Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

The J. L., Accession # 7783-a, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

This collection was obtained on 28 June 1972, as a gift from Mrs. J. L. B Buck of Richmond.

Scope and Content Information

These papers comprise the working records of the Virginia Committee for Public Schools in the years of "massive resistance "to public school integration, 1958-1960. From its headquaters in Richmond, this committee acted to influence public debate and state legislation toward public schools and to coordinate the activities of numerous local committees. The committee was directed from its inception by Dr. J.L. Blair Buck of Richmond, (1886-[1967]), who until his retirement in 1956 had been Coordinator of Teacher Education for the Virginia State Department of Education. The committee was formally dissolved in 1960, upon the evident failure of "massive resistance "as a program.

The Buck colelction bears upon a number of related institutions during this period. Among them are the following: Gray Commission, 1955; Perow Commission, 1959; Virginia Society for the Preservation of Public Education, 1955; Virginia Council on Human Relations; Southern Regional Council; NAACP; and Defenders of State Sovereignty and Individual Liberties.

Committee correspondents include: J. Lindsay Almond, Jr.; Warren Cox; Virginius Dabney; Ted Dalton; Colgate W. Darden; John Fitzgerald; Hugh M. Gordon; Earl E. Hall; Harrison Mann; Minor C. Miller; Francis Pickens Miller; Lorin A. Thompson; and Robert Whitehead.

Arrangement

When acquired, the papers were foldered roughly according to subject, in no particular chronological order. It was thought best to preserve as much as possible the existing subject titles, but at the same time to make the collection more accessible by establishing a chronology.