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Collection Number: 03482

Collection Title: E. Y. Webb Papers (#3482) 1901-1955

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.


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Size 12.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 8,000 items)
Abstract Edwin Yates Webb of Shelby, Cleveland County, N.C., a lawyer, was Democratic Party United States Representative for the Ninth North Carolina District (Burke, Cleveland, Catawba, Lincoln, Gaston, and Mecklenburg counties), 1903-1919, and United States judge for the Western District of North Carolina, 1919-1948. The collection contains primarily correspondence documenting Webb's career in Congress and on the bench. Congressional correspondence concerns the interests of constituents; prohibition, of which Webb was a leading advocate; agricultural and labor legislation; the tariff; nativism; women's suffrage; pure food and drug laws; issues surrounding World War I; Democratic Party politics; Webb's re-election campaigns; and other matters. Beginning in 1919, correspondence relates to law; the judiciary; politics; civic and personal concerns, including Gardner-Webb College; and national, state, and local prohibition. Also included are papers relating to bankruptcy proceedings against the Atlantic and Yadkin Railway Company. Prominent correspondents include Odus M. Mull, Webb's law partner in Shelby, N.C.; Charles A. Jonas; Robert N. Page; Herbert L. Davis; Josiah W. Bailey; David Clark; Heriot Clarkson; Henry Groves Connor; Josephus Daniels; O. Max Gardner; Wade Hampton Harris; Clyde R. Hoey; Claude Kitchin; Isaac M. Meekins; Lee S. Overman; John J. Parker; Clarence H. Poe; William Louis Poteat; Joseph Hyde Pratt; Daniel A. Tompkins; and Woodrow Wilson.
Creator Web, E. Y. (Edwin Yates), 1872-1955.
Curatorial Unit Southern Historical Collection
Language English.
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Restrictions to Access
No restrictions. Open for research.
Copyright Notice
Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], in the E. Y. Webb Papers #3482, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Provenance
Received from Elizabeth Yates Webb Veatch of Washington, D.C., in May 1960.
Sensitive Materials Statement
Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.
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The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Biographical Information

Edwin Yates Webb (23 May 1872-7 February 1955) of Shelby, N.C., graduated from Wake Forest College in 1893. He took a law degree from the University of North Carolina in 1894 and passed the bar examination in 1896. He then studied constitutional law at the University of Virginia. In 1898, Webb was chair of the Cleveland County, N.C., Democratic Executive Committee. From 1900 until 1902, he was a state senator from Cleveland County. Webb served as a Democratic member of the United States Congress from March 1903 until November 1919, when President Woodrow Wilson appointed him district judge of the Western District of North Carolina. He served as district judge until 1 March 1948.

Webb's parents were Reverend George M. Webb, a Baptist minister, and Priscilla Jane Blanton Webb. His first wife was Willie Simmons of Wake Forest, N.C., with whom he had three children: Elizabeth Y., Edwin Y., and William Y. Willie Simmons Webb died in 1923. In 1928, Webb married Alice Pender Taylor of Tarboro, N.C. She had two children from a previous marriage.

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Correspondence and other papers of E. Y. Webb, chiefly during his service as member of the United States Congress, 1903-1919, and as federal district court judge, 1919-1948. There is little correspondence for the years 1901-1907 or 1948-1955.

Congressional correspondence concerns the interests of constituents; prohibition, of which Webb was a leading advocate; agricultural laws and legislation; labor laws and legislation; the tariff; nativism; women's suffrage; pure food and drug laws; issues surrounding World War I; Democratic Party politics; Webb's re-election campaigns; and other matters. Webb's friends, constituents, political supporters, and fellow attorneys wrote to him offering views on issues before Congress. Several items, 1915-1920, concern the passage of the 19th Amendment, against which Webb successfully mounted delaying actions, using his position as member and then chair of the House Judiciary Committee.

Beginning in 1919, correspondence relates to law; the judiciary; politics; civic and personal concerns, including Gardner-Webb College; and national, state, and local prohibition. Also included in the collection are papers relating to bankruptcy proceedings against the Atlantic and Yadkin Railway Company.

Correspondents include Odus M. Mull, Webb's law partner in Shelby, N.C.; Charles A. Jonas; Robert N. Page; Herbert L. Davis; Josiah W. Bailey; David Clark; Heriot Clarkson; Henry Groves Connor; Josephus Daniels; O. Max Gardner; Wade Hampton Harris; Clyde R. Hoey; Claude Kitchin; Isaac M. Meekins; Lee S. Overman; John J. Parker; Clarence H. Poe; William Louis Poteat; Joseph Hyde Pratt; Daniel A. Tompkins; and Woodrow Wilson.

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Contents list

expand/collapse Expand/collapse Papers, 1901-1955.

About 8,000 items (12.5 linear feet).

Arrangement: chronological.

Correspondence and other papers of E. Y. Webb, chiefly during his service as member of Congress, 1903-1919, and as federal district court judge, 1919-1948. There is little correspondence for the years 1901-1907 and 1948-1955.

Congressional correspondence concerns the interests of constituents; prohibition, of which Webb was a leading advocate; agricultural laws and legislations; labor laws and legislation; the tariff; nativism, women's suffrage; pure food and drug laws; issues surrounding World War I; Democratic Party politics; Webb's re-election campaigns; and other matters. There are only a few letters representing Webb's first year in Congress and none at all for the years 1904-1905 or for 1907. Webb's friends, constituents, political supporters, and fellow attorneys wrote to him offering views on issues before Congress. Letters, 1908-1912, discuss the proposed Kings Mountain monument, Catholic political power in America, pure food and drug legislation, labor legislation, anti-liquor measures, the parcel post bill before Congress, the interstate commerce act, proposed income tax legislation, the Agricultural Extension Bill, the Ogden movement and southern education matters, the tariff, and other matters. Letters, 1913-1917, address issues related to the war in Europe, as well as national problems such as the business depression, immigration, and child labor legislation.

Letters in 1917 discuss Webb's vote against President Wilson's declaration of war and Webb's efforts to have enacted a law to prevent manufacture of cereals and grain into liquor during World War I. Several items, 1915-1920, concern the passage of the 19th Amendment, against which Webb successfully mounted delaying actions, using his position as member and then chair of the House Judiciary Committee.

The papers especially depict North Carolina Democratic Party politics during the period, 1908-1919, and agitation for prohibition measures, for which Webb conducted a vigorous battle throughout his public life. Letters written at election time often mention alleged tactics of the Republican Party. In 1918, Webb's election opponent was Charles A. Jonas of Lincolnton, N.C., who became a correspondent of Webb's in the 1930s. Jonas's campaign was reported to be financed by John Motley Morehead, a charge which the Democrats of the Ninth District had made on a number of previous occasions against Webb's Republican opponents. Odus M. Mull, Webb's law partner in Shelby, N.C., frequently wrote to Webb about political conditions in Shelby.

Beginning in 1919, correspondence relates to law; the judiciary; politics; civic and personal concerns, including Gardner-Webb College; and national, state, and local prohibition. Correspondence, 1925-1928, is dominated by Webb's efforts to have another judicial district established in North Carolina because of the large load of cases in Webb's court. In the early 1930s, Webb was a leader in the fight to get Judge John J. Parker of Charlotte, N.C., appointed to the United States Supreme Court. Other items from the 1930s reflect Webb's concern over the agitation to repeal the 18th Amendment and his work in western North Carolina to keep as many counties "dry" as possible.

Correspondents include Odus M. Mull, Webb's law partner in Shelby, N.C.; Charles A. Jonas; Robert N. Page; Herbert L. Davis; Josiah W. Bailey; David Clark; Heriot Clarkson; Henry Groves Connor; Josephus Daniels; O. Max Gardner; Wade Hampton Harris; Clyde R. Hoey; Claude Kitchin; Isaac M. Meekins; Lee S. Overman; John J. Parker; Clarence H. Poe; William Louis Poteat; Joseph Hyde Pratt; Daniel A. Tompkins; and Woodrow Wilson.

There are three folders of miscellaneous papers, which contain drafts of speeches favoring prohibition, legal papers, a few undated letters, and other items. The last five folders contain legal papers relating to bankruptcy proceedings against the Atlantic and Yadkin Railway Company.

Box 1

Biographical sketches

Printed pictures of E. Y. Webb

1901-1909

Box 2

January-October 1910

Box 3

November 1910-March 1912

Box 4

April 1912-June 1913

Box 5

July 1913-13 February 1914

Box 6

14 February-23 March 1914

Box 7

24 March-15 April 1914

Box 8

16 April-11 May 1914

Box 9

12 May-17 June 1914

Box 10

18 June-31 December 1914

Box 11

January-August 1915

Box 12

September 1915-January 1916

Box 13

February 1916-July 1916

Box 14

August-October 1916

Box 15

November 1916-March 1917

Box 16

April-May 1917

Box 17

June 1917-December 1919

Box 18

January 1920-December 1922

Box 19

January 1923-December 1926

Box 20

January 1927-February 1932

Box 21

March 1932-September 1934

Box 22

October 1934-June 1938

Box 23

July 1938-July 1942

Box 24

August 1942-December 1948

Box 25

January 1949-1955

Miscellaneous papers

Atlantic and Yadkin Railway bankruptcy, 1924-1929

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