The Library of Virginia
800 E. Broad Street
Richmond, Virginia 23219
http://www.lva.virginia.gov
Processed by: Jay Gaidmore
Date completed: 15 October 1999
Personal Papers Collection, Acc# 27922
Extent: 4.475 cubic feet
ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION
Provenance:
Gift of Dr. H. Norton Mason, 7 February 1973
Restrictions:
None
Preferred Citation:
H. Norton Mason. Papers, 1793-1968. Accession 27922. Personal papers collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va. 23219.
Separations:
None
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Dr. Hatley Norton Mason, Sr., was born on September 5, 1880 in Charlotte, North Carolina. He graduated from the University of Virginia medical school in 1904 and began practicing medicine in Richmond in 1905. During his long medical career, he served on the staff and board of the Johnston-Willis Hospital and the Retreat for the Sick hospital and taught at the Medical College of Virginia. He was credited with opening MCV's first pediatric ward.
In 1902, he served as medical officer for the 1st Virginia Regiment during the railway strike and during World War I served as chief medical examiner for the 5th Naval District, U.S. Marine Corps. He was also a member of the Richmond Light Infantry Blues and served with the Selective Service Bureau during World War II.
Active in Confederate Veterans groups, he served as surgeon-in-chief for the Sons of Confederate Veterans and commander of the Stonewall Jackson camp. During the early 1960's, he was president of the Defenders of State Sovereignty and Individual Liberties, the most powerful segregationist organization in Virginia and comparable to the White Citizens' Councils in other areas of the South.
He was married to Frances Lockert Bemiss, who died in 1974. She was the author of John Norton & Sons - Merchants in Virginia and London and My Dearest Polly, a collection of letters from Chief Justice John Marshall to his wife. Dr. Mason died from cancer in Richmond in 1978.
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE
Papers, 1793-1968 (bulk 1952-1968), including brochures, clippings, correspondence, editorials, medals, newsletters, pamphlets, photographs, postcards, programs, and publications relating to segregation, integration, conservative and liberal issues, Confederate veterans groups, Civil War history, and Virginia history. Organized into the following series: I. Correspondence; II. Segregationist and Other Right Wing Literature; III. Integration Literature; IV. Confederate Veterans and Civil War Material; V. Miscellaneous; VI. Photographs; VII. Medals.
SERIES DESCRIPTIONS
Series I. Correspondence, 1952-1964
Includes correspondence that discusses efforts to prevent desegregation, the growing power of the federal government, and the usurpation of a states' rights. Correspondents include David Rankin Barbee, Landon C. Bell, R. Carter Pittman, George Melton, Judge Walter B. Jones of Alabama, and Senator Harry F. Byrd, Sr.
Series II. Segregationist and Other Right Wing Literature
Consists of literature that supports segregation and a conservative ideology. Includes the Dan Smoot Report and literature from: Alert American Association, American Council of Christian Layman, Paul Barringer, Aldrich Blake, Defenders of the American Constitution, Defenders of State Sovereignty and Individual Liberties, James J. Kilpatrick, Ku Klux Klan, Minutemen, R. Carter Pittman, and White Citizens' Councils.
Series III. Integration Literature
Consists of literature that supports integration and equality of the races. Includes literature from the Citizens Committee for Civil Rights, Friend of the Mississippi Project, the Richmond Afro-American, Southern Conference Educational Fund, Inc., and Doxey A. Wilkerson.
Series IV. Confederate Veterans and Civil War Material
Includes programs of United Confederate Veterans reunions, and the Confederate Veteran and the U. D. C. Magazine. Also consists of material concerning Jefferson Davis and the Casemate Museum at Fort Monroe, Hampton, Virginia, and the dedication of Confederate memorials. Of note is a CSA Medical Circular dated 1863 outlining hospital procedures, and City of Richmond 25 cent notes dated 1862.
Series V. Miscellaneous
Includes publications and literature relating to Virginia history, Civil War history, and legal and legislative issues. Noteworthy are guides to the City of Richmond, photocopies of letters from John Marshall to his wife, and a memoir from Dr. Mason Graham Ellzey about his Civil War experiences.
Series VI. Photographs
Includes photographs of unidentified Confederate veterans and various Virginia scenes, including Colonial Williamsburg and Mount Vernon. The latter originated from the Virginia Chamber of Commerce. Also, includes postcards depicting the Petersburg battlefield, Robert E. Lee, and Virginia landmarks.
Series VII. Medals
Includes medals collected from various conventions of the United Confederate Veterans and Sons of Confederate Veterans.
CONTAINER LIST
| Box | Contents |
|---|---|
| 1 | Series I. Correspondence, 1952-1964 |
| Series II. Segregationist and Other Right Wing Literature | |
| Archbishop C. C. Addison, African Universal Church | |
| Alert American Association | |
| American Committee on Immigration Policies | |
| American Council of Christian Laymen | |
| American Mercury Reprints | |
| American Nationalist | |
| American Opinion | |
| America's Future, Inc. | |
| Douglas Anderson | |
| Augusta Courier | |
| Paul B. Barringer | |
| Don Bell Reports and Close-Up | |
| L. Nelson Bell, M. D. | |
| Chester Berrlow | |
| Bibliographies, Right Wing | |
| Aldrich Blake | |
| K. D. Brown | |
| Canadian Intelligence Service | |
| Christian Beacon | |
| Cinema Educational Guild | |
| Circuit Riders, Inc. | |
| The Citizen, (Official Journal of the Citizens' Council of America), 1961-1965 | |
| Citizens' Councils | |
| The Citizens' Council (Newspapers), 1958-1961 | |
| Committee of Christian Laymen | |
| Committee for Constitutional Government | |
| 2 | Congressional Record, Excerpts from |
| Conservative Viewpoint | |
| Council for Statehood | |
| Defenders of the American Constitution | |
| Defenders of State Sovereignty and Individual Liberties | |
| Economic Council Letter (National Economic Council) | |
| Evangel Missionary Fellowship | |
| The Fact Finder | |
| Henry W. Fancher, Sr. | |
| Florida Coalition of Patriotic Societies | |
| William Z. Foster's Toward Soviet America, Review of | |
| Freedom Club, First Congregational Church, Los Angeles | |
| Henry E. Garrett | |
| W. C. George | |
| Georgia Commission on Education | |
| Georgia General Assembly | |
| Georgia Tribune | |
| John Locke Green | |
| Bela Hubbard | |
| Human Events, 1957, 1962 | |
| T. Robert Igram, editor, Essays on Segregation | |
| International Association for the Advancement of Ethnology and Eugenics | |
| Walter B. Jones | |
| Joseph P. Kamp | |
| 3 | James J. Kilpatrick, The Southern Case for School Segregation |
| Ku Klux Klan | |
| Judge Seybourn L. Lynne (Alabama) | |
| Stanfield S. McClure | |
| Dr. Kenneth McFarland | |
| Massive Attack, Inc. | |
| Minutemen | |
| Mississippi State Junior Chamber of Commerce | |
| National Putnam Letters Committee | |
| National States Rights Party | |
| National White American Party | |
| Paul C. Neipp | |
| Newspaper, Magazine Articles and Editorials (3 folders) | |
| Farmville Herald (Prince Edward County, Va.) | |
| The People (British) | |
| 4 | Richmond News Leaders |
| Richmond Times-Dispatch | |
| Roanoke World-News | |
| Judge L. H. Perez | |
| R. Carter Pittman | |
| D. B. Red | |
| Review of the News, 1967 | |
| Rhodesian and South African Publications | |
| Right, 1960 | |
| Selma, Alabama, Material on | |
| Dan Smoot Report, 1964 | |
| John Howland Snow | |
| South Deering (Ill.) Bulletin, 1957 | |
| The Southern Conservative, 1957 | |
| Southern States Industrial Council | |
| Alan Stang | |
| State Publishing Company (Ohio) | |
| The Statesman (Georgia), 1956 | |
| States' Rights Council of Georgia | |
| 5 | TACT Committee (North Carolina) |
| Henry P. Taylor | |
| Tocsin (California Newsletter), 1965 | |
| Lyon G. Tyler | |
| John J. Vertrees | |
| Virginia Education Fund, Inc. | |
| The Virginian, Oct. 1955-July 1957 (2 folders) | |
| White America Society, 1925 | |
| Miscellaneous, 4 folders | |
| Series III. Integration Literature | |
| Church in Metropolis | |
| Citizens Committee for Civil Rights | |
| Fayette - Haywood Work Camps | |
| Friend of the Mississippi Project | |
| Richmond Afro-American, Articles from | |
| Southern Conference Education Fund, Inc. | |
| Southern Student Organizing Committee | |
| U. S. Department of Labor, Office of Policy Planning and Research | |
| Doxey A. Wilkerson | |
| 6 | Series IV. Confederate Veterans and Civil War Material |
| United Confederate Veteran Reunion | |
| Souvenir Books, 1918-1919, 1934-1951 (4 folders) | |
| Sons of Confederate Veterans | |
| Blank Certificates | |
| Publications | |
| Eight Years Under the Stars and Bars by Thomas F. Harwell, 1947 | |
| First Day Covers | |
| R. E. Lee Camp | |
| S. V. C. and U. D. C. Newspapers Clippings | |
| 7 | Confederate Veteran, Oct. 1897-June 1901 (4 folders) |
| U. D. C. Magazine, Feb.-Mar. 1956, Mar. 1957 | |
| CSA Medical Circular, 1863 and City of Richmond 25 cent notes, 1862 | |
| Jefferson Davis | |
| Confederate Memorials | |
| 7A | Pamphlets, Articles and Clippings on Civil War (4 folders) |
| 8 | Series V. Miscellaneous |
| Miscellaneous Printed Matter (3 folders) | |
| Abbreviated Handbook of Virginia, 1897 | |
| The Alabam Lawyer, April 1963 | |
| "The Cause We Lost and the Land We Love," by Mason Graham Ellzey, M. D. | |
| Guides to City of Richmond, 1890, 1896, 1948 | |
| "The Knights of the Horseshoe . . . " by Dr. William A. Caruthers, 1882 | |
| Letters of John Marshall to Wife, 1797-1829, Photostats of (2 Folders) | |
| The Negro in Virginia Politics, 1865-1902 by Richard L. Morton (1919) | |
| 9 | North Carolina Law Review, Dec. 1963 |
| The Southern Magazine, Mar. 1934-Feb. 1935 | |
| Under Texas Skies, May 1951-Nov. 1952 | |
| U. S. District Court, Georgia Civil Action No. 1316, 1963 | |
| U. S. Government Publications on Subversion, 1957, 1962 | |
| U. S. Loan Office Certificate to George Wilkerson, 1793 | |
| Williamsburg | |
| Series VI. Photographs | |
| Unidentified Confederate Veterans | |
| Virginia State Chamber of Commerce - Photographs of various Virginia scenes | |
| Postcards | |
| 10 | Series VII. Medals |