A Guide to the Papers of Frank Bane 1919-1971
A Collection in
Special Collections
The University of Virginia Library
Accession Number 7280-a
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Preferred Citation
Papers of Frank Bane, Accession #7280-a, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.
Acquisition Information
The collection was given to the University on July 29, 1975 by Frank Bane, 2701 Connecticut Avenue, N. W., Apartment 604, Washington, D.C. 20008.
Biographical/Historical Information
Frank Bane was born in Smithfield, Virginia, April 7, 1893. His father was Charles Lee Bane, and his mother Carrie Howard (Buckner) Bane. He graduated with an A.B. from Randolph-Macon College in 1914 and did graduate work at Columbia University in 1914-15. In 1917-18 Bane served as a cadet-pilot with the United States Army Air Corps. He married Mary Greyson Hoofnagle of Ashland, Virgiia, August 14, 1919. They had two children: Mary Clark and Frank.
Bane assumed the first of a long series of public administrative positions when he was appointed secretary of the Virginia State Board of Charities and Correction in 1920. He was successively Director of Public Welfare in Knoxville, Tennessee (1923-26); Commissioner of Public Welfare in Virginia (1926-32); and Director of the American Public Welfare Association (1932-35). In 1935 he became the first Executive Director of the Federal Social Security Board, and in 1938 Executive Director of the Council of State Governments and Secretary of the Governor's Conference. During World War II, Bane served as Director of the Division of State and Local Cooperation, Advisory Commission to the Council of National Defense (1940-41) and Director of Field Operations, Office of Price Administration (1941-42). Following the war Bane resumed his post with the Council of State Governments. In 1959 President Eisenhower appointed Bane first Chairman of the Advisory Commission on Inter-Governmental Relations, a position he held until he retired in 1966. Among the professional organizations to which he belonged were the American Science Association, the National Municipal Association, the American Association of Social Work, the National Institute of Social Sciences and Phi Kappa Sigma.
Scope and Content Information
The papers of Frank Bane in this supplement to collection #7280 number ca. 5500 items (5.6 shelf feet) for the years 1919(1936-1966)1971, and consist largely of professional and personal correspondence; numerous articles, speeches and reports prepared by Mr. Bane; and tax, financial and real estate records.
Among the noteworthy figures with whom Bane corresponded in the 1940s and early 1950s are Thomas Dewey, Harry Hopkins, Robert Hutchins, Louis Brownlow, Charles Merriam, Harold Stassen, and Aubrey Williams. In addition to Bane's correspondence and his own writings, the collection includes articles by Adlai Stevenson (located in the folder labeled "Miscellaneous Materials for Articles and Speeches"), and separate folders of speeches and articles by Beardsley Ruml and Charles Merriam.
Included in the correspondence are not only folders for specific individuals, but also for various organizations and conferences, including the American Public Welfare Association, the Council on Inter- Governmental Relations, the National Committee for Mental Hygiene, the Office of Civilian Defense, the Office of Price Administration, and the Social Security Board. The latter htree folders are filed under "Frank Bane--Personal," as is a folder on the Little Rock, Arkansas integration confrontation of 1957.
Following the series of folders devoted to articles and speeches are folders of Bane's poems, stories and favorite quotations, and a "confidential estimate of the 1947-48 Fiscal Year National Budget." Of specials note among the more recent materials are: two history projects in which Bane participated as subject, one at the University of California and one at Columbia University; his lecture notes and miscellaneous materials from his visiting professorship at the University of California; a memorial article on Aubrey William; proceedings of the Advisory Commission on Inter-Governmental Relations; Bane's recommendation concerning restructuring the Commerce Department and revamping national transportation policy; copies of a one page vita of Bane's life and career, filed under "Biography"; photographs; and a 1959 mailing list.
Arrangement
The original organization of the papers as they were received has been preserved. The Bane papers are divided sequentially into three rough, overlapping chronological periods.
The first portion of the collection includes an extensive, alphabetically arranged correspondence file stretching from the mid 1930s through the early 1950s, followed by Frank Bane's articles and speeches, 1935 through 1958, in chronological order and newspaper clippings, 1939 to 1958, in chronological order.
The second portion of the collection contains, first, Frank Bane's personal and professional correspondence, 1953 to 1958, in alphabetical order, and second, tax, real estate and income records, 1938 to 1958, in chronological order.
The third portion of the collection is made up of Frank Bane's recent correspondence, 1959 to 1966, arranged alphabetically, followed by a number of Bane's major studies and reports from the 1960s, materials relating to bane's visiting professorship at the University of California, and other miscellaneous papers.
Contents List
Includes information on the Council of State Governments, Newspaper Clippings
Includes a compilation of the Social Security Laws, Resolutions of Hearings and Conferences on Unemployment Compensation
The "Little Rock FIle", including press releases, statements, newspaper clippings
Includes a special feature on Hopkins in Look Magazine
"Today's Challenge to State Government ", given before the National Association of tax Administrators
"Education and State Government ", given at the Midwest Administration Center's conference on developing public understanding and responsibility for education
"Federal-State Relations: A New Look "American Public Welfare Association, includes other conference materials as well
"Government Control of State-Supported Institutions ", given before the Association of Governing Boards of State Universities and Allied Institutions
"Obstacles in Obtaining Additional State Revenues ", given at Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce
"What is a Good Community? "given at the New Mexico Conference on Social Welfare
"Administrative Leadership ", given at the Alabama Public Administration Training Institute
"Leadership in the Randolph-Macon Tradition ", given at Randolph-Macon
"Federal-State Relations ", given at the National Conference on Social Welfare
Miscellaneous materials by various authors, including Adlai Stevenson
variety of newspaper and magazine news articles and opinion pieces about Bane
Includes numerous addresses by other people, notes for Bane's own speeches
Includes an edition of "Facts in Review ", with the authorized translation of a Hitler speech
From Real Estate Agent used on Income Tax Returns
Appearance before Senate and House Committees
Includes reports, administrative confidential statements, biographical sketch of consultants
Contains article entitled "What Happened at Berkeley ", by James Cass
Subheadings relate to Governors Boards of Managers, a Federal-State Action Committee