Collections : [Virginia State Law Library, Supreme Court of Virginia]

Oral history interview of Frederick A. Hodnett, Jr., by Cassandra Newby-Alexander, Professor of History, Norfolk State University, in the fifth floor conference room at the Supreme Court of Virginia in Richmond, June 3, 2014. Hodnett talks about his family and childhood in Dublin, Virginia, his education at Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Virginia and the University of Richmond, attending law school at the University of Virginia, his military service as a translator during the Vietnam war, and his long career as deputy court administrator. He discusses being hired by Hubert Bennett, executive secretary (court administrator) from 1952 to 1975; working for Robert Baldwin, executive secretary from 1976 to 2005; the changes in the court system with passage of the Court Reoorganization Act that took effect July 1, 1973; his work with judges statewide during his career, and working under Chief Justices Harry L. Carrico and Leroy Hassell, Sr.

Oral history interview of John Thomas Bruce by Cassandra Newby-Alexander, Professor of History, Norfolk State University, at the Supreme Court of Virginia in Richmond, October 11, 2013. Bruce talks about growing up among his mother's extended family in Norfolk, Virginia, his education, and his career as an attorney in the Office of the Chief Staff Attorney, first as a law clerk after graduating from law school, and as Chief Staff Attorney from 1978 to 2003. He discusses working with his predecessor Robert Irons, Special Assistant to the Supreme Court of Virginia until his sudden death in 1978; Chief Justice Harry Carrico, Justice A. Christian Compton, and Justice Richard H. Poff, all of whom were based in Richmond, and changes he has witnessed since he began working at the court in the 1970s.

Oral history interview of John T. Tucker, III, Norfolk State University Dean, at the Supreme Court of Virginia in Richmond, June 25, 2018. He talks about his family, growing up in Richmond and Henrico County, attending Catholic schools in Richmond and Henrico High School and the University of Virginia and University of Richmond. He discusses his experiences clerking for Judge Lawrence Koontz and the early history of the Court of Appeals, his philosophy of management, working with the judges of the Court of Appeals, and preparing for a second career as a deacon in the Catholic Church.

In this interview, Mrs. Walden discusses her family and her childhood in rural Nansemond County, with a particular focus on her education in a two-room primary school and the Nansemond County Training School, where she graduated in 1938. She also describes the education of her children, who faced educational experiences similar to her own. Mrs. Walden was part of the Parent-Teacher Association, who, with the support of the NAACP, filed a lawsuit for the equalization of schools.

Oral history interview with five of the ten judges who sat on the Court of Appeals of Virginia when it was founded in 1985: James W. Benton, Jr., Sam W. Coleman, III, Barbara M. Keenan, Lawrence W. Koontz, and Norman K. Moon. Moderated by Cassandra Newby-Alexander, Professor of History at Norfolk State University. Recorded at the Community Idea Staions in Richmond. Transcript available.

Commission to Suggest Changes in the Virginia Constitution records documenting the work of the commission from 1926-1927. Contains meeting minutes, correspondence, reports, press release, suggested amendments, drafts, notes, a transcript of public hearing about proposed amendments, a pamphlet summarizing a survey, initiated by the Office of the Governor, of county and city government in other states; newspaper clippings, and two speeches. Contains correspondence between Chief Justice Robert Prentis, Chair of the Commission, and Governor Harry F. Byrd, and with Congressmen R. Walton Moore (8th District), commission member Robert M. Hughes, as well as letters from lawyers, state officials and delegates, commenting on proposed amendments. Also contains correspondence pertaining to press relations and public hearings, printed reports of the commission and drafting committee, a statement from Robert Tunstall, 1926; and a report, "Organization and Management of the State Government of Virginia: Report on a Survey made for the Governor and his Committee on Consolidation and Simplification," issued by the New York Bureau of Municipal Research, January 1927.

The collection contains video recordings of judges' personal remembrances of Chief Justice Hassell, recorded at the Virginia Judicial Conference of Virginia in Roanoke, Virginia, in May 2011 and the Virginia Judicial Conference for District Court Judges in Virginia Beach, Virginia, in August 2011. Two additional interviews were recorded at the Supreme Court Building in Richmond in June 2011. Transcript available.

State Law Librarian Correspondence, 1932-1979, contains correspondence with Supreme Court of Appeals justices, 1932-1979, as follows: George L. Browning, 1932-1947; Archibald C. Buchanan, 1953-1964; Preston W. Campbell, 1935-1946; Herbert B. Gregory, 1933-1950; Henry Holt, 1935-1947; Edward W. Hudgins, 1931-1958, Willis D. Miller, 1952-1960, Lemuel F. Smith, 1952-1957; C. Vernon Spratley, 1936-1974, and Kennon C. Whittle, 1951-1965. Most of the correspondence pertains to justices' requests for reference materials from the library. A portion of the correspondence from the period 1932-1961, during Lloyd Richards' tenure as state law librarian, is more personal and contains additional information about the court and the justices.