Charles E. (Charles Edward) Wyzanski papers
Overview
Chiefly personal and professional correspondence together with legal briefs, memos, and other types of legal documents. Correspondence concerns Wyzanski's professional and personal life, national matters, and Harvard affairs.
Dates
- Creation: 1930 - 1968
Conditions Governing Access
Access to these papers is governed by the rules and regulations of the Harvard Law School Library. This collection is open to the public, but is housed off-site at Harvard Depository and requires 2 business-day advance notice for retrieval. Consult the Special Collections staff for further information.
Conditions Governing Use
The Harvard Law School Library holds copyright on some, but not all, of the material in our collections. Requests for permission to publish material from this collection should be directed to the Special Collections staff. Researchers who obtain permission to publish from the Harvard Law School Library are also responsible for identifying and contacting the persons or organizations who hold copyright.
Extent
1 collection (4 boxes and 1 Paige box)The Papers of Charles E. Wyzanski, Jr. (1906-) span the years 1930 to 1968. The Papers consist mainly of correspondence; seventeen items are printed legal briefs, memoranda and other types of legal documents.
Judge Wyzanski's correspondence is with friends and associates and is of a personal-professional nature. It includes both letters received and carbons of letters sent. Many of the people under whom Wyzanski worked, such as U.S. Court of Appeals Judges Augustus and Learned Hand, or his teachers at the Harvard Law School such as Felix Frankfurter, became close friends of his. Correspondence concerns Wyzanski's professional and personal life, national matters, and Harvard affairs. There are complete sequences of his correspondence with Charles Culp Burlingham, 1934-1959, and Learned Hand, 1932-1961. Originals of his letters to Burlingham and Hand are in the respective Papers of the two men in the Harvard Law School Library.
Among other prominent correspondents were: Bailey Aldrich; Hugo L. Black; Kingman Brewster; Ralph Buche; McGeorge Bundy; Arthur J. Goldberg; Edward M. Kennedy; Frances Perkins; Nathan M. Pusey; Stanley Reed; Franklin Delano Roosevelt; Leverett Saltonstall; Adlai Stevenson; Earl Warren; and Alfred North Whitehead.
The seventeen printed items (1936-1940), some bound, some unbound, are from Judge Wyzanski's Washington years, particularly from his service as special assistant to the Attorney General of the U.S., and on the staff of the Solicitor General of the U.S.
The group of papers given to the Harvard Law School Library in 1984 relate to the origin of the National Labor Relations Act of 1935; all materials are photocopies.
Historical/Biographical Information
Wyzanski, Charles Edward, Jr., attorney, legal consultant to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidency, lecturer, and Federal Judge.
b. Boston, Mass., May 27, 1906.
s. Charles Edward and Maude (Joseph) Wyzanski.
Phillips Exeter Academy, 1923; A.B. magna cum laude, Harvard, 1927; LL.B. magna cum laude, 1930; LL.D., 1958; Hon. LL.D., University of Pennsylvania, 1953, Carleton College, 1953, Tufts College, 1953, Swathmore College, 1956, Brandeis University, 1956, Clark University, 1963.
m. Gisela Warburg, July 23, 1943; children: Charles Max, Anita (Anita Wyzanski Robboy).
Admitted to Massachusetts Bar, 1931; associated with Ropes, Gray, Boyden and Perkins, 1930-1933; Law sec. U.S. Circuit Judge August N. Hand, 1930-1931, and U.S. Circuit Judge Learned Hand, 1932; solicitor, Department of Labor, Washington, 1933-1935; special assistant to Attorney General of U.S., staff of Solicitor General, Department of Justice, 1935-1937; Partner, Ropes, Gray, Boyden and Perkins, later Ropes, Gray, Coolidge and Rugg, 1938-1941; U.S. District Judge for Mass., appointed 1941; Judge International Administrative Court, Geneva, 1950-1955.
Rep. Of U.S. to 71st and 72nd sessions of governing body of International Labor Organization, Geneva, 1935; subst. Delegate and gov't advisor 19th session International Labor Conf., Geneva, 1935; copyright expert, UNESCO, Paris, 1949, Washington, 1950; Member International Labor Organization Comm. on Application Conventions, 1945-1955; Trustee, mem. exec. Committee of Ford Foundation, 1952.
Visiting prof. MIT, 1948-1950; Cardozo lecturer, Brandeis University, 1955; Oliver Wendell Holmes Devise lecturer, University of Colorado, 1965; Sibley lecturer, University of Georgia, 1973; Herman Pfleger professor, Stanford University, 1974.
Recipient of Sir Thomas Moore Medal, Boston College, 1972.
Sr. Fellow, Soc. Fellows Harvard; Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences; member, American Law Institute (council); Mass. Historical Society; Council on Foreign Relations; Phi Beta Kappa.
Author: Whereas - A Judge's Premises (1965).
Series List
- Series I. General Correspondence
- Series II. Additional Correspondence
- Series III. Miscellaneous Addenda
- Series IV. Paige Boxes of Bound and Unbound Volumes
Physical Location
Harvard Depository
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The Papers of Charles Edward Wyzanski, Jr., attorney, legal consultant to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidency, lecturer, and Federal Judge, were presented to the Harvard Law School in 1967, 1968, and 1970 as a gift by Judge Charles E. Wyzanski, JR. Additional items were presented in 1984.
Processing Information
Prepared by Erika S. Chadbourn, 1968, 1970, 1984.
Subject
- Bundy, McGeorge (Person)
- Frankfurter, Felix, 1882-1965 (Person)
- Hand, Learned, 1872-1961 (Person)
- Pusey, Nathan M. (Nathan Marsh), 1907-2001 (Person)
- Roosevelt, Franklin D. (FranklinDelano), 1882-1945 (Person)
- Title
- Wyzanski, Charles E. (Charles Edward). Papers, 1930-1968: Finding Aid.
- Author
- Harvard Law School Library, Cambridge, MA 02138
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- law00091
Repository Details
Part of the Harvard Law School Library, Historical & Special Collections Repository
Harvard Law School Library's Historical & Special Collections (HSC) collects, preserves, and makes available research materials for the study of the law and legal history. HSC holds over 8,000 linear feet of manuscripts, over 100,000 rare books, and more than 70,000 visual images.
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