Oliver Max Gardner Papers, 1892-1966

Summary

Creator:

Gardner, Oliver Max, 1882-1947.

Abstract:

Oliver Max Gardner (1882-1947), lawyer of Shelby, N.C., and Washington, D.C.; state senator, 1910-1915, lieutenant governor, 1916-1920, and governor, 1929-1933, of North Carolina. He married Fay Webb (1885-1969), who was active in the Democratic Party and in women's organizations. The collection includes corrrespondence, legal documents, financial records, speeches, press releases, political campaign materials, photographs, college notebooks, and scrapbooks of O. Max Gardner, 1892-1947; of Gardner family members, 1905-1966; of Shelby lawyer, businessman, and politician Odus M. Mull, 1930-1942; and of Shelby educator Isaac C. Griffin, 1917-1918. Included are items relating to Fay Webb Gardner and other family members. Legal papers give insight into adoption, child custody cases, land sales, and estate and debt settlements in Cleveland County, N.C.; into corporate litigation, 1920s-1930s; into the establishment of the Ackland Art Museum; and into legal affairs of the textile, soft drink, and aviation industries. Political papers describe the state State Democratic Executive Committee's organizing efforts, 1908-1915, 1930-1936; state and national political campaigns, 1900s-1950s; and the offices of North Carolina lieutenant governor, 1916-1921, and governor, 1929-1933. Letters comment the New Deal; Democratic Party patronage; the Supreme Court packing controversy of 1937; and economic policy, taxation, and industrial policy. Business papers document Shelby Public Schools during World War I and the operation of family businesses. Personal correspondence, photographs, notebooks, and scrapbooks document the Gardners' courtship; family activities during World War II; the endowment of Gardner-Webb College; administration of North Carolina State College and the University of North Carolina; the role of the political wife; and the activities of women's organizations. Significant correspondents include Graham Anthony, Josiah W. Bailey, William T. Bost, J. Melville Broughton, Cale K. Burgess, Josephus Daniels, Victor Emanuel, William C. Friday, Edwin M. Gill, Ben Gossett, Frank P. Graham, John W. Hanes, Robert M. Hanes, Clyde R. Hoey, H. Wiseman Kendall, Russell Leonard, A. J. Maxwell, Angus McLean, Holt McPherson, Julian S. Miller, Cameron Morrison, Fred W. Morrison, Odus M. Mull, John Parker, D. Hiden Ramsey, Harry Riemer, Franklin D. Roosevelt, George Rogers, W. Kerr Scott, Robert Stevens, Vernon Taylor, Bess Truman, Harry S Truman, William B. Umstead, Lindsay Warren, Lee Weathers, Edwin Y. Webb, James E. Webb, J. Wallace Winborne, and Robert Woodruff. Additions include deeds and other documents relating to real estate transactions in and around Shelby, N.C.; items relating to the death of O. Max Gardner; and family correspondence, particularly of Gardner's sisters, one of whom lived in Alberta, Canada, and his niece, who lived in rural Washington state.

Extent:

32,000 items (47.0 linear feet)

Language:

English.

Library Catalog Link:

View UNC library catalog record for this item

Background

Biographical / historical:

Oliver Max Gardner (1882-1947) was a politician, businessman, and lawyer of Shelby, N.C., Raleigh, N.C., and Washington, D.C. A 1903 graduate of the North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, Gardner studied law, 1905-1906, at the University of North Carolina, and, in 1907, opened a law practice in Shelby, N.C., where he also founded the Shelby Cloth Mills (later renamed the Cleveland Cloth Mills), the Gardner Land Company, and other businesses; he also operated a farm.

Active in the Democratic Party, he was elected a North Carolina state senator in 1910 and 1915, lieutenant governor in 1916, and governor in 1929. In 1934, Gardner moved to Washington, D.C., and established Gardner, Morrison & Rogers, a law firm representing the interests of the textile, soft-drink, and aviation industries, among others. He later served as chair of the United States Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion's Advisory Board, 1945-1946; as undersecretary of the United States Treasury, 1946; and as ambassador-elect to England, December 1946-February 1947. He was also a director of the Sperry Corporation and a member of the board of trustees of North Carolina State College and the University of North Carolina. With his wife, Fay Gardner, he helped build an endowment for Boiling Springs Junior College (renamed Gardner-Webb College) in Boiling Springs, N.C.

Fay Webb Gardner (1885-1969), civic leader and first lady of North Carolina, married Gardner in 1907. She was active in women's organizations in Shelby, N.C., Raleigh, N.C., and Washington, D.C., and in the state and national Democratic Party, representing the state twice as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. She also served on the North Carolina State Advisory Board of Paroles, as president of the Gardner Foundation, Inc. (which helped support Gardner-Webb College), and as a trustee of the school.

The Gardners had four children: Margaret Love Gardner Burgess (b. 1908), who married N. E. Burgess; James Webb Gardner (1910-1946), who married Iris Rollins; Ralph Webb Gardner (b. 1912); and O. Max Gardner, Jr. (1922-1961), who married Sara Mull. Ralph Webb Gardner graduated from Yale University Law School and practiced law in Shelby, N.C. Elected a state senator in 1939, he enlisted in the United States Army during World War II. James Webb Gardner was executive vice-president of Cleveland Cloth Mills, 1941-1946. O. Max Gardner, Jr., a graduate of North Carolina State College, was commissioned a lieutenant in the United States Army. After World War II, he helped manage the Cleveland Cloth Mills and was treasurer of Gardner-Webb College.

Odus McCoy Mull (1880-1962), farmer, lawyer, businessman, and politician, was born in Cleveland County, N.C. Holding undergraduate and law degrees from Wake Forest College, Mull practiced law in Shelby, N.C., and became active in Democratic Party politics. He served two terms as state chair of the Party. Elected to the General Assembly, he served as speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives in 1941.

Isaac Cebern Griffin (d. 1940), of Shelby, N.C., was chair of the State Fuel Administration's Local Fuel Committee for Cleveland County, N.C., and superintendentof the Shelby Public Schools during World War I.

Scope and content:

More than three-quarters of the collection consists of papers of O. Max Gardner, including political, legal, business, and limited personal papers. The remaining third of the papers are primarily political, business, and personal papers of Fay Webb Gardner and James Webb Gardner, with additional papers belonging to Odus M. Mull, Isaac C. Griffin, and various family members of Shelby, N.C.

The papers are organized into eleven series: Series 1, O. Max Gardner Chronological File; Series 2, O. Max Gardner Political File; Series 3, O. Max Gardner Law Office Files; Series 4, O. Max Gardner Business and Personal Papers; Series 5, Gardner Family Papers; Series 6, Gardner-Webb College Papers; Series 7, Odus M. Mull Papers; Series 8, Isaac C. Griffin Papers; Series 9, Pictures; and Series 10, Notebooks and Scrapbooks. Because of the way this collection was accessioned and processed over the years, there is considerable redundancy across these series. Researchers are therefore advised to become familiar with the types of materials filed in the various series and to be prepared to search several of them for materials on topics of interest.

By far the largest series is Series 1, a chronological file, 1906-1947 (bulk 1933-1947) of legal, business, political, and some personal papers belonging to O. Max Gardner. Many of the early legal papers were kept by Gardner's law partner, Charles A. Burrus. The file comprises mostly correspondence, but also contains legal documents, political campaign materials, and other items. Upon receipt of the papers at the Southern Historical Collection in the early 1960s, they were placed in chronological order, and many items originally attached to each other were separated. For this reason, researchers are encouraged to search all years thought relevant to a particular topic. Items in this chronological file are similar in nature to those found in the other series (Series 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, and 10) that contain papers of O. Max Gardner. Items in Series 2, 3, 4, and 6 reflect the original order in which Gardner kept them.

Series 5, Gardner Family Papers, contains many of the papers belonging to Fay Gardner and her sons. However, additional papers for individual family members can be found elsewhere. Fay Gardner's papers are in Series 5, 6, 9, and 10. Papers of Ralph Webb Gardner are in Series 5, 9, and 10; those for James Webb Gardner are in Series 4 and 5; and those for O. Max Gardner, Jr., are in Series 5, 6, and 9.

Legal papers (Series 1 and 3) give insight into adoption, child custody cases, land sales, estate settlements, and debt settlements in Cleveland County, N.C.; into corporate litigation, 1920s-1930s, in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia; into the William Hayes Ackland estate case, 1940s; and into the legal affairs of industries, especially the textile industry, soft-drink industry, and aviation industry, during the New Deal and World War II. Firms and associations for which there is significant legal correspondence include Kimbrough-Veazy Corporation, Coca-Cola Company, the Cotton Textile Institute, Inc., the Rayon Manufacturers of America, the Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce, and the Aviation Corporation.

Political items (Series 1, 2, 5, 7, 9, and 10) describe the North Carolina State Democratic Executive Committee's organizing efforts, 1908-1915, 1930-1936; state and national political campaigns, 1900s-1950s, of O. Max Gardner, Josiah W. Bailey, Clyde R. Hoey, Walter George, and others; and the offices of lieutenant governor, 1916-1921, and governor, 1929-1933, of North Carolina. Many letters comment on Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal; Democratic Party political patronage, including the Supreme Court packing controversy of 1937; and economic policy, taxation, and industrial policy during World War II and in the postwar period.

Business papers (Series 1, 4, 5, 9, and 10) document Cleveland County, N.C., fuel policy, and the Shelby Public Schools during World War I; operations, 1920s-1947 (bulk 1935-1947) and labor strikes, 1930s, at the Cleveland Cloth Mills; and activities of the Gardner Land Company, the Cleveland Realty Company, and the Sperry Corporation.

Personal correspondence (Series 1 and 5), photographs (Series 9), and notebooks and scrapbooks (Series 10) document the Gardners' courtship (including love letters); student life at the North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, 1900-1904, the University of North Carolina, 1905-1906, and Yale University Law School, 1937-1939; North Carolina politics and political campaigns; life in the executive mansion in Raleigh, N.C., 1929-1933; summer camp in Asheville, N.C., 1937-1938; United States Army training in World War II (includes soldiers' letters); the endowment of Gardner-Webb College; Gardner family businesses and personal finances; administration of North Carolina State College and the University of North Carolina; the consolidation of the University of North Carolina system; the role of the political wife; the activities of women's organizations in Shelby, N.C., Raleigh, N.C., and Washington, D.C.; the Men's Bible Class of the First Baptist Church of Shelby; and O. Max Gardner's death and tributes to him.

Frequent correspondents in O. Max Gardner's papers are Graham Anthony, Josiah W. Bailey, William T. Bost, J. Melville Broughton, Josephus Daniels, Victor Emanuel, Edwin M. Gill, Ben Gossett, Frank P. Graham, John W. Hanes, Robert M. Hanes, Clyde R. Hoey, H. Wiseman Kendall, Russell Leonard, Angus McLean, Holt McPherson, Julian S. Miller, Fred W. Morrison, Odus M. Mull, Judge John Parker, D. Hiden Ramsey, Harry Riemer, Franklin D. Roosevelt, George Rogers, Robert Stevens, Vernon Taylor, Lindsay C. Warren, Lee Weathers, Edwin Y. Webb, James E. Webb, and Robert Woodruff. Correspondents of note in Fay Gardner's papers are Harry S. Truman, Bess Truman, Edwin M. Gill, William C. Friday, and W. Kerr Scott. Family members for whom there are significant letters are Mary Ivey Gardner Beck, James Webb Gardner, O. Max Gardner, Jr., Ralph Webb Gardner, Reca Gardner, Bess Gardner Hoey, and Addie Gardner Farthing. Other correspondents of note in the collection are Cameron Morrison, William B. Umstead, Cale K. Burgess, and A. J. Maxwell.

Custodial history:

Received from Fay Webb Gardner of Shelby, N.C., in 1962, 1964, and 1966; Sterling A. Stoudemire (one item) of Chapel Hill, N.C., in 1977 (Acc. 79037); William Geer of Chapel Hill, N.C., in 1962 and March 1998 (Acc. 98059); and Anne Geer of Chapel Hill, N.C., in November 1999 (Acc. 98518) and November 2000 (Acc. 98789).

Sensitive materials statement:

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Related

Related material:

• Edwin Yates Webb Papers (#3482);
• Edwin M. Gill Papers (#4011).

Separated material:

Items separated include photograph albums (PA-3613/1-2); pictures (PF-3613/1-18; OP-PF-3613/1-4); oversize papers (XOPF-3613/1); oversize volumes (SV-3613/8-24, 26-32); and separated folders (SEP-3613/1-35).

Indexed terms

Subjects:

Adoption--North Carolina.
Aircraft industry--United States--History.
Child custody--North Carolina.
Families--North Carolina--Social life and customs.
Governors' spouses--North Carolina.
Governors--North Carolina--History--20th century.
Lawyers--North Carolina--History--20th century.
Lawyers--Washington (D.C.)--History--20th century.
Legislators--North Carolina--History--20th century.
Love letters--North Carolina--History--20th century.
New Deal, 1933-1939.
Patronage, Political--United States.
Political campaigns--North Carolina--History--20th century.
Public schools--North Carolina--Shelby.
Real estate business--North Carolina--Shelby.
Soft drink industry--United States--History.
Textile industry--North Carolina--History--20th century.
Women in politics--North Carolina--History--20th century.
Women--Alberta--Social life and customs.
Women--Washington (State)--Social life and customs.
Women--Societies and clubs.

Names:

Ackland Art Museum--History.
Cleveland Cloth Mills (Shelby, N.C.).
Democratic Party (N.C.)--History--20th century.
Democratic Party (U.S.)--History--20th century.
Gardner-Webb College.
North Carolina State University--History.
United States. Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion.
United States. Supreme Court--History--20th century.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill--History.
Gardner family.
Webb family.
Anthony, Graham Hudson.
Bailey, Josiah William, 1873-1946.
Bost, William Thomas, 1878-1951.
Broughton, J. Melville (Joseph Melville), 1888-1949.
Burgess, Cale Kight, 1891-
Daniels, Josephus, 1862-1948.
Friday, William C. (William Clyde)
Gardner, Fay Webb, 1885-1969.
Gardner, Oliver Max, 1882-1947.
George, Walter F. (Walter Franklin), 1878-1957.
Gill, Edwin M. (Edwin Maurice), 1899-1978.
Gossett, Benjamin B. (Benjamin Brown), 1884-1951.
Graham, Frank Porter, 1886- .
Griffin, Isaac C. (Isaac Cebern), 1873-1940.
Hanes, John Wesley, 1892-1987.
Hanes, Robert March, 1890-1959.
Hoey, Clyde Roark, 1877-1954.
Kendall, Henry Wiseman, 1897-1968.
Leonard, Russell, 1906-
Maxwell, A. J. (Allen Jay), b. 1873.
McLean, Angus Wilton, 1870-1935.
McPherson, Holt, 1906-
Miller, Julian S. (Julian Sidney), 1886-1946.
Morrison, Cameron, 1869-1953.
Morrison, Fred W. (Fred Wilson), 1890-
Mull, Odus M.
Parker, John Johnston, 1885-1958.
Ramsey, D. Hiden (Darley Hiden), 1891-1966.
Riemer, Harry.
Rogers, George.
Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882-1945.
Scott, William Kerr, 1896-1958.
Stevens, Robert.
Taylor, Vernon.
Truman, Bess Wallace.
Truman, Harry S., 1884-1972.
Umstead, William Bradley, 1895-1954.
Warren, Lindsay C. (Lindsay Carter), 1889-1976.
Weathers, Lee Beam, 1886-
Webb, E. Y.(Edwin Yates), 1872-1955.
Webb, James E. (James Edwin), 1906-
Winborne, John Wallace, 1884-1966.
Woodruff, Robert Winship

Places:

Cleveland County ( N.C.)--History.
North Carolina--Politics and government--1865-1950.
Shelby (N.C.)--History.
United States--Politics and government--1933-1953.

Restrictions to access:

This collection contains additional materials that are not available for immediate or same day access. Please contact Research and Instructional Service staff at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu to discuss options for consulting these materials.

Restrictions to use:

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], in the Oliver Max Gardner Papers #3613, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Location of this collection:

Southern Historical Collection

Louis Round Wilson Library

200 South Road

Chapel Hill, NC 27515

Contact:

(919) 962-3765

wilsonlibrary@unc.edu