MSS 84-08

The Papers of Hardy Cross Dillard

Dates

Creation: 1925-1981

Extent

41 Cubic feet
99 archival boxes, plus some oversize folders

Abstract

Professional and personal papers that reflect Dillard’s career as law professor and dean of the University of Virginia School of Law, as a scholar, and as judge to the International Court of Justice. There are university related files especially concerning the honor system; case materials for McClanahan v. California Spray-Chemical Corporation, case he argued before the Virginia Supreme Court; his work in the International Court of Justice and other local organizations and some personal notes related to school segregation. The collection has many photographs and memorabilia.

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Acquisition Information

The papers of Hardy Cross Dillard were deposited at the Law Library by his widow, Val Dillard, on 31 October 1984.

Biographical / Historical Note

1902 - Born in New Orleans, Louisiana on 23 October to James Hardy and Avarene Lippincott Budd Dillard

1911-1912 - Lived in France and attended a French Lycee

1915-1916 - Attended high school in Charlottesville, Virginia

1916-1919 - Attended and graduated from Virginia EpiscopalSchool, Lynchburg, Va.

1919-1920 - Attended University of Virginia

1920-1924 - Attended and graduated from United States Military Academy

1924-1927 - Attended and graduated from University of Virginia Law School

1926 - Summer law clerk, Price, Smith and Spillman, Charleston, W. Va.

1927 - Admitted to Virginia Bar

1927-1929 - Acting Assistant Professor, University of Virginia Law School

1928 - Travelled in England, France, Italy and Algiers

1929-1930 - Practiced law at Gregg and Church, New York, N.Y.

1930-1931 - Carnegie Endowment Fellow, (Faculte de droit,) University of Paris

1931-1933 - Acting assistant (associate?) professor, University of Virginia Law School

1932-1933 - Summer associate, Davis, Polk, Wardwell, Gardiner and Reed, New York, N.Y.

1933-1938 - Associate Professor, University of Virginia Law School

1934 - Married Janet Gray Schauffler

1935 - Birth of Joan Jarvis Dillard

1937-1940 - Assistant Dean, University of Virginia Law School

1937-1970 - Advisory Editor, Virginia Quarterly Review

1938-1970 - Professor, University of Virginia Law School

1937 - Birth of Hardy Schauffler Dillard

1938-1942 - Director, Institute of Public Affairs

1942 - Major, U.S. Army; promoted to Lt. Colonel, same year

1942-1945 - Received command and staff assignments in Europe and Far East; awarded Legion of Merit with Oak Leaf Cluster and Bronze Star Medal

1943 - Promoted to Colonel, U.S. Army

1943-1944 - Director of Academic Instruction, School for Military Government

1946 - First Director of Studies, National War College

1947-1950 - Consultant, Brookings Institution

1947 - Resumed teaching at University of Virginia Law School

1948 - Colonel, U.S. Army Reserve

1949-1952 - Member of Board of Consultants, National War College

1949 - Member, Civilian Advisory Group, National War College

1950 - Active duty in International Section, Pentagon; Legal Consultant, Office of High Commissioner for Germany; Lecturer, France and Germany

1951-1954 - Member, Board of Consultants, National War College

1952-1961 - Trustee, Virginia Episcopal School

1953 - Fulbright Lecturer, Oxford University

1957 - Summer active duty, Judge Advocate General's School

1956 - Civilian Consultant, Army War College

1956-1962 - Editor, Virginia Bar News

1957 - Carnegie Lecturer, Hague Academy of International Law

1957 - Recipient, Raven Award

1957 - Consultant, NATO Defense College in France

1958-1970 - James Monroe Professor of Law, University of Virginia Law School

1962 - Secretary, Defense Committee on Non-technical Instruction in Armed Forces

1962 - Lecturer, Egyptian Society of International Law and University of Cairo

1962-1963 - Visiting Professor of Law, Columbia University

1962-1963 - President, American Society of International Law

1963-1979 -Member of Council, American Law Institute

1963-1968 - Dean, University of Virginia Law School

1965 - Member, Virginia Magna Charta Commission

1965 - Member, Special Advisory Committee, Air Force Academy

1966-1970 - Permanent Advisory Council, Air Force Academy

1966 - Sibley Lecturer, University of Georgia

1967 - Recipient, Thomas Jefferson Award, University of Virginia

1967 - Member, UNESCO Committee on the Role of UNESCO in the Teaching and Dissemination of International Law

1967 - Tucker Lecturer, Washington and Lee Law School

1967 - Bailey Lecturer, Louisiana State University

1968 - Member, Virginia Commission on Constitution Revision

1970 - Recipient of Distinguished Civilian Award, U.S. Air Force

1970-1979 - Judge, International Court of Justice, The Hague

1970 - Death of Janet Schauffler Dillard

1971 - Member, Arbitral Tribunal, Beagle Channel Case between Chile and Argentina

1971 - Recipient of Honorary Degree, Tulane University

1972 - Married Valgerdur Nielsen Dent

1976 - Recipient of Honorary Degree, Washington College, Maryland

1977 - Mooers Lecturer, American University

1979 - Recipient of the Wolfgang Friedman Memorial Award, Columbia University

1979 - Honorary president, American Law Institute

1982 - Died on 12 May in Charlottesville, Virginia

Preferred Citation

Papers of Hardy Cross Dillard, MSS 84-8, Box Number, Special Collections, University of Virginia Law Library.

Scope and Content

The papers of Hardy Cross Dillard were deposited at the Law Library by his widow, Val Dillard, on 31 October 1984. Most of the records had been stored in file cabinets in the basement of their home. The only part of the collection not found organized in labelled folders was the correspondence dated after 1970; from that point on, Judge Dillard usually did not have secretarial help, so he frequently typed his letters himself and kept his files in recycled folders. Everything was in excellent condition.

The papers in Mss 84-8 were donated in nine installments. The earliest records were bound volumes of notes Dillard took as a law student (1925-27; 1930-31) and worked from as a beginning teacher. He gave the bound volumes to the library in 1963, along with the case files for Almond v. Day, on which he worked during the early sixties. The deposit transferred by Mrs. Dillard after his death fell into three groupings. The oldest were subject files (ca. 1930-1960) comprised of personal and professional correspondence, teaching materials, and law practice files. Next were another set of subject files, identical in nature to the first, but maintained primarily while Dillard was dean from 1963 to 1969. Finally, there were the correspondence files, already mentioned, which Dillard kept himself, and some of his Court files which were in labelled folders.

To avoid confusion the two sets of subject files have been integrated into one alphabetical group, Series I. Researchers should keep in mind that the large run of personal correspondence (80 folders, 1925-81) contains information about his professional life, to a limited extent from the early years and markedly so from the later ones. Since this loose definition of personal correspondence was established by Dillard and his secretaries at the Law School, it was followed for the later, unfiled correspondence. No new subject files were created. Consequently, in the later personal correspondence files one can expect to find, for example, letters to and from Phillip Jessup on matters of international law or the American Society of International Law.

The speeches and writings were isolated and arranged alphabetically by title or subject. The folders contain whatever related material was found with the piece. These files, comprising Series II, are especially revealing of the way Dillard worked. He was a popular teacher and speaker whose anecdotes and paradigms seemed to flow spontaneously, but his papers show this was not entirely the case, for his lectures and speeches were always carefully designed and organized. He loved words, beautifully written sentences, and well-formed ideas. Articles, speeches, opinions, and even some letters went through many drafts handwritten in pencil on legal pads. A frequent annotator with a lovely, fluid long-hand, he read most things with a pencil or pen in his hand.

Use Restrictions