A Guide to the Executive Papers of Governor Harry F. Byrd, 1926-1930

Access and use

Location of collection:
Library of Virginia
The Library of Virginia
800 East Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23219
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Archives Reference Services
Phone: (804) 692-3888

Summary

Extent:
53.3 cu. ft. (143 boxes)
Creator:
Byrd, Harry Flood, Records of Virginia Governor
Language:
English

Background

Scope and content:

Governor Harry F. Byrd Executive Papers, 1926-1930 (bulk 1922-1926), are organized into two series. Series have been designated for I. Subject Files; and Series II: Pardons, Requisitions, and Prison Affairs. These papers mainly consist of incoming and outgoing correspondence during Harry F. Byrd's four-year term as governor between 1 February 1926 and 1 February 1930. The largest and most significant series is the Subject Files Series. This series provides an in-depth look into the major concerns confronting Byrd as governor. The Pardons, Requisitions, and Prison Affairs Series includes applications, correspondence, extraditions, pardons and requisitions.

Byrd's term as governor is best remembered for its "business progressivism." He was a businessman who wanted a businesslike government. Relying on his experience in politics and business, he reorganized state government and centralized executive authority. He abolished many state agencies, consolidated all others into eleven departments, and instituted a new accounting system. Finally, he revised the state tax system by implementing a system of tax segregation that gave localities the power to tax real estate and personal property while leaving the income tax available to the state. [Encyclopedia Virginia]

Biographical / historical:

Harry F. Byrd, Sr., was born in Martinsburg, West Virginia, on 10 June 1877, the eldest son of Richard Evelyn Byrd (1860-1925) and Eleanor Bolling Flood Byrd, of Winchester, Virginia. Byrd was the most powerful political leader in twentieth century Virginia. He served as governor from 1926 to 1930 and as a United State senator from 1933 to 1965. Byrd's political organization and pay as you go philosophy kepy taxes and public spending low in order to make Virginia attractive to business and industrial investors, but as a consequence road construction and support for public education and public health programs remained below national standards. For three decades Byrd's political allies dominated politics in the state. The Byrd organization collapsed following his death and the disastrous attempt by means of Massive Resistance to obstruct federal court orders in the 1950s and 1960s to desegregate the states public schools. He died in Berryville, Virginia, 20 October 1966.

Acquisition information:
Accession 22561a transferred 8 October 1946, from the Office of the Secretary of State, The Capitol, Richmond, Virginia. Accession 29523 transferred 16 June 1977, from Governor Mills E. Goodwin, Jr., Governor's Office, The Capitol, Richmond, Virginia [Letter from Nancy Astor to Governor Byrd, 13 December 1926, was interfiled with Accession 22561a].
Arrangement:

This collection is arranged into the following series:

  • Series I. Subject Files, 1926-1930
  • Series II: Pardons, Requisitions, and Prison Affairs, 1926-1930