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Title: George C. Edwards, Jr. Collection Genre: Papers Dates: 1921-1970 (Predominantly, 1938-1963) Size : 54 linear feet Number: 10 OCLC #: Walter P. Reuther Library of Labor & Urban AffairsHEFA.01b.update |
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The papers of George Clifton Edwards, Jr. were placed in the Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs in 1962, 1968, and 1973 by Judge Edwards and opened for research in May of 1992.
George Clifton Edwards, Jr. was born in Dallas, Texas in 1914 to George Clifton Edwards, a Dallas attorney and socialist, and Octavia Nichols Edwards, an educator. He received his B.A. from Southern Methodist University in 1933 and then attended Harvard, where he received his master's degree the following year. During his time at Harvard, Edwards became involved with the Student League for Industrial Democracy headed by Norman Thomas, and worked for the organization for two years.
In 1936 Edwards came to Detroit, where he went to work in production at Kelsey-Hayes Wheel Company. It was there that he became involved with union organizing, participating in the strike at Kelsey-Hayes that year. In 1937 he became a UAW-CIO representative and directed their WPA-Welfare Department for the next two years.
In April of 1939 Edwards married Margaret McConnell. Their first son, George Clifton Edwards III, was born in 1940.
Appointed director of the Detroit Housing Commission by Mayor Edward Jeffries that same year, Edwards played a large role in the construction of the Herman Gardens Housing Project. In 1941 he ran successfully for a seat on the Detroit Common Council. He served four terms on the Council, two as its president. Part of that time was served in absentia, as Edwards enlisted in the United States Army in 1943 and served until 1946. In 1944, while still in the military service, Edwards received his law degree from the Detroit College of Law and celebrated the birth of his son James.
Upon his discharge from the army, Edwards went into private practice in Detroit with attorney Theodore Bohn. Bohn played a major role in Edwards' unsuccessful 1949 mayoral campaign. In 1950 the firm became Rothe, Marston, Edwards, and Bohn, but Edwards left it in 1951 when he became probate judge in Wayne County Juvenile Court. In 1954 he became a judge in Wayne County Circuit Court, and from 1956 to 1962 served as a justice of the Michigan Supreme Court. In 1962 he returned to Detroit to serve as police commissioner and a year later was appointed to the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals from which he retired as an active judge.
Judge Edwards co-authored The Law of Criminal Correction with Sol Rubin, Henry Weihofin and Simon Rosenzweig. He also wrote a biography of his father, Pioneer at Law.
American Judiciary
Child Welfare League of America
Criminal Justice System
Detroit and Michigan Politics
Detroit Common Council
Detroit Mayoral Campaign, 1949
Detroit Police Department
Housing
Juvenile Delinquency
League for Industrial Democracy
Race Relations in Detroit
Social Welfare Programs
United Auto Workers
Yale and Towne Strike, 1937
Youth Organizations
George Addes Victor Reuther
Justice Eugene Black Walter Reuther
Justice Leland Carr Sol Rubin
Jerome Cavanagh Justice Edward Sharp
Justice John Dethmers Justice Talbot Smith
John Dingell Justice Theodore Souris
Felix Frankfurter John Swainson
Hubert Humphrey R. J. Thomas
Edward Jeffries Justice John Voelker
Justice Thomas Kavanagh G. Mennen Williams
Justice Harry Kelly Frank Winn
Homer Martin
Approximately thirty photographs of the Edwards family or George Edwards in politics and a few items of memorabilia have been placed in the Archives Audiovisual Collection.
Series I, 1937-1956, Boxes 1-38:
Subseries A: Newspaper Clippings, 1941-1956, Boxes 1-12
Subseries B: Personal Papers, 1937-1956, Boxes 13-38
Series II, Personal Papers, 1957-1961, Boxes 39-63
Series III, Personal Papers, 1961-1963, Boxes 64-84
Series IV, Correspondence, 1922-1945, Boxes 85-89:
Correspondence to George Edwards, Sr. between 1922 and 1945 and correspondence to Frank Winn during the spring of 1936.
Series V, School Materials, Boxes 90-91:
Class notes, publications, exams, clippings, short stories and poetry, memorabilia, and a journal from George Edwards' years at Dallas High School, Southern Methodist University and Harvard.
Series VI, Activities, 1930s, Boxes 92-94:
Material from the American Student Union, American Youth Congress, Committee on Militarism in Education, League for Industrial Democracy, and the Second Annual UAWA Convention. Also included in this series are the research materials, notes, and drafts for the pamphlet "White Collar Workers," and miscellaneous notes.
Series VII, Judicial Campaigns, 1956 and 1959, Boxes 95-96:
Correspondence, clippings, expense accounts, bank statements, schedules, social security and income tax statements, and speeches from George Edwards' 1956 and 1959 judicial campaigns.
Series VIII, Miscellaneous, 1930-1950s, Box 96:
Three folders of materials from 1930 through the 1950s.
Part 3
Series IX, Personal Papers, 1931-1970, Boxes 97-102:
Personal correspondence with friends and family, school records, manuscript fragments, and materials from UAW-WPA, the Detroit Housing Commission, and various campaigns.
Series X, Newspapers and Articles, 1931-1970, Box 103:
Articles from college newspapers and the Detroit dailies about union strikes, the Reuther shootings, Detroit politics, Detroit riots, and George C. Edwards, Jr.
Series XI, Wartime Correspondence, 1945-46, Box 104-106
To CONTENTS [Large File]
Index |
Index to Correspondents in Part 3
Box 1 = Box 97
Box 2 = Box 98
Box 3 = Box 99
Box 4 = Box 100
Box 5 = Box 101
Box 6 = Box 102
Addes, George: 3-6, 3-18, 3-19, 4-3
Altman, Jack: 2-2
Atherton, Frank W.: 4-20
Bohn, Theodore: 5-2
Brannin, Carl: 6-8
Brennan, William J.: 39, 65, 67-68
Briggs, Walter O., Jr.: 5-19
Campbell, Wallace: 2-2
Caples, Anna (LID): 1-6, 1-7, 1-8, 2-3, 3-18
Connor, Edward D.: 5-15, 5-20
Cushman, Edward: 5-19, 5-20
Daley, John N.: 5-16, 5-17
Diamond, Sigmond: 4-16
Douglas, Paul: 5-20
Douglas, William O.: 44, 65
Edwards, George Clifton Sr.: throughout the collection
Edwards, Octavia Nichols Sr.: throughout the collection
Edwards, Octavia Nichols Jr.: 1-6, 1-11, 1-13, 2-1, 2-2, 2-4, 2-12, 2-13, 4-4
Fisher, Ben: 3-18
Ford, Henry II: 4-19, 5-19
Ford, Mabel: 4-8
Fox, Mary (LID): 1-14, 1-15, 2-5, 2-11, 2-15, 3-9.
Fritz, Edward C.: 4-23
Griffiths, Hicks: 5-16
Hagen, Paul: 3-18
Harrison, Frank Jr.: 1-4, 1-14, 2-3, 3-2, 3-9, 5-20
Henry, David: 5-18, 5-19
Hetzel, Ralph Jr.: 3-2, 3-18
Hill, Oren B.: 4-20, 5-19
Hillyer, Mary: 1-8
Hudson, Earl J.: 4-8
Humphrey, Hubert: 5-19
Jeffrey, Mildred: 5-20
Jeffries, Edward J. Jr.: 4-5, 5-15, 5-16
Kane, Edward T.: 6-1
Kanter, Robert: 2-5, 2-13
Kafauver, Estes: 6-6, 6-14
Kelsey-Hayes Strike: 1-15, 1-16, 1-17
King, Charles: 5-15, 5-20
Knudsen, Semon E.: 5-18
LaFollette, Charles M.: 4-20
Lash, Joseph: 1-4, 1-8, 1-15, 2-1, 2-2, 3-6
League for Industrial Democracy: 1-6, 1-7, 1-8, 1-13, 1-14, 1-15, 2-3, 2-5, 2-11, 2-15, 3-9
Levinson, Edward: 2-4, 3-2
Lewis, A.D.: 3-19
Lewis, John L.: 3-1
Martin, Fred: 5-17
Martin, Homer: 2-4, 2-5, 2-11, 2-13, 1-16
McConnell, Rollin (Mac): 4-1, 6-5
McGrew, Charles B.: 4-1
Murphy, Frank: 2-2
Owen, Cecil: 3-18, 3-19
Picard, Frank: 5-18
Pickens, Buford: 4-4
Pierce, Bill: 2-15
Pound, Roscoe: 30:1-3
Quinn, C. Pat: 4-8
Rabout, Louis C.: 5-15, 5-16
Rankin, Paul: 3-18
Rauh, Joseph: 5-20
Romney, George: 6-17
Roosevelt, Dorothy K.: 4-8
Reuther, Roy: 4-3, 5-18
Reuther, Victor: 4-8
Reuther, Walter: 2-13, 3-1, 5-16, 6-8
Saransohn, Josh: 5-16
Senturan, Robert M.: 3-19
Simpson, James P.: 2-4, 2-14, 3-3, 4-11
Smith, Del. A.: 5-17
Stafford, G.: 3-2
Strachan, D. Alan: 4-20
Sublette, Donald: 4-8
Sweetland, Monroe: 1-5, 3-6, 4-8
Thomas, Norman: 1-2, 2-5, 2-13, 6-8
Vandenburg, A.B.: 3-2
Walters, Charles: 3-1, 3-4
Warren, Earl: 61-62
Watters, Frank Jr.: 3-4
White, Horace: 3-19, 4-16
Williams, G. Mennen: 5-15, 6-6, 6-14, 6-17
Winn, Florence: 4-3
Winn, Frank: 1-6, 1-12, 1-13, 1-14, 2-5, 2-12, 2-13
Wolfgang, Myra: 5-19, 6-2
Young, Coleman A.: 4-16