INVENTORY OF THE PAPERS OF
JOHN RITCHIE III
MSS 78-11
University of Virginia Law Library
Charlottesville VA 22903
434/924-3023
Charlottesville VA 22903
434/924-3023
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
On March 19, 1904 John Ritchie III (Jack) was born in Norfolk, Virginia to John Ritchie, Jr. and Edith Kensett Ritchie. He studied at the University of Virginia and took a B.S. in 1925 and an LL.B. in 1927. In 1929 he married Sarah Dunlap Wallace, and they had two sons, John and Albert. He died of complications resulting from emphysema and influenza on March 4, 1988.
Jack Ritchie began and ended his long, outstanding career in legal education at the University of Virginia. A member of "The Celebrated Class of '27," he was book review editor of the Virginia Law Review and member of Order of the Coif, Phi Beta Kappa, the Raven Society, the Jefferson Literary Society, Alpha Kappa Psi, and Omicron Delta Kappa. In 1931 he earned a J.S.D. from Yale University.
After practicing law briefly in 1927 and 1928, Ritchie taught law at Furman University, Washington University in St. Louis, and University of Maryland before returning to teach at his alma mater in 1937. During World War II he served as colonel in the Judge Advocate General's Corp and was awarded several decorations. In 1952 he left Virginia to serve as dean at Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Wisconsin. In 1957 he became dean at Northwestern University where he remained until mandatory retirement in 1972. He became the first John Henry Wigmore Professor of Law at Northwestern in 1966.
Jack Ritchie was a well-loved dean at Northwestern. According to The Northwestern Reporter, he possessed "an unusually happy blend of wisdom, patience, and warmth." During his deanship the faculty grew in size and reputation, and new facilities were constructed. "His years at Northwestern will be remembered particularly for his devotion to students and for the strengthening of the School's relationship with alumni . . ."
In addition to his administrative duties, Ritchie taught trusts, and along with co-authors Neill Alford and Richard Effland, wrote the casebook, Decedents' Estates and Trusts, which appeared in seven editions from 1955 until just after his death in 1988. He was president of the Association of American Law Schools, national president of the Order of the Coif, member of the American Law Institute, and life fellow of the American Bar Foundation.
When he reached the age of 68 and had to retire from the deanship at Northwestern, Ritchie returned to the University of Virginia, taught full-time for two more years, and then became Scholar-in-Residence. An extraordinarily active man, he was not entirely "in residence," because in the next three years he visited at the University of Tennessee, the University of Oklahoma, and the College of William and Mary. In the mid-1970s he began work on a history of the University of Virginia Law School, The First Hundred Years, published in 1978. For the rest of his life Ritchie remained active in the American Bar Association and the Virginia Bar Association, worked occasionally as a consultant in trusts matters, and served on the board of The Foundation Press.
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE
The Papers of John Ritchie document his years at Virginia from 1972 until his death in 1988. His files reflect the range and intensity of his work after his official retirement. Predominant are the manuscripts and correspondence for Decedents' Estates and Trusts, Editions Five, Six and Seven, and The First Hundred Years, as well as correspondence files concerning publications of The Foundation Press and committee activities of the Virginia Bar Association. The largest group of files is comprised of miscellaneous professional correspondence. There are no restrictions on the use of these papers.
BOX LISTING
| Box | Date and Content Description |
| 1 | 1974-1977, ABA Special Committee on Code of Ethics for Commercial Arbitration (2 folders) |
| 1978-1984, Admissions Reports to the Faculty | |
| 1975-1976, Center for Advanced Studies-Appointments | |
| 1981-1988, Center for Law and National Security (3 folders) | |
| 21976-1977, Class of 1927 Correspondence | |
| 1971-1981, Consultation - Woodrow Wilson College of Law Application for ABA Approval | |
| 1976, Dean Search Committee - JR, Chair | |
| 1974-1978, Decedents' Estates and Trusts, 5th edition: Correspondence | |
| 1980-1983, Decedents' Estates and Trusts, 6th edition: Correspondence (2 folders) | |
| 3 | 1980-1983, Decedents' Estates and Trusts, 6th edition: Correspondence |
| 1984-1988, Decedents' Estates and Trusts, 7th edition: Correspondence | |
| 1972-1973, Doris Duke Trust: Drafts of Opinion and Correspondence | |
| 1978-1986, Fellows of the American Bar Foundation | |
| 1974-1977, The First Hundred Years: Correspondence and Note | |
| 1976, The First Hundred Years, Draft prepared by Fred Hutchinson | |
| 1976, The First Hundred Years: "The Law and the Legal Education at the University of Virginia" - Thesis by Holly B. Fitzsimmons | |
| 4 | N.D., The First Hundred Years: Working Drafts and Notes (2 folders) |
| 1976, The First Hundred Years: Working Drafts and Correspondence | |
| ca 1976-N.D., The First Hundred Years: Working Drafts (3 folders) | |
| N.D, The First Hundred Years: Corrected Draft and Correspondence | |
| 51978, The First Hundred Years: Final Draft | |
| Jan 79 - Mar 76, Foundation Press Correspondence (2 folders) | |
| 6 | Apr 76 - Sep 80, Foundation Press Correspondence (5 folders) |
| 7 | Oct 80 - Jul 83, Foundation Press Correspondence (6 folders) |
| 8 | Aug 83 - Dec 85, Foundation Press Correspondence (5 folders) |
| 9 | Jan 86 - Feb 88, Foundation Press Correspondence (4 folders) |
| 10 | 1976-1977, HEW Office of Civil Rights Investigation of Law School |
| 1984,1987, Honor Committee Memoranda | |
| 1982-1983, Humble Oil Case | |
| 1977-1984, Interoffice Memoranda primarily regarding instruction (3 folders) | |
| 1985-1987, Interoffice Memoranda | |
| 1972, McCoid - Washington Committee on Attracting Black Faculty | |
| 11 | 1972-1975, Miscellaneous Professional Correspondence (5 folders) |
| 12 | 1975-1978, Miscellaneous Professional Correspondence (5 folders) |
| 13 | 1979-1983, Miscellaneous Professional Correspondence (6 folders) |
| 14 | 1984-1987, Miscellaneous Professional Correspondence (4 folders) |
| 1973, Stennis Chair Contributions | |
| 1981-1986, Virginia Law Review - Faculty Memoranda | |
| 1977 - 1979, Virginia Bar Association (VBA): Committee Activities Correspondence | |
| 15 | 1980, VBA: Committee Activities Correspondence |
| 1978, VBA: Committee Charges and Reports | |
| 1978-1979, VBA: Galleys of the Journal and Correspondence | |
| 1977, VBA: The John Marshall Project (and other matters) | |
| 1979, VBA: Projects Committee | |
| 1980, VBA Annual meeting | |
| MSS 78-11a | |
| Scope and Content Note | |
| This addition to Professor Ritchie's papers concern his work from 1942 to 1972 as law school dean at Washington University, the University of Wisconsin, and Northwestern University. The vast majority of the papers are copies of the numerous speeches he gave, mostly about legal education. There is some correspondence and memorabilia. The papers were found in the Library's basement in 1997. | |
| 1 | 1970; Certification for American Supply Corporation (AHSC) - Robert Keck, Secy. |
| 1963-1968; Clippings | |
| 1942-1964; Correspondence (4 folders) | |
| 1942; Correspondence re: Application for Commission in Armed Forces | |
| 1967; DeTocqueville Lecture | |
| 1964; John Randolph Tucker Lecture | |
| 2 | 1951-1973; Miscellaneous Articles |
| n.d.; Miscellaneous Speeches and Papers (2 folders) | |
| 1964-1967; New York Central Railroad Company | |
| 1957; Northwestern University Law School - Letters of Congratulations | |
| 1936-1965; Northwestern University Memorabilia | |
| 1960-1961; Ritchie's Selective System Certificates | |
| 3-5 | n.d.; Speeches |
| 1953-1972; Speeches (10 folders) | |
| 1951-1953; Trusts and Estates Casebook Correspondence | |
| 1969; University of Alabama Law Center Report | |
| 1965; University of Tennessee Law College 75th Anniversary | |
| 1936-1937; 1955-1956; University of Virginia re: Appointment | |
| 1939-1956; University of Wisconsin Annual Reports | |
| 1953; University of Wisconsin - Correspondence with E. B. Fred | |
| 1925-1927; Virginia Bar Exams | |
| 1951-1952; Washington University Miscellaneous Correspondence | |
| 1961; State of Illinois "... Special Trust and Confidence... to John Ritchie". Governor Otto Kerner, Commission him as "A Member of the Judicial Advisory Council of the State of Illinois", December 8th, 1961 | |
| PHOTOGRAPHS | |
| ca. 1940s | Ritchie family in front of house. |
| PUBLICATIONS | |
| John Ritchie, A Model Will for Moderate States, 58 Case and Comment, 1953 | |
| ----, F. D. G. Ribble, 57 Va. L. Rev. 1971 | |
| John Ritchie, In Memoriam: Adlai E. Stevenson, 60 Nw. U. L. Rev. 1965 | |
| ----, Il Compito Della Scuola Di Diritto Americana, JUS Rivista di Scienze Giuridiche, Marzo 1958 | |
| ----, Lawlessness and the Lawyer, 49 Chicago Bar Record 1968 | |
| ----, Legal Education in the United States, 2 Wash. & Lee L. Rev. 1964 | |
| ----, Legal Education: The Past and the Future, 32 Tenn. L. Rev. 1965 | |
| ----, The Propriety of the Participation by a Judge in Non-Judicial Money-Making Activities, 51 Chicago Bar Record 1969 | |
| ----, What is a Will?, 49 Va. L. Rev. 1963 | |
| Northwestern University School of Law Annual Report of the Dean. 1957-1972 (15 Reports) | |
| Report by The Supreme Commander to the Combined Chiefs of Staff on the Operations in Europe of the Allied Expedition Force, 1944-1945 | |
