Justice Robert H. Jackson: Clippings primarily from the time of his death, 1954

The papers of E. Barrett Prettyman, Jr., consist of correspondence files dating from 1944 to 1982, as well as the working papers from his clerkship for Justices Jackson, Frankfurter, and Harlan (1953-1955).

Prettyman had arranged the correspondence by name of the justice who was the correspondent/subject. For each man there is correspondence from Prettyman's clerkship period, and later correspondence with other former clerks about reunions. In addition, the Jackson correspondence contains a few letters from Jackson and a good many related to his death. In the Frankfurter file there are many short, handwritten notes from Frankfurter to his clerk commenting on cases before the Court as they were being heard, making requests, or expressing opinions about other justices' views. Frankfurter's notes are also sprinkled throughout the case materials. The Harlan letters date from the period just before he went on the Court until the time of his death, since Justice and Mrs. Harlan maintained their friendship with Prettyman and his wife Evelyn after the short clerkship ended.

The working papers contain one or more folders on a dozen specific cases, several folders on an assortment of cases, and twelve folders containing Prettyman's certiorari petition memoranda annotated by the three justices. Of the case material, the most significant concerns Brown v. Board of Education and includes drafts of Prettyman's memoranda to Jackson regarding the justice's draft opinion, the map of Spartanburg, Prettyman's memo concerning implementation, and signed copies of the opinion and the decree.

This collection documenting the work of a Supreme Court law clerk is significant because of the stature of the three justices Prettyman clerked for at such an important time in the Court's history. Furthermore, records of Supreme Court clerkships are rare. Legal historians of theBrownera will find these papers valuable and interesting.