Henry Melvin Hart papers

This Series consists almost entirely of letters dealing with the two major phases of Hart's professional career: the time he spent working in Washington, and the time in which he taught at the Harvard Law School. Beginning in about 1928, when Hart was a student at the Harvard Law School, the letters trace his activities and his friendships with the people around him. Of particular interest are the files of letters to and from Felix Frankfurter and Frederick Wiener, a friend of Harts from Law Review days onward.

The material in this Series demonstrates in an impressive way the clarity of Hart's mind. This same quality is also manifest in the material preserved in Series IV., Writings, Speeches, etc.

The Series is arranged alphabetically by correspondent. The dates following the entry for each individual correspondent indicate the inclusive dates of that particular sequence of correspondence. Folders for individuals include both incoming and outgoing mail and enclosures. Persons having a correspondence of less than five items are grouped under "Miscellany" at the end of each alphabetical letter, e.g. A Miscellany, B Miscellany, etc.

This Series consists of notebooks kept by Hart while a student at the Harvard Law School. There is only one notebook that is identified as a first-year course. Notes for each course are dated for month and day of each particular lecture.

This Series was transferred to the Student Notes Collection under the title "Class Notes of Henry Melvin Hart" (HOLLIS AJS0918).

This Series includes manuscript and mimeographed notes for courses given by Professor Hart; manuscript, mimeographed, and printed research material for courses; some correspondence about obtaining printed research material; lists of citations; student papers written for Prof. Hart; printed briefs, opinions, and congressional bills, sent to Prof. Hart by friends, which they thought would be of interest to him.

This Series consists of notes, drafts, research material, final typewritten manuscripts, proof sheets, and reprints of some of Prof. Hart's writings and speeches, as well as correspondence about some individual pieces of writing. A substantial part of this manuscript material deals with the functioning of the U.S. Supreme Court, particularly in the 1930's.

The material in this Series was poorly organized and poorly identified; in many cases it was not possible to establish Prof. Hart as the author, or dates or places of publication or presentation.

This Series consists of correspondence, memoranda, printed material, briefs, statistics, etc. related to Harvard committees and organizations other than official faculty committees that Prof. hart was a member of between 1933 and 1967. Material related to Prof. Hart's other activities including private legal work is also included. Examples of Prof. Hart's activities outside the Law School are the drawing up of statutes for the City of Cambridge and his serving as arbitrator in various Massachusetts labor disputes.

Prof. Hart's official Faculty Committee files were transferred to the Harvard Archives on June 1, 1970 (see list in this inventory).

The material in this Series dates from the end of World War II, when Prof. Hart was active in the Office of Price Administration. The bulk of the material is from the year 1946, but there are items as early as 1941 and as late as 1951.

Most of the items in this Series are memoranda, notes, and mimeographed material that circulated within the OPA concerning the basis for price control and the various means and agencies of its enforcement. For the most part the arrangement is as it was found in Hart's own files. For additional material, see Paige Boxes I and II.

Material in this Series consists of correspondence, drafts, memoranda, congressional bills, circulars, and reports. Much of the material is from the period when Hart was a Special Assistant to the Immigration and Naturalization Service in the U.S. Attorney General's Office from 1940 to 1941; Hart, however, was actively engaged in research in and improvement of immigration legislation from 1935 on.

Professor Hart was elected as a member of the board of directors of Massachusetts Bay Telecasters, Inc. (MBT) on February 10, 1954; he was also a stockholder. Items in this Series relate to a petition of TV Channel 5 in Boston, which was owned by MBT, to construct a television station. Folders include briefs and other legal documents relating to this case (petition), which was heard before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and from there went to the U.S. Supreme Court. Hart served as counsel in these appeals. He also served on the Education Committee of MBT, and folders include materials on a workshop on planning and designing educational programs as well as scripts for programs.

This Series contains minutes; reports; statistical tables; correspondence; holograph, typed, and printed items; briefs; and other legal documents, covering the period between 1953 and 1960.