Hamilton, James Robert, 1860-1933.
- Title
- James Robert Hamilton Papers, 1828-1927
- Call Number
- 3923
- Language of Materials
- Materials in English
- Extent
-
- Items: About 110
- Linear Feet: 0.5
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Administrative Information
- Restrictions to Access
- This collection has restrictions to access. Please see details below or contact the Manuscripts Department for more information.
- Acquisitions Information
- Received as an indefinite loan from Mrs. Hugh F. Oates of Chapel Hill, N.C., in April 1917.
- Processing Information
- Processed by: Suzanne Ruffing, September 1996
- Encoded by: Eben Lehman, March 2006
- This collection was processed with support from the Randleigh Foundation Trust.
- Preferred Citation
- [Identification of item], in the James Robert Hamilton Papers #3923, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
- Copyright Notice
- Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Online Catalog Headings
These and related materials may be found under the following headings in online catalogs.
- Hamilton, James Robert, 1860-1933.
- Ku Klux Klan (1915- )--History.
- Ku Klux Klan (1915- )--Texas--Trials, litigation, etc.
- Desertion and non-support--Texas--History.
- Distilling, Illicit--Texas--History.
- Grand jury--Texas--History.
- Judges--Texas--History.
- Liquor laws.
Biographical Note
James Robert Hamilton, born 24 February 1860 in Franklin County, Tenn., moved to Williamson County, Tex., with his widowed mother, Mrs. S. A. Hamilton, in 1874 when she brought her three children there. He was graduated from Southwestern University of Georgetown in 1883 and the University of Texas Law School in 1885.
Hamilton served for ten years as district attorney and fourteen years as district judge of criminal court for Travis and Williamson counties, Tex. Hamilton served as city recorder at Austin, county judge, and chair of the executive committee of the Democratic Party of Travis County. He was a candidate for Congress in the primary election of 1926. He lived most of his life in Austin, Tex., and died there on 5 April 1933.
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Scattered papers, correspondence, and other items of politician and lawyer James Robert Hamilton of Austin, Tex., principally relating to his political and legal career, especially his charges to grand juries to investigate the Ku Klux Klan, 1921-1922; bootleggers; and deserters of children. It includes two scrapbooks of clippings, 1881-1916 and 1921-1927, concerning his public life.
Back to TopArrangement of Collection
-
1. Papers
2. Scrapbooks
3. Pictures
Items Separated
-
Oversize volumes (V-3923/S-2)
Photographs (P-3923/1-8)
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Detailed Description of the Collection
1. Papers, 1878-1926.
About 100 items.
Arrangement: chronological.
Prior to 1921, the papers include a poem, 1878, political circulars, 1902 and 1906, and a circular letter, 1912, to the Class
of 1883 of Southwestern University, Georgetown, Tex. In 1921 begin letters received by Hamilton concerning his charge to the
grand jury about investigating the Ku Klux Klan and a typescript copy of this charge. There is also a typed 1921 report from
the grand jury to the judge concerning a specific case of Klan violence. Letters from 1922 are also about the Ku Klux Klan,
but mention, too, the possibility of Hamilton's running for governor, certain murder cases, and Hamilton's charge to the grand
jury about bootleggers and parents who desert their children.
Letters after 1923 continue as before and include congratulations on convictions in Williamson County, the work of the grand
jury, the candidacy of District Attorney Dan Moody for state attorney general; Hamilton's reelection to Criminal District
Court; and Hamilton's candidacy for Congress in the summer primary, 1926. There is a letter, 1923, from Jessie Daniel Ames
about the Texas League of Women Voters. Also included is a tribute, 1924, to Hamilton at his last court before leaving office.
Among the undated letters is an anti-Klan poem.
Pamphlets in Folder 6 consist of the "Constitution and By-Laws of the Rusk Literary Society of the University of Texas, Austin," for which Hamilton was committee chair, 1886; "Rules and Regulations Adopted by the Executive Committee of Travis County
for Holding Primary Elections," 14 June 1902, Austin; "The Unveiling of the Ku Klux Klan" by W. C. Witcher, undated; the Haldeman-Julius Monthly, September 1926, with an article by Marcet Haldeman-Julius on "J. Frank Norris--Shooting Salvationist"; and the Texas Tax Journal, October 1927, with an article "Judge James R. Hamilton's Opinion Means Much to Texas Taxpayers."
Also included are circulars, cards, and newspaper reprints on Hamilton's congressional primary campaign in 1926.
Folder
11878-1912
Folder
2-31921
Folder
41922
Folder
51923-1926 and undated
Folder
6Pamphlets
Folder
7Congressional Campaign of 1926
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2. Scrapbooks, 1881-1927.
2 items.
Arrangement: chronological.
Note that these two volumes are extremely fragile; please handle with care.
Folder
8Volume 1: 1881-1916 and undated, 142 pp.
Clippings concerning Hamilton's activities and speeches he made at Southwestern University, 1881-1883; his candidacy for district
judge of criminal court, 1902; people, trial cases, and local county politics in which he was interested; and collected verses,
essays, and other items.
Volume S-2: 1921-1927 and undated, 100 pp.
Clippings on reactions of the public and press to Hamilton's charge to grand juries, 1921-1922; murder cases of interest to
Hamilton; political campaigns and issues in Texas, 1924-1926, particularly his own and that of Dan Moody for state attorney
general; and an investigation, 1925, Hamilton called for of Governor Miriam A. Ferguson and other state officials.
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3. Pictures, 1910-1925.
8 items.
Arrangement: chronological.
Image
P-3923/1Photograph of James R. Hamilton, circa 1910-1920.
Image
P-3923/2-3Photographs of James R. Hamilton, circa 1915-1925.
Image
P-3923/4Photograph of James R. Hamilton presiding in court, circa 1920-1930.
Image
P-3923/5Photograph of a group of men including Hamilton, in front of the Travis County Courthouse, Austin Tex., looking at confiscated
bootleg whiskey and a still apparatus, 1923.
Image
P-3923/6Photograph of a close up view of confiscated bootleg whiskey and still apparatus, 1922.
Image
P-3923/7Photograph of a group of fifteen men, circa 1920-1925.
Image
P-3923/8Postcard of a gathering of Ku Klux Klansmen and onlookers with caption: "Initiation--Dec. 8th, 1921--Houston Tex. Photo. by A. Kluker."
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