Joseph Judson Smith Jr. University of Alabama Scrapbook

Collection

Identifier: MSS-4308

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of one scrapbook compiled by Joseph Judson Smith Jr. (1906-1996) during his time as an undergraduate student at The University of Alabama from 1923 through 1927. The scrapbook contains ephemera related to Alabama football, including several items from the 1926 Rose Bowl—"The Game That Changed the South"—in which Alabama won their first National Championship. Mr. Smith and his friends traveled to Pasadena, California, for the game. In addition to materials related to Alabama football, there are report cards with notes from George Denny, ephemera from social events on campus, and approximately 150 black-and-white photographs depicting a variety of people and places.

Dates

1923 - 1937

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research. Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using this collection. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Due to the nature of certain archival formats, including digital and audio-visual materials, access to certain materials may require additional advance notice.

Conditions Governing Use

Researchers are responsible for using the materials in conformance with United States copyright law as well as any donor restrictions accompanying the materials. The user assumes all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any copyright claimants in collection materials. Copyright for official University records is held by The University of Alabama. The library claims only physical ownership of many manuscript collections. Anyone wishing to broadcast or publish this material must assume all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any claimants of literary property rights or copyrights. Please contact Special Collections (archives@ua.edu) with questions regarding specific manuscript collections.

For more information about copyright policy, please visit: https://www.ua.edu/copyright/. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.

Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals without the consent of those individuals may have legal implications, for which the University of Alabama assumes no responsibility.

Biographical / Historical

Joseph Judson Smith Jr. was born in Birmingham, Alabama, on October 28, 1906, and raised in Meridian, Mississippi, where his father of the same name owned a grocery, grain, and cotton brokerage company. His mother, Emma Bolling Cowan Smith, had deep roots in Alabama. Her great-great-grandfather, Bolling Hall, a Virginia-born soldier in the Revolutionary War, and a six-term congressman from Georgia, settled in Alabama before it was a state and was on the first board of trustees of The University of Alabama.

Joe entered the University in the fall of 1923. He was a member of Lambda Chi Alpha, a Jason, tapped for ODK, a Phi Beta Kappa, captain of the debate team, and graduated in three and a half years. He entered Harvard Law School and graduated with an LLB in 1930. He taught law at the University of Mississippi in the school year 1930-31 and returned to Harvard as a teaching fellow, earning his LLM in 1932.

In 1932, he married Harriet Aileen Schmaltz of Dallas, Texas, whom he had met at a Harvard-Radcliffe mixer. She graduated from Pembroke as a Phi Beta Kappa in 1931, was elected May Queen in her senior year, and then earned a master’s degree from Columbia in Political Science in 1932.

Two weeks before their wedding, Joe was notified that the law firm in St. Louis that had offered him a job had to withdraw the offer as a result of deteriorating economic conditions brought on by the Great Depression. From 1932 to 1937, he practiced law in Meridian, with Harriet as his secretary; undertook legal work for the Southern Railway; and became campaign manager for Ross A. Collins’ run for the Democrat Party’s nomination for the U. S. Senate against Theodore G. Bilbo and later for the House of Representatives against a Bilbo surrogate.

In 1937, Joe was admitted to the District of Columbia Bar and to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States, beginning a storied career in anti-trust law that started with the Federal Trade Commission and led to a partnership in the Hogan and Hartson law firm from which he retired in 1966. He was a member of the Metropolitan Club, the Rotary Club, the Chevy Chase Club, and the Society of the Cincinnati.

He enjoyed his retirement by traveling the world with Harriet and finally settling in Naples, Florida, where he was a member of the Port Royal Club and an avid bridge player with Harriet as partner. The desire to return to his roots motivated him to move to Eufaula in 1980 to renew old friendships with fraternity brothers and classmates from the University.

He died November 5, 1996, having been preceded in death by Harriet on March 10, 1995.

Extent

1.7 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Overview

One scrapbook compiled by Joseph Judson Smith Jr. during his time at The University of Alabama, containing ephemera, documents, and photographs related to academics, clubs, sports, and activities.