The Papers of A. J. Gustin Priest

The Papers of A. J. Gustin Priest span the years 1919-1977, the concentration of material falling roughly within the period 1950-1970.

There are seven series or subject categories:

I. Law practice, primarily in the field of public utilities;
II. University of Virginia files
III, Beta Theta Pi files.
IV. United World Federalists and related organizations;
V. American Bar Association and other organizations;
VI. Drafts and correspondence regarding Priest's books, articles and speeches;
VII. Personal correspondence and records.

Almost half of these records contain the correspondence relating to the consulting work Priest did in public utilities law after he began teaching at Virginia. (He brought virtually none of his files from Reid and Priest with him.) Within this series the case most heavily documented by correspondence and working papers is <em>Southwestern Electric Power v. Federal Power Commission</em>, usually referred to as the ECAP case.

Priest's University of Virginia records contain almost nothing about his teaching; the whereabouts of his lecture materials is unknown. Instead, these files contain correspondence regarding his employment, recommendations of students he taught, guest speakers for his classes, courses and lectures he gave at other institutions, and the settlement of the estates of Roy and Vernah Moyston, generous benefactors of the University of Virginia.

In addition to the consulting and teaching files are those relating to the organizations and causes Priest supported. Of research value to those interested in social fraternities are the files of correspondence and speeches relating to the national organization of Beta Theta Pi. These files span 1926 to 1973, with heavy concentration in the early fifties when Priest was national president. Priest, who deplored the "abysmal" state of fraternities in Virginia, was successful in the early seventies in getting the local Beta disbanded. The United World Federalist files cover 1953-1973, in spite of the fact that Priest was involved in the movement a decade earlier. The correspondence concerns everything from statements before Congressional committees to the editing of articles for publication. Over these two decades, Priest corresponded with a great variety of people involved in the movement. Documented slightly are Priest's association with the ABA, Phi Beta Kappa, and the United Negro College Fund.

There are drafts of Priest's books, <em>Old Hilarity</em> and <em>Principles of Public Utility Regulation</em>, together with correspondence about those books and about <em>The Great Ones</em> as well. Priest also saved most of the texts of his speeches and articles, with related correspondence.

Finally, there is a good deal of personal material. He wrote regularly to his family and saved carbon copies of those letters (1931 to 1973). Mrs. Priest allowed us to make copies of the carbons. The family letters reveal Priest's personality, his strong political opinions, and his enormous range of activities, but he wrote very little about his work. Understandably, he usually reported where a case had taken him -to Washington, D.C., or San Francisco, or Canada- but he seldom mentioned any details of the case or what parties were involved. There are several folders of general personal correspondence, as well as financial records and correspondence about medical and insurance problems, the two houses he and Mrs. Priest owned, his church, etc. Hartwell Priest lived and studied art in Paris for six or eight months before she married A. J., and he saved all the letters she sent him; these letters have also been copied.