Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions on personal use. Permission to publish material from the C. Harrison Mann, Jr. papers must be obtained from Special Collections Research Center, George Mason University Libraries.

Access Restrictions

This collection is housed at the WRLC Shared Collections Facility. Advance notice will be required to access any materials.

There are no access restrictions.

Alternative Form Available

Selections from the C. Harrison Mann papers are also available in the C. Harrison Mann, Jr. Digital Collection.

Preferred Citation

C. Harrison Mann, Jr. papers, C0094, Special Collections Research Center, George Mason University Libraries.

Acquisition Information

Collection donated by Betty Hart Mann in 1979.

Processing Information

Processed by Special Collections and Archives staff. EAD markup completed in March 2009 by Eron Ackerman and Jordan Patty, revised by Amanda Brent in 2016. Reprocessed by Amanda Brent in 2016.

Biographical Information

Charles Harrison Mann, Jr. was born in Alabama in 1908 and received his law degree from the University of Virginia in 1931. He subsequently became an attorney both in Washington, D.C. and in Arlington, Virginia where he and his wife Betty Hart Mann, maintained their home. In 1949, while serving as President of the Northern Virginia Chapter of the University of Virginia Alumni Association, Mann organized an exploratory committee of local citizens to develop support for higher education in Northern Virginia. Through these efforts, the Northern Virginia Center of the University opened in October 1, 1949.

In 1953 Mann organized the Advisory Council to the Northern Virginia Center, which agreed that a two-year branch college should be established. Elected as a Democrat to the Virginia House of Delegates from 1954-1970, Mann sponsored a resolution calling for a study of educational needs for Virginia, and was instrumental in recommending the development of a college system in Virginia, particularly the establishment of a branch in Northern Virginia.

Mann was responsible for creating an educational financial assistance program for Virginia college students, and was instrumental in sponsoring legislation allowing local governments to form regional boards to acquire and transfer land and buildings for educational use.

He also served as the Chairman of George Mason College's first Board of Control. He sponsored bills constituting George Mason College as a branch of the University of Virginia and later elevating it to a four year division of the University with the right to grant degrees and offer graduate program. He served on the GMU Board of Visitors from 1975 to 1977. He died in 1977.

Scope and Content

Comprises C. Harrison Mann, Jr.'s personal papers and handwritten draft of his history of George Mason University. Papers pertain to his political career and include subject files, memoranda, campaign materials, speeches, newsclippings, maps, and other related materials.

Series 1: Correspondence (1935 - 1971) documents Mann's typed and handwritten correspondence with multiple parties over most of the twentieth century. Notable correspondents include Senator Harry F. Byrd, Judge William Moncure, and Virginia Governor James Lindsay Almond, Jr.

Series 2: General Assembly (1950 - 1970) documents Mann's time in the Virginia General Assembly, and is divided into two subseries. Series 2.1: General Assembly Correspondence. Series 2.2: General Assembly Subject Files, with subjects including the Civil War Commission, Clippings, Education, Insurance, and Schools Data.

Series 3: Career (1945 - 1970) documents Mann's political career, local and national politics, and legislation, and is divided into three subseries. Series 3.1: Speeches, Public Engagements and Press Releases. Series 3.2: Legislation, Congressional Resolutions and Documents, includes documents on bills passed and killed, the Gray Commission and the Perrow Commission (both as a result of Brown v. Board of Education), and Senate and House Bills and Joint Resolutions. Series 3.3: Politics and Platforms, includes documents on various local and national political campaigns, the Democratic Executive Committee, primaries, elections, and special sessions.

Series 4: George Mason University (1958 - 1978) documents Mann's involvement with the founding of George Mason University (G.M.U.) and is divided into three subseries. Series 4.1: Correspondence, includes correspondence concerning G.M.U. during the years 1964 - 1971. Series 4.2: Newspaper Clippings, includes newspaper articles on student housing, new buildings, student protests, and college plans. Series 4.3: Subject Files, includes documents on the G.M.U. Advisory Board, the G.M.U. Broadside Newspaper, the G.M.U. Law School, and pamphlets.

Series 5: Subject and Miscellaneous Files (1832 - 1979) documents numerous subjects and is divided into two subseries. 5.1: Subject Files, includes documents with subjects ranging from civil defense, Communism, mental health, to historical newspapers, newspaper clippings, copies of historical maps, education, and Mann's personal documents. It also includes a large portion on transportation, with documents pertaining to billboards, trucks, highways, traffic safety, and other transportation-related subjects. 5.2: Miscellaneous Files, includes Mann's personal slides collection and political endorsements notecards.

Related Material

The Special Collections Research Center also holds other personal papers and organizational records on the politics of Northern Virginia as well as the George Mason University archives. In addition, there is the C. Harrison Mann, Jr. collection of rare books and atlases that can be found searching the GMU Libraries catalog. as well as the Harrison Mann, Jr. Digitized Map Collection. A full inventory of the map collection is available through the finding aid for the C. Harrison Mann, Jr. Digitized Map Collection.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Bills, Legislative -- United States
• Byrd, Harry F. (Harry Flood), 1887-1966
• Correspondence
• Education -- Political aspects -- Virginia
• George Mason University
• Legislators -- United States
• Newspapers
• Transportation
• United States -- Politics and government
• Virginia -- Politics and government -- 20th century
• Virginia. General Assembly