Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Access to the Harry F. Byrd, Jr., Papers is controlled by the Honorable Harry F. Byrd, Jr. An applicant for access who is not associated with the University of Virginia must furnish to the Director of Special Collections a brief description of his academic or other qualifications, a summary of his research project, and a description of any projected publication that might make use of material from, or material derived from, the Harry F. Byrd, Jr., Papers. The Director of Special Collections will contact Senator Byrd and will notify the applicant of the Senator's decision.

Use Restrictions

No part of the Harry F. Byrd, Jr., Papers, nor any material from them, or derived from them, may be published without the express permission of the Honorable Harry F. Byrd, Jr. Please see Access Restrictions above for the procedure to be followed to obtain Senator Byrd's permission.

Preferred Citation

Additional Papers of Harry F. Byrd, Jr., Accession #10320-g, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

These additional Harry Flood Byrd, Jr. Papers were added to the materials, originally deeded to the University of Virginia Library on February 2, 1979, by Senator Byrd on November 25, 2000.

Biographical/Historical Information

Harry Flood Byrd, Jr., a former member of the Virginia Senate (1947-1965), United States Senator for Virginia (1965-1983), and newspaper executive, was born in Winchester, Virginia, on December 20, 1914, son of Harry F. Byrd, Sr. and Anne Douglas (Beverley) Byrd. He was a student at the Virginia Military Institute, 1931-1933, and the University of Virginia, 1933-1935. Byrd married Gretchen B. Thomson of New Orleans, on August 9, 1941, and they had three children, Harry, Thomas Thomson, and Beverley.

Appointed to the United States Senate in 1965, Senator Byrd was elected to the Senate in 1966 as a Democrat and was reelected in 1970 and 1976 as an Independent. He was the first person in the history of the Senate to be elected twice as an Independent. Byrd was active on both the Armed Services Committee and the Finance Committee. He was also a member of the Virginia Democratic Central Committee (1940-1966).

Byrd was the editor of the Winchester Evening Star from 1935-, publisher of the Harrisonburg, Virginia, Daily News Record , 1937-; President and Director of the Rockingham Publishing Company, from 1946; director of the Associated Press, 1950-1966.

During World War II, he served as an executive officer of a patrol bombing squadron in the Central and Western Pacific as a Lieutenant Commander in the United States Naval Reserve. Byrd was a recipient of the Honor Medal, and a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion, Rotarian Club, National Press Club, and the Army-Navy Club. Byrd also served on the boards of many educational and other institutions and received many awards from civic groups too numerous to mention in this short note. For additional information see the membership files and the list of plaques awarded to the Senate in appreciation of his career of service.

Scope and Content

This addition to the papers of United States Senator Harry F. Byrd, Jr. consists of ca. 28,500 items (89 boxes and 10 OS boxes, ca. 59 linear feet), ca. 1924-2003, including correspondence, speeches, campaign materials, memberships on boards and organizations, photographs, plaques, memorabilia, awards, Senate voting records and topical files.

Much of the material deals with the political campaigns of Harry F. Byrd, Jr. for the Virginia State Legislature and the United States Senate, working files from his terms in the Virginia and U.S. Senate, correspondence concerning his decision to retire from the Senate, and files pertaining to his stint as the editor of the Winchester Star , and other family owned newspapers.

The first series consists of correspondence; correspondents in the alphabetical correspondence subseries (Boxes 1-12) discuss the Byrd apple orchards, his editorials, personal matters, and issues in the Virginia Legislature. The political subseries of correspondence (Boxes 13-19) chiefly discusses Byrd's campaign for the Senate in 1970 and his decision to run as an Independent, his political contributors, and information about the campaign. There are also a good many letters concerning his decision to retire when his term was up in 1983.

The second series (Boxes 20-40) provides a good idea of the extent of Senator Byrd's involvement in public activities including festivals, commissions, memberships in various organizations, college boards of trustees, special awards, and historical and cultural organizations. This series also includes files on "Special Friends" listed in the folder listing, and speeches by Byrd, chiefly after his Senate career.

The next series is subdivided into the business papers (Boxes 41-47) of Senator Byrd, including files about his newspaper business, investments, and H.F.Byrd, Inc. and his family and personal papers (Boxes 48- 52), which includes files on his wedding anniversaries, articles by Byrd, awards and certificates, his wife, Gretchen, family correspondence, news clippings about Byrd, photographs of Harry F. Byrd, Jr. in various settings and with his family, notable figures and celebrities, a few of Harry F. Byrd, Sr., and his South Pole trip in 1979.

The majority of material in the fourth series of campaign and political papers deals with the 1976 election but there are scattered files on campaigns and politics in other years. There were several political surveys conducted for Byrd by professional companies and material concerning the Virginians for Byrd organization. There also appears to be a complete record of the Senate Roll Call Votes of Harry F. Byrd, Jr. (Boxes 72-80) and an almost complete Voting Record (Boxes 80-81).

The fifth series is devoted to the plaques awarded to Byrd and other miscellaneous memorabilia.

Arrangement

These papers are organized in five series:

Series I. Correspondence: Subseries A: Alphabetical Correspondence (Boxes 1-12) Subseries B: Political and Retirement from Senate (Boxes 13- 19)

Series II Public Activities (Boxes 20-40) Series III Personal, Family, and Business Papers Subseries A: Business (Boxes 41-47) Subseries B: Family and Personal Papers (Boxes 48-52 and OS Box S-74)

Series IV Campaign and Political Papers (Boxes 52-89 ) Subseries A: Campaign Papers, 1966-1976, (Boxes 52-56) Subseries B: Political: 1976 Election (Boxes 57-64 ) Subseries C: Political: Miscellaneous (Boxes 65-71, and OS Box S-75) Subseries D: Political Notebooks (Boxes 72-81)

Series V Plaques Awarded to Harry F. Byrd, Jr. and Byrd Miscellany (Boxes 82-89 and S-76 through S- 82).