PEFSA: Speeches, Articles, etc. re Free School and related issues, by FDGR and others, 1963 - 1964

The Frederick D.G. Ribble papers document his years as professor and dean at the University of Virginia Law School, his service on professional boards and committees, the legal cases in which he was directly involved or interested, and, to a limited extent, his personal life before his marriage.

The first series (13 boxes) is comprised of files found in one cabinet and spans 1920 to 1947; the second series (17 boxes) from the other cabinet overlaps Series I chronologically, covering 1941 to 1965. Ribble did the filing for the first series, and his secretary for the second. Series III(1 box), material once interfiled in the Dean's Papers, contains primarily personal correspondence, 1923-1960.

Much of the first series concerns Ribble's teaching: notes and clippings regarding cases, students' papers that he saved, copies of exams, and some correspondence and documents relating to subjects he taught. The most substantive of these files are Constitutional Law, Commerce, and Real Property, major areas of interest to Ribble in the twenties and thirties. There is a good deal of correspondence and other material on the post-war years of growth at the Law School, as well as on the educational problems of returning veterans. A transition program was a major concern to Ribble, and he communicated with many prominent people in legal education in regard to it. Near the end of Series I there is a substantial collection of material from Ribble's years on the Board of Appeals in Visa Cases. Finally, there are some personal letters from his family, as well as what appear to be most of his personal financial papers from the twenties and thirties.

Series II has very little Law School or personal material, but instead is made up of papers generated by Ribble's extracurricular interests and involvement. Civil rights and related subjects are predominant in this series, from notes and clippings on the Gray Commission's Report (1955), to an extensive file on the Prince Edward Free School Association (1963-1965). There is a large body of correspondence and reports relating to Ribble's work on the ABA's Section on Legal Education. In addition, there is evidence of his contributions to such efforts as the China Legal Education Committee, the Permanent Committee of the Oliver Wendell Holmes Devise, of which he was a member, the restoration of the East Lawn Gardens of the University, UNESCO, the United Negro College Fund, and the Virginia State Bar Association. Finally, there are extensive records from seminars on Constitutional Law and Professional Ethics, which he taught just before retirement. As in earlier days, he saved notes, class papers exams, etc., from the classes.

Series III, personal correspondence, has a few topical folders, but is otherwise arranged chronologically.