Maryland Historical Society
Library of Maryland History
Maryland Historical Society
Library of Maryland History
(Text converted and initial EAD tagging
provided by Apex Data Services, March 1999.)
Alger Hiss Collection, 1934-1979 Contact Information:
Maryland Historical Society
Manuscripts Department
Maryland Historical Society Library
201 West Monument Street
Baltimore MD 21201-4674
410.685.3750
Fax: 410.385.2105
library@mdhs.org
www.mdhs.org
Descriptive Summary
REGISTER FOR THE ALGER HISS COLLECTION,, 1934-1979
MS.2504
Maryland Historical Society
Baltimore MD 21201-4674
Biographical Sketch
Alger Hiss was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1905. He attended Baltimore City College and graduated with honors from Johns Hopkins University in 1926. By 1929, he had received his law degree from Harvard Law School and embarked on an illustrious legal career. Upon graduation from Harvard, he was selected by Prof. Frankfurter to serve as a law clerk to Justice Holmes. In December 1929, he married Priscilla Hobson and as soon as his term as law clerk ended, the couple moved to Boston where Alger was employed by the firm of Choate, Hall & Stewart. After two years with Choate, Hall & Stewart, Hiss moved to New York and became associated with the law firm of Cotton & Franklin. In 1933, Alger Hiss and Lee Pressman were appointed as assistants to Judge Jerome Frank, acting counsel for the Agricultural Adjustment Administration. The following year, at the request of Senator Nye, Hiss was temporarily relieved of his duties with the AAA so that he could serve as counsel to the Nye Committee which was investigating the munitions industry. By the late 1930's, Hiss had transferred to the State Department and spent much of his time with the Far Eastern Division. Moreover, he performed, with Leo Pasvolsky, much of the preparatory work for the Dumbarton Oaks Conference, which laid the groundwork for the United Nations. In addition, Hiss accompanied Sec. of State Edward Stettinus to the Yalta Conference and assumed the responsibility of discussing the United State's position on the United Nations Organization. In February 1947, Johns Hopkins University conferred an honorary degree on Hiss in recognition of his work on the United Nations Organization. By this time, John Foster Dulles appointed Hiss the Presidency of the Carnegie Foundation for International Peace. It was while serving as President of the Carnegie Foundation that Hiss was accused by Whittaker Chambers of belonging to the Communist Party and of participating in Soviet espionage activities. The charges were made before the House Un-American Activities Committee and were repeated in public on Meet the Press. Following these statements, Hiss, in August 1948, filed a libel suit against Chambers and asked his friend, William Marbury, to represent him. As a consequence of the evidence found in the “Baltimore Documents” and the “Pumpkin Papers”, Hiss was forced to testify before the Grand Jury and was subsequently indicted for perjury. The first jury was discharged in December 1948 after having been unable to reach a verdict. In January 1950, a second jury returned a verdict of guilty which was affirmed in the December 1950 ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals. The Supreme Court denied Hiss the writ of certiorari, i.e., the right to review the case. From March 1951 to November 1954, Hiss served a three year prison term for the perjury charges. Recently, from 1975 to the present, Hiss has repeatedly petitioned for the writ of error coram nobis as well as requesting, under the amended Freedom of Information Act, to see the relevant files from the Department of Justice, the F.B.I., and the C.I.A.
Scope and Content
Essentially the collection contains three types of papers, namely, court proceedings, government publications, and correspondence.
Court Proceedings
Within this first group, there exists the records of the quasi-judicial Committee on Un-American Activities. These papers not only illustrate the role that the young Congressman Richrad Nixon played in the proceedings but depict the nature of investigatory legislative committees.
Moreover, the collection contains the transcripts, memorandums, and abtracts for the Alger Hiss v. Whittaker Chambers case as well as the 1950 U.S. v. Alger Hiss appeal.
Government Publications
This second group of material is comprised of three publications of the Committee on Un-American Activities regarding espionage and Communist activity within the United States government.
Correspondence
Contains incoming and outgoing correspondence of William Marbury, Alger Hiss's friend and attorney for the libel suit. Content is focused on the Hiss case and includes letters written at the time of the trial as well as correspondence with individuals doing research on the case several years later.
In addition to Marbury's correspondence, there is included the correspondence of two of his firm's partners, namely, John T. Webb and Franklin G. Allen.
by
JANICE E. RUTH
Container List
BOX ONE Natalie Marbury incoming correspondence, [1948] [1 item] William Marbury outgoing correspondence, typewritten copies, 1934-1977 [88 items] William Marbury incoming correspondence, 1935-1980 [85 items] William Marbury correspondence w/ John Chabot Smith, 1974-1976 [15 items] William Marbury correspondence w/ Meyer Zeligo, 1967; 1977 [8 items] William Marbury correspondence w/ Allen Weinstein, 1974-1978 [40 items] John T. Webb incoming correspondence, 1949 [9 items] John T. Webb outgoing correspondence, typewritten copies, 1949 [14 items] Franklin G. Allen incoming correspondence, 1949 [6 items] Franklin G. Allen outgoing correspondence, typewritten copies, [8 items] Misc. Correspondence re: Hiss-Chambers Libel Suit, 1948-1949 [5 items] BOX TWO Committee on Un-American Activities, United States House of Representatives, 80th Congress, Second Session. Report of Proceedings, stenographic transcript, 1948 [13 vols.] BOX THREE Hearings Regarding Espionage In U.S. Government, Part I, 1948 [1 vol.] Hearings Regarding Espionage In U.S. Government, Part II, 1948 [1 vol.] Investigation of Un-American Activites In United States, 1948 [1 vol.] Soviet Espionage Within The U.S. Government, 1948 [1 vol.] Alger Hiss v. Whittaker Chambers Stenographic Transcript of Depositions, 1948 [vols.1-3] BOX FOUR Stenographic Transcript of Depositions, 1948-1949 [vols.4-7] Corrections to Transcript, [1949] [32 pages] Abstract of Record Before Thomas Committee, ribbon copy, 1948 [100 pages] “Baltimore Exhibits”, photostats, [n.d.] [43 items] Memorandum re: Class Reunion, 1948 [1 item] Memorandum re: Typewriter Samples, 1949 [1 item] [William Marbury's] Notes on Case, [1948-1949] [49 pages] BOX FIVE U.S. v. Alger Hiss, United States Court of Appeals. Transcript of Record, 1950 [vols.1-3] BOX SIX [vols.4-7] BOX SEVEN [vols. 8-10] Index-Transcript of Record, [1950] [1 vol.] Petition for Writ of Certiorari, 1950 [1 vol.] Brief of Appellant, 1950 [1 vol.] BOX EIGHT In The Matter of Alger Hiss: Petition for Reinstatement in Bar of Massachusetts, 1975 [33 pages] “The Hiss-Chambers Libel Suit” by William Marbury, 1977 [51 pages] In Re Alger Hiss: Petition for a Writ of Error Coram Nobis, 1979 [1 vol.] Miscellaneous Newsclippings, 1976 [7 items] INDEX Alger Hiss v. Whittaker Chambers, 1948 Allen, Franklin G. (1917-) “Baltimore Documents”, 1948 Chambers, Esther (fl.1948) Chambers, Whittaker (1901-1961) Communism- opposition to, 1930's-1950's Espionage, 1930's -1950's Hiss, Alger (1905-) Hiss, Priscilla (m.1929) Hoover, John Edgar (b.1895) House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), 1948-1950 Lane, Chester T. (fl.1948) Lawyers, 20th century McLean, Edward (d.1972) Marbury, Natalie (m.1935) Marbury, William (1901-) Nixon, Richard M. (1913-) Nye Committee, 1934 “Pumpkin Papers”, 1948 Smith, John Chabot (fl.1974-1976) Stryker, Lloyd (fl.1948) Thomas Committee Un-American Activities Committee, U.S. House of Representatives, 1948-1950 U.S. v. Alger Hiss, 1950 Webb, John T. (fl.1949) Weinstein, Allen (fl.1974-1978) Zeligo, Meyer (fl.1967-1977)