R. William Arthur Papers 1936-2001

Access and use

Location of collection:
Wytheville Community College
F.B. Kegley Library
Wytheville Community College
Smyth Hall, Room 103
1000 East Main Street
Wytheville, VA 24382
Contact for questions and access:
POC: William A. “Bill” Veselik
Phone: (276) 223-4876
POC: George Mattis
Phone: (276) 223-4744
Fax: (276) 223-4745

Summary

Language:
English

Background

Scope and content:

The R. William Arthur Papers consist of four series: Series I, Polio Epidemic (1950-2001), undated); Series II, College of William and Mary (1936-1972, undated); Series III, Wytheville Community College (1961-1971); and Series IV, Miscellaneous (1942-1981, undated).

Series I (1950-2001, undated) contains nine folders of correspondence, newspaper clippings, notes, and religious circulars relating to the polio epidemic in Wytheville during the summer of 1950. As mayor, Arthur received correspondence from health authorities, government officials, anxious parents, and interested observers across the country. Topics discussed include quarantining of town, erection of warning signs, causes of polio (DDT use, God's wrath on sale of alcohol, insects), cures (Substance X, breast milk, DDT spraying, chiropractic, Epsom Salts, veneration of the Virgin Mary, cessation of devil worship), donations, and Arthur's radio address in January 1951 for the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis.

Series II (1936-1972, undated), consisting of 123 folders, chronicles the development of the College of William and Mary from a liberal arts college into a small university. Correspondence from College presidents including Alvin D. Chandler and Davis Y. Paschall, fellow Board of Visitors members, Governors Albertis Harrison and Mills E. Godwin, and other state and college officials dominate this series. Topics discussed in these letters include financial planning, building construction, curriculum development, faculty issues, expansion of outreach and graduate programs, and student conduct and rights. Also included in this series are requests from friends and acquaintances to Arthur for recommendations for prospective students as well as discussions of potential athletes and improvements of the football program. Of special interest are letters received and sent by Arthur from 1967 to 1969 involving student demonstrations and unrest about the Vietnam War, curfew restrictions, and censorship of the student newspaper, The Flat Hat. Many letters also focus on the development and subsequent revision of the student rights and responsibilities code.

This series also contains notebooks from jurisprudence, music and bankruptcy law courses used by Arthur as an undergraduate and law student at the College of William and Mary. Also included are Arthur's diplomas as well as certificates from Sigma Nu fraternity and Omicron Delta Kappa, a national honor society.

Series III (1961-1971, 1990), containing sixty-four folders, covers the early development and growth of Wytheville Community College. Arthur not only served on the steering committee that created the Wytheville Area Branch College of Virginia Polytechnic Institute but also was a member of the Local Advisory Board of the college when it joined the Virginia community college system. Correspondents include Director of the Department of Community Colleges Dana B. Hamel, Chairman of the steering committee Robert E. Johnson, President T. Marshall Hahn of Virginia Polytechnic Institute, and President J. Wade Gilley of Wytheville Community College among others. Topics discussed include campus construction, finances, formation of WCC as a community college, faculty issues, and curriculum development.

Series IV (1942-1981, undated), contains miscellaneous records including certificates received by Arthur for his tenure as circuit court judge and member of the Virginia Bar. Five photographs of Arthur with fellow Board of Visitors members from the College of William and Mary and as circuit court judge are also in this series as are documents relating to the Wytheville Golf Club.

Series V (2008 Addendum) consists of material donated by Beverly Repass Hoch in December 2008; these materials include correspondence on the estate of Verna Peltier Arthur, real estate including Plumer College, and Arthur's appointment as judge.

Biographical / historical:

Born in Louisa County, Virginia, on 16 May 1917, Roy William Arthur was the son of Roy Watson Arthur and Verna Peltier Arthur. He and his sisters Audrey Arthur (Price) and Lucille Arthur (Jones) grew up in Hopewell, Virginia, and later moved to Wytheville, Virginia in 1930 where Arthur graduated from Wytheville High School. He matriculated at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, intent upon seeking a degree in engineering but after one year he transferred to the College of William and Mary where her earned his undergraduate degree in 1938 and his law degree in 1940. He returned to Wytheville to practice law in the firm of Parsons and Arthur.

Arthur married Dorothy Belle Ellett of Roanoke, Virginia on 28 September 1946. He served as mayor of Wytheville from September 1946 to August 1952 and steered the town through the polio epidemic of 1950. A term as the town attorney spanned September 1952 to October 1969. A president of the Virginia Municipal League, Arthur also participated in several charitable and civic organizations including Wytheville Lions Club, Wythe County Community Concert Association, Wythe United Way Fund. A member of St. Paul's Methodist Church in Wytheville, Arthur served as board chairman, Sunday School teacher, and choir member.

Education remained a prime interest of R. William Arthur throughout his life. He served on the Board of Visitors of the College of William and Mary from 1954 to 1962 and 1966 to 1969. He served on the steering committee that oversaw planning for the establishment of Wytheville Community College and later worked as a member of the Local Advisory Board. Arthur also was a trustee of Marion College, a small junior college affiliated with the Lutheran Church.

Arthur resigned from both college boards in September 1969 upon his appointment to the judgeship of the twenty-first circuit. In August 1984 he assumed duties as chief judge of the twenty-seventh circuit, an area that encompasses Wythe, Pulaski, Grayson, Carroll, Montgomery, and Floyd counties and the cities of Galax and Radford. In 1985, he retired after fifteen years on the bench. Arthur died on 4 April 2003 at the age of eighty-five.

Acquisition information:
Donated by the estate of R. William Arthur in 2003.
Physical description:
223 folders.