Receipts: P.O. Box in Harrisonburg, 1933 - 1964

The Paul papers are organized in six series based upon the nature of the files: administrative material, general civil and criminal cases, bankruptcy cases, land condemnation cases, professional correspondence, and speeches and articles.

Series I is comprised of administrative files containing extensive correspondence and records of the administration of the federal district court, from the early 1930s to the early 1960s. Changes over these years, and Paul's reactions to them, are reflected in reports and in correspondence with other judges, the district court staff, and the staff of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts. Other substantial files in this series contain information regarding case loads, rules of court, probation, jury call decisions, and the appointments of U.S. commissioners.

Series II consists of general civil and criminal case files arranged in alphabetical order by plaintiff last name. While these files primarily contain correspondence, there are occasional copies of some of the court records of a case. By far the single most important cases in the collection are those concerning school desegregation. The case files for Allen v. School Board of the City of Charlottesville and Kilby v. School Board of Warren County contain Paul's extensive correspondence with other district and circuit judges, as well as with the lawyers involved, annotated motions, drafts of opinions, and other important documents. The general case files are followed by motions, pleadings and orders, and by handwritten notes taken from the bench, which had been kept separate from the case files.

The school desegregation cases have many exchanges of letters with J. Lindsay Almond, Jr., John S. Battle, Jr., Oliver W. Hill, Spottswood W. Robinson, III, and S. W. Tucker.

Series III, the bankruptcy case files, is broken into two subseries. The first subseries contains files concerning bankruptcies of individuals and businesses, which are preceded by the administrative files concerning these cases. The second subseries concerns bankruptcies of farmers handled under Section 75 of the Bankruptcy Act.

Series IV is comprised of land condemnation cases, which are listed by last name of the first owner named in the case; also noted is the county in which the land is located. These files include the commissioners' reports, orders, opinions (some handwritten), and correspondence.

Series V contains professional correspondence between Jugde Paul and other judges.

Series VI contains a small collection of speeches and articles by Judge Paul.

Not limited to Series V, but sprinkled throughout the collection, is Judge Paul's correspondence with other judges. His most frequent and long-term correspondent was Judge Alfred D. Barksdale. Other judges with whom he corresponded regularly when their terms overlapped were Albert V. Bryan, Armistead M. Dobie, Ted Dalton, Sterling Hutcheson, John J. Parker, Floyd H. Roberts, Simon E. Sobeloff, and Roby C. Thompson.