Josiah William Bailey papers, 1833-1967, bulk 1900-1946

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Summary

Creator:
Bailey, Josiah William, 1873-1946
Abstract:
The collection houses the personal and professional papers of Josiah William Bailey (1873-1946), Baptist layman, Raleigh attorney, and United States Senator. Chiefly consists of correspondence and print material, as well as smaller amounts of financial records, clippings, volumes, broadsides, photographs, and memorabilia dating from 1833 through 1967, with most items dating from 1900 through 1946. The collection documents Bailey's family, personal, religious, and professional life. Generally, papers prior to Bailey's election to the U.S. Senate in 1931 reflect North Carolina's legal, political, religious, agricultural, social, and economic issues. After 1931, material chiefly pertains to national affairs. Significant topics include: state and national elections and campaigns in the 1920s and 1930s; national defense and the military; veterans; the effects of the Depression on southern states and the U.S. economy and society in general; labor issues; Prohibition; the court system; taxation; the development of the Blue Ridge Parkway and other parks; agriculture in the Southern States; and the New Deal of the Roosevelt Administration. Legal papers offer a sample of case files from Bailey's law office, including a 1920s case involving W.V. Guerard of the Klu Klux Klan. Outgoing personal correspondence contains many references to national and regional issues as well as personal exchanges.
Extent:
270 Linear Feet (539 boxes)
Approximately 422,400 itemss
Language:
Material in English.
Collection ID:
RL.00065

Background

Scope and content:

Collection comprises the personal and professional papers of Josiah William Bailey (1873-1946), noted Baptist layman, Raleigh attorney, and United States Senator. The material covers many aspects of Bailey's life and career and provides rich information on North Carolina and the United States in the first half of the twentieth century, particularly for the Depression years and World War II.

The papers are comprised chiefly of correspondence and supporting printed material, although there are also financial records, clippings, volumes, broadsides, photographs, and memorabilia, dating from 1833 through 1967, with most items falling in the period from 1900 through 1946.

The collection documents Josiah W. Bailey's family, personal, religious, and professional life and indicates the wide range of his intellectual interests throughout his adult years. Generally, papers prior to Bailey's election to the United States Senate in 1930 reflect North Carolina's legal, political, religious, agricultural, social, and economic issues. During the senatorial years, material pertaining to national affairs predominates. Topics chiefly relate to national defense, the effects of the Depression on Southern States and the U.S. economy and society in general; labor issues; prohibition; the development of the Blue Ridge Parkway and other parklands; the state and Supreme Court systems; agriculture in the Southern States; and the New Deal of the Roosevelt Administration.

The chronological division between the Pre-Senatorial Series and the Senatorial Series was established at December 31, 1930. There is occasional overlap among topical files within a series (such as that among Agriculture, Taxation, and Taxation: Revaluation in the Pre-Senatorial Series) or between series in some cases. When possible, cross references and other notes have been provided in the inventory. The researcher, however, should be aware of these relationships as they apply to specific research topics.

Much of Bailey's outgoing correspondence consists of form letters and perfunctory acknowledgments, but there are also many lengthy and articulate letters. It should be noted that the correspondence in the Personal Series is comprised mainly of family letters, many of which are informative about political issues of the day. Letters from Bailey to his wife, Edith Pou Bailey, and to his father-in-law, James Hinton Pou, are particularly informative.

Biographical / historical:
Chronology
Date Event
1873
Josiah William Bailey born, September 14; Warrenton, N.C.
1877
Bailey's father, Christopher Thomas Bailey, appointed editor of the Biblical Recorder; family moves to Raleigh, N.C.
1880-1889
Bailey attends Raleigh Township Graded Schools and Raleigh Male Academy.
1893
Received B.A. degree from Wake Forest College.
1893-1907
Edited Biblical Recorder. As editor, Bailey emphasized the need for improved public school conditions in N.C. and advocated state aid to public schools.
1896-1900
Member, State Board of Agriculture.
1900 election
Supported disfranchisement of Negroes, Furnifold Simmons for Senate, and Charles B. Aycock for governor.
1903-1907
Chairman, N.C. Anti-Saloon League. Fought to establish "local option." Opposed national prohibition. Resigned when League resolved to support state prohibition.
1907-1908
Studied law under Samuel French Mordecai, Trinity College.
Admitted to the bar, began practice with Wesley N. Jones.
1908
Elector at Large.
1909-1911
Member, Board of Education, Wake County.
1911-1913
Chairman, State Child Labor Committee.
1912 election
Supported Woodrow Wilson for President and Locke Craig for governor. F.M. Simmons re-elected U.S. Senator.
1913-1910
Appointed by President Wilson to be Collector for Internal Revenue for N.C. Eastern District.
1913
Governor Craig appointed Bailey to N.C. Constitutional Commission. Commission recommended voting reform, court changes, tax reform, required school term.
1914
Assumed leadership of liberal faction of State Democratic Party. Suggestions of this faction defeated by subsequent state convention.
1916
Married Edith Walker Pou.
1917
Addressed N.C. General Assembly in behalf of women's suffrage.
1919-1921
Internal Revenue Collector for N.C.
1919-1920
Represented interests of the Farmers' Union before the N.C. General Assembly, opposing increased property taxes.
1921
Returned to legal practice full-time with James Hinton Pou.
1924
Candidate for governor. Defeated in primary by Angus Wilton McLean whom Simmons supported
1928
Supported Alfred E. Smith for the presidency, O. Max Gardner for governor.
1930
Candidate for U.S. Senate; defeated Simmons in primary and won election with record-breaking majority.
1932
Advocated currency control. Suggested reducing administrative expenses, but supported public works appropriations
1932 election
Actively supported Roosevelt in North Carolina.
1933
Opposed Agricultural Adjustment Act.
1936
Re-elected to Senate.
1937
Strongly opposed "court packing" bill. Supported Neutrality Act. Emerged as key Figure in Senate "conservative" alliance.
1938
Opposed Fair Labor Standards Act. Became chairman of Commerce Committee.
1940
Supported Selective Service Bill.
1941
Supported Lend-Lease. Reversing earlier position, advocated intervention.
1942
Re-elected to Senate.
1945
Supported ratification of the United Nations Charter.
1946
Died Dec. 15 in Raleigh, N.C.

Committee Assignments

  • Claims: 1931-1944 72nd-78th Congresses (Chairman, 1933-1938)
  • Commerce: 1931-1946 72nd-79th Congresses (Chairman, 1939-1946)
  • Finance: 1935 74th Congress (Apparently Bailey was on this committee only briefly)
  • Interstate Commerce: 1933-1934 73rd Congress
  • Post Office and Post Roads: 1931-1946 72nd-79th Congresses
  • Special Committee on the Conservation of Wildlife Resources: 1933-1946 73rd-79th Congresses
  • Special Committee to Investigate Conditions in the Merchant Marine (Chairman): 1939-1944 76th-78th Congresses

Family Information

Josiah William Bailey

Josiah William Bailey
  • Father: Christopher Thomas Bailey
  • Mother: Annie Sarah (Bailey) Bailey
  • Sister: Sallie C. Bailey (married Wesley N. Jones; children: Annie Railey,Sallie W., William B.)
  • Brother: Christopher Thomas Bailey, Jr. (married Mary Himbish)
  • Brother: Edmund Lamar Bailey
  • Brother: Bayard Yates Bailey (died in infancy)

Edith Walker Pou

  • Father: James Hinton Pou
  • Mother: Annie Walker Pou

Children of Josiah William and Edith Pou Bailey

  • James Hinton Pou (b. 1917)
  • Annie Elizabeth (b. 1920)
  • Josiah William, Jr. (b. 1922)
  • Edith Pou (b. 1925)
  • Sallie (b. 1927)

Acquisition information:
The Josiah Bailey papers were received as a gift by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library in 1957 from the Bailey family.
Processing information:

Processed by David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library staff, completed August 30, 1977.

The collection was arranged and described under the auspices of a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.

Encoded by Stephen Douglas Miller.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Contents

Using These Materials

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Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

The copyright interests in the Josiah William Bailey Papers have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information consult the section on copyright in the Regulations and Procedures of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

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Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Josiah William Bailey papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.