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Charles E. Moran Papers, Accession #7244-h, Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.
The papers were a gift from Charles E. Moran, Jr., 110 Shamrock Road, Charlottesville, Virginia, on January 20, 1977.
This collection is comprised of personal papers of Charles E. Moran of Charlottesville, Virginia, from his activities with two groups, the Save Our Schools Committee, 1955-1956, and the Offender Aid and Restoration Committee of Charlottesville-Albemarle, 1970-1975.
The first part of the collection, comprising ca. 30 items, focuses on the Charlottesville Save Our Schools Committee, an organization founded in December 1955 in response to efforts in Virginia to circumvent the Supreme Court Ruling ( Brown v. the Board of Education ) outlawing segregation in American public schools.
Virginia segregationists, including University of Virginia President Colgate W. Darden, Jr., sought to negate the Supreme Court ruling and preserve Virginia's dual school system by channeling state monies into private schools for whites. An amendment to the state constitution authorizing this project was submitted to the voters in a referendum of January 9, 1956.
The Save Our Schools Committee of Charlottesville (with like-minded organizations in various parts of the state) was created in response to the segregationist maneuver. As the materials in the collection indicate, the organization, headed by University of Virginia Press Director Charles E. Moran, Jr., was, despite its size, a forceful voice for compliance with the Supreme Court ruling. According to Moran, in an interview with the New York Times , "Negroes will never be full sized citizens until they have actual equal opportunities." Hence his opposition to the state constitutional amendment proposal, and support for a bi-racial advisory council which would work at both state and local levels to respect local traditions while moving toward compliance with the Supreme Court ruling.
The strength of anti-Negro sentiment in Virginia at this time is evidenced in the arguments used by the Save Our Schools Committee in their anti-amendment propaganda. In handouts and radio and television addresses they emphasized the costs of a system wherein the state subsidized private schools, and the likelihood that, once the money was channeled into such schools, the courts would declare this action unconstitutional. The Save Our Schools literature evinces no moral appeals to Virginians' consciences; they made pocketbook arguments solely.
In addition to the newspaper editorial favorable to the compliance position, and the organization's own propaganda, the collection contains listings of those favorable to the Save Our Schools stance, some leaflets favorable to the proposed amendment, several drafts of the plan put forward by those who accepted the Supreme Court's ruling, and some documents regarding the Saving Our Schools Committee's finances.
The second part of the collection, consisting of ca. 100 items, 1970-1975, concerns the Offender Aid and Restoration Committee of Charlottesville-Albemarle, an organization committed to voluntary assistance for inmates of the Charlottesville prison. The collection includes the organization's Articles of Incorporation and By-laws, monthly program reports, minutes of advisory board meetings, facts sheets, pamphlets, and lists of books in the Charlottesville City Jail. The collection also reflects, in several memos and one award, the contributions of Charles E. Moran, Jr., as OAR participant, financial contributor and supporter via the Charlottesville Society of Friends.
The collection has been divided into two parts, arranged separately, The Save Our Schools Committees collection begins with correspondence and is followed by lists of supporters, the committee's alternative plan for Virginia schools, propaganda, financial records and newspaper articles. The Offender Aid and Restoration materials also have been organized with correspondence first, followed by minutes and monthly reports, pamphlets, and miscellaneous items.